Posted on 03/12/2012 12:49:55 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
BILOXI, Miss. - Rick Santorum said today that if a U.S. soldier shot and killed 16 civilians, as U.S. officials have suggested, then the Afghan people deserve an apology.
After an energy conference here, Santorum told reporters that the incident needs to be investigated further, calling it a "horrible situation."
"If it turns out to be the case that this person did a horrible wrong and it was a deliberate act, a deliberate act by an American soldier and that is something we should clearly say was something that we should apologize for," Santorum said. "That it's not a mistake, it wasn't something that was inadvertent. This was something that was deliberately done by an American soldier to innocent civilians. It's something that the proper authorities should apologize for, for not doing their job in making sure that something like this wouldn't happen, something like this should not happen in our military period."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
WOW
I will pray for your son and all our troops over there. I’m afraid that I am a coward when it comes to war, so I can easily understand how a young man could lose control and go over the edge. The new rules of engagement must add tremendously to the strain. I think that what troubles me the most is that I know Obama has no love for this country and no respect for our troops.
I guess we’ll need to start the “Santorum apology tour” thread now, as a sideline to the “Obama apology tour”.
The soldier is in custody. He will be tried, but like I said earlier, it sounds as though he may have been suffering from PTSD from earlier deployment (s) to Iraq. His brigade has done three tours in Iraq, and was reassigned to to Afghanistan in December. The accused soldier just arrived in February.
It would be totally understandable for someone who was already suffering from PTSD to crack up under the circumstances in Afghanistan. While apologies to the Afghanis may be appropriate, apologies to our troops for sending them over there under Obama’s untenable rules of engagement should also be offered.
I'd rather not.
Under the conditions and Rules of Engagement our military were ordered to fight a war with conscienless killers for years, I'm just amazed it didn't happen sooner.
There is a limit of what can be expected from normal human beings.
1. At least a half dozen times I came to your defense over name-calling only to see you turn around and do it yourself.
2. This was a crime, not a battlefield atrocity. This guy walked off base and killed women and kids.
Yes, for the first time since Obama has been POTUS we owe somebody an apology.
You know that I have solidly supported the Haditha Marines for years, so you know that I agree with you about innocent until proven guilty.
Perhaps what I wrote was poorly written, but what I intended to say was that in the event of a murder, it is the murderer who should apologize and not his nation or his commander or his parents or anyone other than him.
They are not the ones who committed the alleged crime.
I am a solid supporter of both Santorum and Gingrich. In this case, Santorum is wrong. The USA owes no apology to Afghanistan if someone was murdered. The murderer owes an apology. No one else.
I agree with you completely. And no, there was nothing wrong with your original post, and I hope my response didn’t sound like I had a problem with it. In fact, you started your post with, “If reports prove to be accurate...”. That is exactly where I stand.
FRegards,
LH
>> If reports prove to be accurate that this was murder, then the US should try the soldier for murder.
Apparently, the soldier took a damning blow to the head from an IED. Maybe true or not. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things we don’t know about this situation.
Let’s put the military judicial process before the apologies.
Even if a military trial finds the soldier guilty of murder, the USA owes no apology to Afghanistan. Only the murderer owes an apology.
If the US had ordered the soldier to murder, then that would be a different story.
Offer condolences, and all that, if true.....but WTF should we apologize for?
That sure won't stop the floating turd Ubama from apologizing. That scumbag loves to apologize for America. And like I said in an earlier post, Santorum really jumped the shark for even considering the idea that the US should apologize. I agree with the two of you - - offering an apology is a non starter. Strictly for losers.
The soldier had a brain injury from a previous deployment. Obama owes the apology, not the soldier and not our troops.
Screw that, just say, “S—t happens” and move on. It’s a friggin’ war.
The “guy” suffers from a traumatic brain injury from an earlier deployment and should never have been in Afghanistan.
Your, - oh never mind. You wouldn’t understand anyway. Do you even know what a brain injury is, or what PTSD can do to a person?
I am well aware....all I am trying to say is that apologies should be done privately to those affected....there is no need to apologize to anyone else....get to the bottom of it, punish the guilty, or get the guy the help he needs, fine......but there is no need to make apologies a public spectacle. It makes us look weak, and it doesn’t placate anybody, anyway.
The only way in which a murderer would not be responsible is if he did not understand the difference between right and wrong. But, even if insane, he would still owe an apology.
As a career soldier, I believe the oath of a soldier is to obey the orders of the officers appointed over me. Even if a war is wrongly prosecuted, that does not justify murder.
Obviously, you have never been in combat. You have no idea what our kind go through do you? It's easy for you to demand an apology for something you do not understand.
We are at WAR. And when we fight wars, there will be unfortunate incidents like this. There always has been and there always be. WAR IS HELL! There is no other way to put it.
If you had even the slightest insight into what happened during World War 1, 2, Korea, Viet Nam, etc, we would still be only halfway through the list of apologies due from World War 1.
The soldier snapped, as they often do in combat. I have seen it first hand myself. His actions were not ordered by his commanders, or the CIC, so there was little anyone could do to prevent it. Is it a tragedy? Absolutely! Should the USA apologize for the inevitability of what war creates? Absolutely NOT! The country being liberated is and has benefited from thousands of our people dying for their cause. There is no other payment required!
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