harmony

[David Jamieson]

Being a philosophical wad, I tend to go with the Krishna attitude in regards to the deaths of the Taliban insurgents IE: They are already dead, even before they are shot.

I don't take issue with crushing the Taliban, routing them and destroying their network. In fact, I support that both in voice and in tax dollars.

As I am not in the field facing the insurgency, I cannot know what is in the minds of our service people when dealing with the daily attacks and attempts at taking their lives.

So, while I see the peeing thing as a lack of control on those individuals accounts, I understand the emotion behind it. I understand why the soldiers despise the Taliban and all they stand for. Although they (the Taliban) fashion themselves as "scholars" they are fools and evil and should be destroyed as is the way.

I think that much is abundantly clear, unless you are a self loathing sympathizing hippy sitting in these lands and casting aspersion upon our actions at every opportunity, in which case, go there, take up an ak-47 and stand against us.

seriously.

[wenshu]

For those unfamiliar... the law of war, as it pertains to "shooting people to death".

-You can only shoot at someone if they are shooting at you or others, or are clearly about to blow up either themselves or an IED via command wire (this is a lot more obvious to spot than you think).

-If you wound someone to the point they are no longer a threat, you administer aid to them once the fight is over.

These guys are much more valuable to us if captured alive. Unfortunately, circumstances often dictate otherwise.

Escalation of force (EOF), is taken very seriously down here.

Good info about the rules of engagement.

Not trying to second guess the actions and justifications of some twenty year old kids getting shot at and blown up all day in the middle of Afghanistan. Just wanted to make a point about the ridiculous hypocrisy of righteous indignation over the desecration of a corpse when the focus should be on the horrors of war itself.

[Drake]

Good info about the rules of engagement.

Not trying to second guess the actions and justifications of some twenty year old kids getting shot at and blown up all day in the middle of Afghanistan. Just wanted to make a point about the ridiculous hypocrisy of righteous indignation over the desecration of a corpse when the focus should be on the horrors of war itself.

Nobody likes war. Nobody likes deployments.

It's not hypocrisy. It's trying to maintain some sense of dignity, especially since a lot of people have respect for the dead. Sure, it's just a lifeless husk, but urinating on it is disrespectful. It's not the act. It's the message. This is a virtually universal cultural norm that you will not change.

[wenshu]

This is a virtually universal cultural norm that you will not change.

You're still missing the point. I didn't say it wasn't a violation of decency nor am I trying to change anything.

Stateside you rarely hear anything about Afghanistan; recently this has been the biggest thing. No one really talks about it being, you know, A WAR.

[Syn7]

We're weeding them out now. We're in the process of drawing down, so if you have a blip on your record, you are out. The military is about to get much, much smaller.

There was a time when people with felonies could get in. Now we are a lot more picky. But if you think this is bad, this is nothing compared to the outlandish crap that happened in Vietnam. But, ultimately, every time you look at the Army, know you are looking at a cross-section of America. Those guys ****ing on the corpses? They didn't learn that from us. It was always part of them. Always something they could have done anywhere if they had the chance. Keep that in mind.

word. it's about time you guys leaned up. gross ineficiency cannot be allowed to keep on keepin on. i think yall should redeploy everyone a wee bit closer to home. there is no need to have a base everywhere when you keep telling everyone you arent here to meddle. its a serious contradiction.

good to see screening is tightening up. bout time.

[Syn7]

Being a philosophical wad, I tend to go with the Krishna attitude in regards to the deaths of the Taliban insurgents IE: They are already dead, even before they are shot.

I don't take issue with crushing the Taliban, routing them and destroying their network. In fact, I support that both in voice and in tax dollars.

As I am not in the field facing the insurgency, I cannot know what is in the minds of our service people when dealing with the daily attacks and attempts at taking their lives.

So, while I see the peeing thing as a lack of control on those individuals accounts, I understand the emotion behind it. I understand why the soldiers despise the Taliban and all they stand for. Although they (the Taliban) fashion themselves as "scholars" they are fools and evil and should be destroyed as is the way.

I think that much is abundantly clear, unless you are a self loathing sympathizing hippy sitting in these lands and casting aspersion upon our actions at every opportunity, in which case, go there, take up an ak-47 and stand against us.

seriously.

its always ironic when some middle class tree hugger living a cushy lifes criticizes the very machine that fed him the excess comforts he believes he actually deserves. these people are delusional.

[Syn7]

Nobody likes war. Nobody likes deployments.

It's not hypocrisy. It's trying to maintain some sense of dignity, especially since a lot of people have respect for the dead. Sure, it's just a lifeless husk, but urinating on it is disrespectful. It's not the act. It's the message. This is a virtually universal cultural norm that you will not change.

personally i don't really care if somebody wants to pee on an empty vessel. what pi$ses me off is that these as$holes put everyone in even more danger by stirring up a hornets nest of angry support. this one act of needless aggression will be responsible for the deaths of some their brothers in arms. even if it is indirect. it just adds fuel to the fire that they are supposed to be extinguishing. not exactly 'hearts and minds' kinda people ay!!!