Title: U.S. Soldiers In Afghanistan Charged With Keeping Body Parts As Trophies Source:
[None] URL Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzWx8zquHo&feature=youtube_gdata Published:Sep 10, 2010 Author:Staff Post Date:2010-09-10 12:02:46 by Horse Keywords:None Views:367 Comments:32
I can see going to war to defend your country. If I was of age and my country needed me to defend her, I wouldn't wait for a draft notice. I can understand the position of those that have been drafted into a-constitutional disasters such as the one we were forced to endure in Vietnam. And while I can't countenance volunteering for any of our current imperial adventures, I know many people who have. I forgive them, the ones I've known at least, because I feel their hearts were in the right place as far as their sense of patriotism goes.
However, those that commit crimes in uniform have nothing but my contempt. Killing the innocent and the unarmed, desecrating bodies, and threatening fellow soldiers with harm or death is evidence of an army that is slowly sinking into barbarism. If what they say about these fellows is true, I could care less what happens to them. They can jolly well do a stiff sentence at Leavenworth. That goes in equal measure to the men that sent them into those hell holes. They are fully as responsible in my book.
Well, I'll only say this: Whatever men have to do when they go to war, most don't resort to what these men are accused of. That should tell us that there are things that most of us rightly recoil from.
The position that these things are done in war as a matter of course don't wash with me, and I don't believe they wash with most folks.
Our society, as jaded as it is today, will speak on these things. That is as it should be.
Perhaps our grunts might try roasting and eating the enemy. That might make them sit up and take notice.
You may be correct. The culture seems to not have left the dark ages.
But ... it is historical precedent that sometimes, in order to win, an army must show itself to be exceptionally cruel and destructive.
But here is the thing. If you go to war, you go to win. You don't go to play nice. The job of a soldier is to accomplish the mission and come home alive. Playing nice doesn't enter into it.
We did not go in to win. That is the entire problem. If we aren't there to win, then we should simply pack up and go home.
Where in recent history has our military achieved a decisive victory against a popular insurgency? We can grind on as long as we can pay for it, I suppose. Sooner or later we'll have to pack up, go home and leave our client government to its fate.
If you've been exceptionally cruel and destructive and unsuccessful, where does that leave you? There will be significant blowback at home and abroad. That's for sure.
My fond wish is that we could crate up the entire CIA apparatus and sell it to some other country willing to be soiled by the results of its activities.
Don't think we would have many takers, but I'd be willing to take rock bottom bids just to get this operation off our hands.
My fond wish is that we could crate up the entire CIA apparatus and sell it to some other country willing to be soiled by the results of its activities.
Like anything else, it can be used for Good or Evil.
Our current "conflict" is one where the CIA is much better equipped to handle it than the Military. I doubt anyone with cognitive abilities would disagree.
Realistically, we need a higher quality of person in DC. Unfortunately, none are "electable" to a position where they can do any good and so the beat goes on.
However, the same cannot be said for the SS or the NKVD.
Both of those organizations were designed with different intents than the CIA. It would be rare for the CIA to handle an internal matter. The SS and NKVD were the Internal Secret Police rather than the external spy organization.
However, their missions could have been altered with much different consequences.