Well, some of our troops have just gone and done another damn fool stunt.
This time it is not Marines who made total fools of themselves. Nope, this time it was the US Army. These clowns are members of the 82nd Airborne Division.
What you may ask have these guys done? Oh, just posed with body parts of Afghan suicide bombers is all. Yes, I said they posed for photos with the body parts of dead suicide bombers, They were supposed to check out a report that the Afghan police had recovered the mangled remains of an insurgent suicide bomber. Their mission was to try and find out if they could get an iris scan and/or finger prints from the remains. OK so far as that goes. Apparently, that is standard procedure in Afghanistan. Nothing unusual.
Well, that wasn't enough for these troops. No sir, they had to pose for photos with the remains of the dead. Some of them posed with the hand of the dead person with the middle finger raised as in "giving the finger". Oh nice guys, real compassion from you all. Respect for the dead? Not here folks, no way.
As I have said before here on my soapbox, while I was in Vietnam during that miserable war, we didn't actually like the VC, but we sure as hell gave them our respect. These troops need to read old Sun Tzu as it sure looks to me that they never have done so. They may never even have heard of him, though that is highly unlikely in my opinion. This lack of respect for the enemy or opposing forces is not the way to win any war. Naturally, you are never expected to like the enemy. Actually if you like your enemy, it seems to me, then the enemy would no longer BE an enemy. My point is, you must respect your enemy. These troops sure do not.
After the most recent "incident" with the Marine snipers urinating on dead Afghans, how this could take place is amazing. One report on this mentioned a lack of discipline and a breakdown of leadership. No kidding. If this is the result of leadership in the US military today, I pity us all.
Will these guys get any punishment for this act? I wonder. Does anybody know if the Marines who urinated on dead Afghans get any punishment? I have not seen any mention of those troops since the news of their "act" broke in the US. Bets they got no punishment at all. Hell, they may even have been complimented for their "act". Yeah, see what "we" do? We piss on the "bad guys". What a way to win hearts and minds..............not.
It is time to get ALL US/NATO troops out of Afghanistan. Not next month, not next week even. NOW, today. Start packing all your personal equipment and stow all the gear and get out of that country NOW. There is no point at all in staying n after these recent "events". If this is how our troops act, well, America is in even deeper crap than I thought we were. Where is the leadership? Where is any military discipline? We do not see any at all in the recent examples from our Marines and soldiers of the 82nd Airborne. How sad, and so very disgusting.
America, what a country.
semper fi
6 comments:
Charlie... the reason the wars go on is to keep the checks flowing to the war profiteers.
When the US can no longer borrow the money to wage the wars, the wars will end.
I hope they will end sooner... but it's been more than a decade... three presidential elections... the fourth holds not much hope that I can see.
David,
Thank you for your kind words. I think you over estimate me. I am not that good, or I don't see myself like that. I am just an ordinary human being who detests some of the idiotic crap that goes on in this world. Maybe it would be a better world if more people cared about more than themselves. The trick is how do we get there?
John,
Yes, war exists for the obscene profits that so many make from it. Even old Smedley Butler said so in his "War is a Racket" back in the 19230's. He tells how the folks who made socks and underwear made huge profits. The troops need to be clothed after all.
If we could take the profits out of war, I think war might end, at least there might be much less war then. Now, how do we eliminate the war profits? Maybe a tax on the profits? A high tax like over 75%? I wish I knew how to take the profits from war.
Anybody have an idea?
Requiring that a war be declared before American Troops or weapons are deployed abroad would help.
Presidential wars are the problem.
We need to turn the so-called Department of Defense, the Department of War, into a bona fide Department of Defense.
No standing army outside National Guard units in every state, overseen by elected civilian Commissions in each state.
No offensive weapons : no aircraft carriers, ballistic missile submarines, icbms, bombers, cruise missiles... all of space must be a weapons-free zone.
Nuclear weapons must be eliminated, dismantled and their radioactive innards safely disposed of before the big budget delivery systems can go.
It will cost more to clean up the US military nuclear mess than anyone can imagine... the war profiteers can stop constructing offensive weapons and start deconstructing them.
Where there's the will there is certainly a way. Warfare is such an ingrained piece of the American psyche that it seems unimaginable to some. But it's not unimaginable and what can be imagined can be accomplished.
Imagine the benefits of closing down the 700 - 1000 foreign bases maintained by the US military; mothballing the carrier and ballistic missile submarine fleets; parking the B-52s, B-2s, and B-1s on the tarmac in Arizona; disassembling all the Minutemen.
The actual reconstruction of America could then begin.
We could have a Manhattan Project to develop photosynthetic hydrogen as our clean, non-polluting energy source; one not mined; one that causes zero-disruption to the natural environment in its creation.
There's no problem that cannot be solved, Charlie. The problem is that the 1% are aligned against solutions.
Nothing can happen until we realize that it is up to ourselves to make things happen. All those in power are corrupted by it, in service to the lethal status quo.
When Silicon Valley becomes the rust belt will we know that a major change has occurred. The defense industry is a big part of the success of this place. It is like living with a dragon.
The lack of discipline amongst our troops is scary enough considering we have nuclear bunker busters and all kinds of nukes with these guys in charge of them. What a state we have de evolved to.
One of the main problems with nukes is that there is no safe way to dispose of them. They require constant vigilance. This is within the human capacity, but only if we stay disciplined.
Thank you Charlie for another great thoughtful post. Take care.
Btw, I understand about the pain killers. I had to go to the hospital to get off of high doses of the stuff. As my tolerance increased so did my pain and need for more. Talk about a dragon! But, I still take pain killers, just way, way less. Plain old tylenol and ibuprophen then stronger stuff for "breakthrough" pain.
All the best!
Sierra Grace
Sierra Grace,
Thank you for your comments.
Yes, the lack of discipline is amazing. What has happened to the US military? Maybe they no longer teach certain subjects in boot camp/basic training. I don't have any answers.
As to pain meds, I still need the damn things. Yes, I am appreciative that I have access to them as the pain gets beyond tolerable at times every day if I don't use them. I just do not like taking any meds at all except when sick. Chronic pain is a real mess for me and my "philosophy" if I can call it such. Aspirin is about all I am comfortable with as a daily med. Having to need strong pain meds goes against my personal thinking. This applies to myself only. I do not criticize any who need pain meds. I have "standards" for myself that I never even try to apply to others. I don't always "live up" to my own personal standards, but I try. The pain meds "issue" is one I am still working on.
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