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WaPo: Rick Perry defends Marines accused of urinating on Afghan corpses.

Masking the Right’s disdain for the Geneva Conventions. Soldiers used to honor the GC; perhaps no longer? What do they teach modern warriors?

01/15/12 • 04:38 PM • HistoryHuman RightsLawPoliticsReligion • (8) Comments

Comments:

Typical GOP idiocy of not letting truth stand in the way of election rhetoric. How is a general pissing in a river the same as this?

Posted by BillSaysThis on 01/15/12 at 06:17 PM

Last I looked they are still training to it, let me get out my copy and see what it says about urination.

Less facetiously, I think these young men are guilty of stupid in the presence of a camera.

Unfilmed it would have gotten appropriate punishment.

Film makes it an uncomfortable international incident, so they will probably get creamed.

But we are not talking collecting ears here, either.

Posted by Emmett on 01/15/12 at 06:40 PM

No, but I’m seeing/reading a lot of ‘well, they do a lot worse.’

I believe I was spanked at least once for ‘doing what everyone else was doing.’

Perhaps the military needs to reinstitute spanking, if soldiers are going to behave like children!

Posted by Garret P Vreeland on 01/15/12 at 07:07 PM

Just a matter of perspective, I fear the punishment will greatly exceed the crime due to it’s poor timing and wide publicity. But then they are responsible for those too, so perhaps all will balance after all.

Posted by Emmett on 01/15/12 at 07:20 PM

They’ll be made examples of, no doubt. I rationalize it by saying “They were stupid enough to FILM it.”

Posted by Garret P Vreeland on 01/15/12 at 08:26 PM

I can’t even imagine how unhinged these same right wing asslickers would come if those were Taliban pissing on American soldiers. Bet no one would be saying they were kids then.

Thanks for making a recruiting film for terrorists, you dishonorable low-rent asswipes.

Posted by Elise on 01/17/12 at 12:09 AM

Emmett:> “But we are not talking collecting ears here, either.”

I’m not quite sure how to respond to that, Emmett. The, ‘hey, it could have been worse’ argument never seems to assuage me. Typically, I enjoy your comments on dm!.

Posted by Hal on 01/17/12 at 12:18 AM

Hal, I believe the ‘cutting off ears’ incident was the alleged murder of Argentine POWs - and removal of their ears - by British troops during the Falklands War. That incident was covered over by England, I believe, with no prosecutions going forward.

I think Emmett’s point is valid, given that historical precedent. How much should these yokels get punished, based on others getting a free pass on murder and ear-removal? I don’t like it, but there it is in the history books.

I feel that aside from the childish act itself, the breathtaking lack of judgment these soldiers exercised in filming their little ‘pee party’ and then posting it should be grounds for punishment in violation of the Geneva Conventions and a dishonorable discharge. Judgment is necessary in combat, and these guys showed a distinct deficit.

And as Elise said, this is being used to recruit terrorists now. Appropriate that with a dishonourable discharge they lose all VA benefits and more. This is a murderous idiocy. Murderous because their actions will endangered Americans further - it fits the stereotype of disrespecting the Muslim faith in a particularly gruesome way.

I would express what I think they’d do next if unpunished, but I don’t want to give anyone any ideas. Then again, I’ll bet what I suspect is already being widely practiced ...

Posted by Garret P Vreeland on 01/17/12 at 01:32 AM

 

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