Many thousands of men, women and children have been killed or maimed in the U.S.'s Afghan War, and thousands of children have been orphaned. It is part of the U.S.'s 10 year old and seemingly endless "War on Terror," as people continue to be killed, maimed or orphaned. This is what is obscene.
But a Youtube video of 4 U.S Marines pissing on the bodies of alledged Taliban they have just killed has offended a lot of people, many of whom otherwise seem to have little interest in this war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcrLJRbuJU0
These young Marines, they could be your or my sons, have been put into an insane situation of killing and more killing. While the American people, including its government that sends them off to war, go on with life as normal and the U.S. media gives this war little coverage, as our sons and daughters are fighting and dying for reasons many of them don't understand. Those in outlying bases seldom have hot meals, they poop in outhouses or worse, stink from heat, sweat and dirt all over them and never know when they will suddenly come under fire. They bear the stress of serving tour after tour of duty and they see their brothers and sisters in arms being killed or maimed, people that have become extended members of their families.
So in this madness, 4 of them piss on the dead fighters America claims is their enemy. It's not what they did with their urine that's obscene, it is what we as Americans allow to continue that's obscene and we should be ashamed of ourselves and instead we should bring our soldiers home safely to their families.
Dick
P.S. Thank you to my friend Mary Ellen for sharing her ideas which are also reflected in this piece.
To learn more about this incident, please see "U.S. Attempts to Stem Video Outcry: Karzai, Taliban Condemn Desecration; Military Questions Pair of Marines," The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409004577156434037860096.html
No comments:
Post a Comment