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Posted on 01/14/2012 6:41:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Candidly, the story of a handful of Marines videotaping themselves urinating on dead Taliban fighters is a subject I’ve feared to broach because it is heart-breaking to think those men so lost their sense of shared humanity — if only for those minutes — as to do what they did. Rep. Allen West has given me a way to write about it, though, by saying it all better than I ever could. In an e-mail to The Weekly Standard, West wrote:
I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.
All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?
The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.
As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.
Without excusing the vulgar, distasteful, disgraceful (insert your adjective here) desecration committed by the Marines themselves, West reminds us that civilians can never fully understand the magnitude of the sacrifices they ask men and women to make on their behalf.
Words of support for the troops are needed now as always, but they’re hardly forthcoming. The Republican presidential candidates, for example, have made no statements of support for the predominantly well-behaved troops as a buttress against the effects on public opinion of the administration’s eager denouncement of the few. William Kristol highlights their silence:
Give me a break. More importantly, give our troops a break. Yes, the Marines who appear to have done what they did should be reprimanded or punished, as they would have been in the normal course of things once their deed came to light. I will even grant that some higher-ups might have felt it prudent to deplore what happened, based on realpolitik considerations of depriving our enemies of excuses to whip up sentiment against us in the region (though I’m doubtful the effort to do this isn’t more counterproductive than not). But the administration’s reaction is over the top. And it smells of cheap self-righteousness and moral posturing from an administration that, to be honest, hasn’t devoted a whole lot of time to thanking our troops for what they’ve been doing in very difficult and dangerous circumstances.
Maybe it was too much to expect senior officials to make the common sense points that 1) this incident is not something to get hysterical about, and 2) it needs to be put in the context of the admirable behavior of 99 percent of our troops 99 percent of the time. But aren’t there Republicans around who might want to make this point? I gather, for example, that there are several people running for the Republican presidential nomination. Maybe one of them could say a good word about our troops?
Those who do dare to speak up are promptly attacked for it. Big Journalism’s Dana Loesch describes the backlash she’s received for a few statements she made on her radio program yesterday to the effect that the reaction to the incident has been overblown:
This is nothing but an exercise in situational, exploitative outrage, and it completely proved the point I was making. The phrases “defile” and “desecration” popped up in my replies on Twitter every minute or so. If “desecration” is a concern for progressives, where was their outrage when the remains of over 200 Air Force members were dumped in a landfill? I’ve seen more outrage towards our troops over this incident than I have ever seen towards the Taliban themselves who’ve beheaded soldiers (American and Afghan), raped and tortured women, sent out suicide bombers, and carried out horrific attacks.
The disproportionate anger on the part of progressives is fueled by their dislike of our military. That['s] what this proves. The left is attacking me so they can give the Obama administration a pass–unlike what they did with Bush and Abu Ghraib. Like it or not, I’ll stand up for our troops no matter which president is in charge.
The situation has never called for histrionics, but it has always called for a sober recognition that the reality of war is unfathomable to those who’ve never experienced it, and it is up to us, who remain in comfort while others fight our battles, to sing the praises of those who bear with the unbearable in a brave and noble manner — and to help however we can to restore to those veterans who’ve lost it a deep, abiding conviction in the dignity and worth of the human person.
Response from a retired state trooper & a former marine.....
“COMMON SENSE”
Folks:
Now here’s the guy! If all of the current candidates continue to attack each other, and no single candidate evolves from the process, perhaps Colonel West could be “drafted” from the floor of the convention. Let’s see: He is a combat veteran and career military; he is currently involved in politics; he has a charisma that can rival the current occupant of the White House; he appears to be a bold, no nonsense, classic American leader; and he has common sense! Uh Ohh! Common Sense.
Never mind.
Thanks friend! I really like Sandy too, and had the honor or meeting her back in 2010.
Also, thank you for your service to our country!
Thanks friend! I really like Sandy too, and had the honor of meeting her back in 2010.
Also, thank you for your service to our country!
