Posted on 03/12/2012 7:13:00 PM PDT by prairiebreeze
With Sunday's news that a US soldier massacred 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, in their sleep and then burned the bodies, the little that the US can claim to have achieved in Afghanistan, at great cost over a decade, is now likely to be lost.
No American, and probably no westerner, will be safe in Afghanistan for a decade after the soldier's murderous rampage. Really, if they're willing to murder people over burned books, imagine the intensity of Afghan hatred for a truly heinous crime against sleeping civilians, with one man losing all 11 members of his family.
Although speculation is pointless, the first thing that comes to mind, especially with reports that this soldier is a sergeant (rather than a lower-ranked soldier) is revenge against Afghanistan for the murder of multiple US soldiers by Afghans following the recent burning of a few Korans by American soldiers.
Although I understand a soldier's desire for vengeance against a nation which demands apologies for singed books but offers none for murder, this soldier's actions are obviously beyond sanction and deserving of the death penalty -- even if he claims insanity.
As is his wont, President Obama has already apologized to the president of Afghanistan, who has said that the murders "cannot be forgiven." While I understand Karzai's feelings, and would likely share them, it is a distinctly unhelpful line of rhetoric from the nation's leader if he actually cared about maintaining any even superficially friendly relationship with the United States.
The fact that he said what he said means he is more concerned with domestic politics than with his "alliance" with the United States. That focus is all the easier when dealing with a US president who projects weakness and fecklessness at every opportunity, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Dude. Get a grip.
There is no way you'll find a "group" in the US Army that will go into town and kill women and children in their beds.
This is one guy, likely insane.
If that happens there will be war. Real war. Here.
If this was a Canadian soldier serving in Iceland doing the same thing, would the Muslims be just as outraged? I think not. Human life to these medieval people is local, very local.....
No American and probably no westerner has EVER been safe in Afghanistan.
Nobody in any civilian capacity should point a finger at the alleged perpetrator and render any judgement against him. If I were in the same position I might have acted the same way.
I've been doing some research on the stories surrounding the special recon/commando unit known as Task Force Oregon ("Tiger Force") in the central highlands of Vietnam back in 1967. What I find striking about the whole thing is that there always seemed to be an implicit understanding -- on the part of both the soldiers in the unit as well as their superiors (who covered most of the incidents up for years afterwards) -- that they were going to operate as "loose cannons" while they were out engaging an enemy that had the support of many civilians in the countryside.
That’s the VERY first thing I thought, too—he might be a Muslim! Then, when we did not hear his name, I really started to wonder if I were not right. We may or may not see...
I think this administration, along with the U.S. military, is going to go to great lengths to make this story go away quickly.
For one thing, it's a political embarrassment. Secondly, I predict that there are a number of details to this story that will paint the U.S. military brass in a very poor light -- such as the guy's prior medical history or some other factor that would have led any objective person to question why he was ever sent to Afghanistan in the first place.
this is from spectator? What happened to spectator?
Because we all know how ‘safe’ our troops have been all along.
Or how about 3 million killed in NY..?
But it’s all that one guys fault.
No not the alleged shooter.
Obama.
This sounds way too fishy. I’m going to wait and see what “facts” come out.
So far it’s like the crap we heard about Ft. Hood - no true specifics. And then we find out...
I totally agree with you. No American soldier should be in Afghanistan in a month (or less).
We accomplished something at the very beginning but the last ten years are a waste of lives and money.
Agree with your last statement, but this man is obviously a victim of PTSD or perhaps a head injury.
We should express regret and we should feel regret, and we should apologize to the families involved but not the government.
For that matter, who the hell is anyone in the U.S. government -- which has pissed away hundreds of billions of dollars and many thousands of lives over the last 10+ years in these stupid nation-building campaigns -- to tell this guy (or anyone else) that it was somehow "wrong" to kill 16 people in their homes at night?
Just noticed the new info about the head injuries.
In their culture human life is not so important as the book.
Now what is it that we are not being told?
And poison the poppy fields on the way out.
Surprised we haven’t seen the Left come out with “No Blood for Opium” signs.
Same thing as always. On any given day, a murder as horrid as this happens. That it will happen because someone might have seen an ankle, or they dare teach their daughters, or they didn't give their 8 year old as a bride, etc. That while we view women and children as the future, to them they are a burden. That they will forever care more about burning a Koran than if an entire village was wiped out.
That we are dealing with a people completely and utterly divorced from any humanity we would recognize.
They are trying to find a way to blame Bush and/or Cheney.
Children are innocent.
The Taliban may assert they intend to kill X number of Americans in retaliation for this, but how many were they not going to kill before this happened? How many women and children have the Taliban killed before this happened?
It is madness to look for reasons for madness. Doctors do diagnostics based in looking carefully at the body, and tissues of the patient. We lesser lights would do well to withhold judgement until there is sufficient evidence.
Unless of course you knew what you wanted, and no matter the facts, your mind is made up. If that is where you are, don’t blame your position on the facts, because that woud be a lie.
Been my view since 9/11, but for all Arab/Persian nations practicing Islam!
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