I read this article today:
http://www.military.com/news/article/are-atrocities-part-of-war.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS
Interestingly, Jacobs seems not to be aware of the report that one of the Marines doing the peeing was their unit commander. So apparently, that's where he was; supervising the troops.
Sebastian Junger, author of “War” and co-director -- with the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington of the documentary film “Restrepo,” – said the national response to the controversial photos and videos is “morally hypocritical.”
It is kind of a disconnect when you think about it. We order these men to kill; but then to act with respect to the bodies of the people who were just trying to blow them up or shoot them. Our national outrage is not directed at the fact that they killed the men, but that they disrespected their corpses.
But the article also pointed out a link to a 1946 news story:
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/bookauth/battle/jones.htm
Seems times haven't really changed all that much. We civilians ask the military to fight wars, then we complain about the manner in which they do it. We ask them to become savages and then complain that they are indeed savage.
Just some random thoughts on the matter.
http://www.military.com/news/article/are-atrocities-part-of-war.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS
“You don’t get a pass for acting stupidly because you’ve been in a war,” said retired Army colonel and Medal of Honor recipient Jack Jacobs, today an NBC News consultant and author of the memoir, “If Not Now, When?”. Jacobs recalls that he saw 90 consecutive days of combat during one tour in Vietnam and saw many Americans die. But he says he never crossed the line.
“Anytime someone does something illegal or immoral, he knows it’s the wrong thing to do,” he told Military.com. “Urinating on corpses cannot be ascribed to having too many tours downrange.”
But the bigger issue is the lack of leadership, according to Jacobs. Where, he asked, are the noncommissioned officers, the lieutenants, the company commanders, and the battalion commanders?
Interestingly, Jacobs seems not to be aware of the report that one of the Marines doing the peeing was their unit commander. So apparently, that's where he was; supervising the troops.
Sebastian Junger, author of “War” and co-director -- with the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington of the documentary film “Restrepo,” – said the national response to the controversial photos and videos is “morally hypocritical.”
“If we’re going to be upset at urinating on corpses, we’ve got to have a serious conversation with ourselves about what’s been going on for the last 10 years,” he said. Junger, whose book and film were based on time he spent with an Army platoon at a remote outpost in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley in 2008 and 2009, chronicled not only the combat but also the sometimes bizarre behavior of the soldiers, which included almost ritual-like beatings of each other.
Over a decade, a great many people have died from American weapons, but the country doesn’t want to face that “on a spiritual level,” Junger said. “But the soldiers have to face it because they’re the ones doing it. And sometimes it makes them act out in all kinds of troubled ways.”
It is kind of a disconnect when you think about it. We order these men to kill; but then to act with respect to the bodies of the people who were just trying to blow them up or shoot them. Our national outrage is not directed at the fact that they killed the men, but that they disrespected their corpses.
But the article also pointed out a link to a 1946 news story:
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/bookauth/battle/jones.htm
WE Americans have the dangerous tendency in our international thinking to take a holier-than-thou attitude toward other nations. We consider ourselves to be more noble and decent than other peoples, and consequently in a better position to decide what is right and wrong in the world. What kind of war do civilians suppose we fought, anyway? We shot prisoners in cold blood, wiped out hospitals, strafed lifeboats, killed or mistreated enemy civilians, finished off the enemy wounded, tossed the dying into a hole with the dead, and in the Pacific boiled the flesh off enemy skulls to make table ornaments for sweethearts, or carved their bones into letter openers.
Seems times haven't really changed all that much. We civilians ask the military to fight wars, then we complain about the manner in which they do it. We ask them to become savages and then complain that they are indeed savage.
Just some random thoughts on the matter.