Sarge (or Sir) You are exactly right. I am so sick of these cry baby liberals who never served a day in a combat situation trying to tell the rest of us how our soldiers should be ashamed.
When I first heard it, my first thought was thank GOD there were no cameras (or very few) when I was in. then my next thought was there were only 4 where were the rest?
Leon Peternose what a cry baby dork in charge of our GREAT men & women of the finest military EVER.
Hitlery Rodman Klintoon. Nothing good ever came out of her mouth except maybe Good Bye
“I agree WE NEED ALLEN WEST IN THE NEW ADMINISTRATION!!!!!!!
Preferably in the Oval Office.”
Copy that, Angel
AMEN!
thanks! this whole thing makes me so mad on so many levels...now these Marines will face punishment.HUH?!!!
You know I support our military, but imho, West spoke way out of turn. He did not help the marines in any way. This was not a crime just an act of stupidity and non judicial punishment is way over the top. He also did not help the men left in the fiield or their Sergeants to maintain good order and discipline.
See my thoughts at http://freedomradiorocks.com
Top Ten Reasons Not To Urinate on Dead Taliban.
No punishment would be my choice.
And I still would like to know WHO shot the video and then proceeded to post it on the net!
Every copy I have seen is so blured it is rather difficult to tell if the guys are peeing or praying.
Folks, I hope you pick up your phone today on behalf of Dana Loesch and our Marines. In my call to Mr Tillman's office today, I have asked that he apologize to Dana Loesch today.
Until Mr Tillman puts some boots on and goes over and stands in a war zone, that gives all the rights to the enemy, he needs to do as Col West said, Shut the hell up! But what does he do, he throws under the bus a good and loyal woman who defends our Troops! I wonder if Mr Tillman, as he sits in his Ivory Tower, ever contemplates what it is like for our Marines, who have done an exemplary job keeping his little self safe!
Dana Loesch deserves our support and so do our Marines! Mr Tillman needs to issue an apology to Ms. Loesch today. We all make mistakes! Walk this back Mr Tillman and do the right thing. Stand for our Troops and those who defend them!
Contact for John Tillman:
http://illinoispolicy.org/content/?section=460&t=Contact
Beverly Perlson
The Band of Mothers
Illinois Tea Party
PING TO POST #71!
Let’s pick up our phones TODAY and support Dana Loesch and our troops!
We who love our military will continue to support other patriots like Dana Loesch who always join us in praise of our brave soldiers. Adding a ping to post # 71!
The only problem I have with the whole thing, is that they shouldn’t have let themselves be photographed. That just wasn’t smart.
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/01/16/leftists-go-wild-over-dana-loesch/?singlepage=true
This from Andrew Gasser, Veteran and member of Illinois Tea. His comments are spot on with regard to Illinois Policy Institute:
http://andrewgasser.com/?p=235&mid=57
“For those of you who have served in Afghanistan, like myself, you may have witnessed the brutality of women if you went “outside the wire”. Media pundits like to say that women if Afghanistan are treated like second class citizens. They are not. The family mule gets better treatment than women. Women in Afghanistan have no rights. Moreover, if it wasn’t for organizations like the United States Marine Corps, women (girl) wouldn’t even be allowed to attend school
This makes the Illinois Policy Institute decision even more puzzling. Why would you “kick to the curb” a strong female conservative who is incredibly successful and a role model for girls and women everywhere? She is effectively “pissing” all over the ideology that the taliban and al Qaida promote. Instead of celebrating the achievements of a strong conservative woman the Illinois Policy Institute hung her out to dry and scurried away like cockroaches in daylight. Frankly, we need our young women in America to hear more from strong women like Dana.”
God Bless Andrew for his service and as noted above, so typical of our Veterans, he keeps on serving!
That is a question I want the answer to! WHO SHOT THE VIDEO? Wouldn’t that be interesting to know? Certainly none of the Marines filmed it and then proceeded to post it on YouTube!
I also would like to see a CLEAR version of the video. One that isn’t so blured you can’t tell if they were actually peeing or praying!
I always go back to the same question. WHO shot the video?
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