Posted on 03/25/2011 10:00:57 AM PDT by ThinkingBuddha
Just picture the scene as a soldier returns from hunting an arch-enemy. Commanding officer: 'Did you get him?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Commanding officer: 'Are you sure?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Soldier reaches into rucksack and places severed head on table.
Commanding officer: ' ****!' If it happened in a Hollywood movie, the audience would either laugh or applaud. But there was no laughter the other day when this happened for real in Babaji, Afghanistan, current posting for the 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles. The precise circumstances will not be determined until an official report has been completed, but reliable military sources have confirmed that a Gurkha patrol was sent out with orders to track down a Taliban warlord described as a 'high-value target'.
Having identified their target, a fierce battle ensued during which the warlord was killed. To prove that they had got their man, the Gurkhas attempted to remove the body for identification. Further enemy fire necessitated a fast exit minus corpse. So, an unnamed soldier drew his kukri - the standard-issue Gurkha knife - removed the man's head and legged it. Ten out of ten for initiative. Nought out of ten for diplomacy.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
When you have a kukri, every problem looks like a potential beheading.
The article continues...
Nato forces are supposed to be winning ‘hearts and minds’ and bolstering the fledgling Afghan National Army. This incident, however, has apparently appalled Afghans on all sides, not least because it offends the Muslim tradition of burying the dead with all body parts, attached or unattached.
It transpires that the Gurkha soldier has been removed from operations and sent back to his barracks in Kent pending further investigations. Ministry of Defence sources have been quick to emphasise that the British Army is appalled by what has happened. According to one: ‘There is no sense of glory involved, more a sense of shame. He should not have done what he did.’
Here’s a comment on the website about the article.
“Let me get this straight. It is all right for muslim terrorists to behead innocent kidnapped victims such as a Wall Street Journal correspondent without consequences, but not acceptable and an offense against their religion for the same thing to be done to the already dead body of a terrorist? Something is askew here and to me it is the politically correct senior idiots in the army and MOD.”
Look at the Khukri, not a great stabbing weapon, but with one vertical downward stroke you can literally split someone in half, a lateral stroke will produce the results spoken of here, decapatation. Wouldn’t make a half bad soccer ball. With the beheadings the muslims are doing, what do they have to complain about?
Some people send in box tops to claim their prize while Ghurkas send in heads!
“No good deed goes unpunished”..
Sorry. Don’t see the problem.
Just put the thing on a stick for all to see and move one.
Next best thing to severing his manhood. Promote that man!
I see nothing wrong with taking the head. The guy had apparently never made much use of it and wasnt using it at all when it was taken
Best comment on this entire thread. With more men like him in charge, this entire affair would be over in a much shorter period of time.
Ping - The kuhkri, very handy to have around the house or the campsite.
>>>There is no sense of glory involved, more a sense of shame. He should not have done what he did.
At least in the days of the Imperium, the British Raj appreciated the dedication, enthusiasm and efficency of the Gurkhas.
Now, some wanker of a desk poofter lithps indignantly.
How else was he going to verify he had the target. There’s not much of fingerprint database there.
Suppose he shoulda clicked a picture, but then he’d be subject to some other charge as well.
Do you know where he gets them?
badass-pajamas.com?
If they were told they needed to have confirmation they got him, if they can’t lug the whole body out, well...?
I would have commended the guy for quick thinking but rescinded the standing order for confirmation, because you can’t have that sh1t piling up at headquarters.
Surely someone would have a pile of pig manure they could store them in.
I’d be willing to bet that, if in the next firefight, the Afghan’s realize they’re fighting the Ghurka’s, they’ll run like hell. That is awesome.
As the Gurkha veteran in the comments to the story put it:
It is heartening to see that the majority of the ordinary British public are sympathetic to this young Gurkha soldier who was only carrying out his superior's order, I would do the same if I was in his place because when I joined in 1969, I swore allegiance to the British Crown and country and that meant obeying orders without question. Shame on the MOD and the Government for the action they are taking against him! Like someone before mentioned, "what is all the fuss about?" If this is offensive to the Muslims of Afghanistan then what the hell are they doing being involved in war knowing that people get killed, mutilated, decapitated etc., if they wish to be buried in one piece, I would say to them turn to peace and respect others rights not to be maimed or have limbs blown off because it goes both ways. I also find it very offensive to see my British and Gurkha comrades losing their lives and limbs through barbaric acts by the cowardly Talibans.- Swaroop - an old Gurkha Veteran, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, 20/7/2010 9:48
(My emphasis added.)
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