American troops burning bodies

[ed4tide4u2]

It has been a while since I last posted though I review this board often and enjoy the differing points of view. I would like to get the point of view of members in regard to the video showing American troops burning the bodies of Taliban prisoners and then using loudspeakers to taunt the village and Taliban calling them ladyboys for failing to retrieve the bodies. The video was shown on CNN tonight. It is reported that the bodies were turned towards Mecca as an insult to their faith. This is a very serious transgression for Muslims all over the world. The State Dept. and the U.S. Command spokesman in Afghanistan have both condemned the act and promised that those guilty will be punished. I am a Vietnam veteran and know about atrocities in war. At some point, we as Americans must refuse to engage in such acts. After the situation with the prison scandal, we do not need to further incite an already bad situation. We now have over 1996 Americans killed in Iraq and the situation in Afghanistan has seen an increase in casualties this year also.

American servicemen and women are facing an onslaught from an insurgency in Iraq and increasing hostilities in Afghanistan. The actions of a few will cause many more to face danger. These are not the traditions of the American military. We as a nation have always condemned atrocities and instances of Americans participating in such acts. This act committed in Afghanistan was in my opinion, heinous and very counterproductive to any effort to win the 'hearts and minds' of the populace where we are fighting and dying. The insurgents in Iraq will also use this to cause more havoc. Will we ever have an exit strategy if we have to continue to fight? This is a bad situation that our troops are now in. History will judge the right or wrong of this war and the decisions made by those who wished to prosecute it. I pray for our troops every day and hate that a few misguided ones will cause them more hardship.
Our cause was just in Afghanistan as opposed to what is now known about Iraq. If we had concentrated our efforts and placed the resources there that we placed mistakenly in Iraq, we would have captured the culprits behind the WTC bombings. We still have not and the wars go on. When will they end? Osama must be pleased. His war goes on and we give him fuel to stoke the masses. We should concentrate our efforts in the Afghanistan/Pakistan area to capture the ones who attacked us and develop an exit strategy for Iraq that is more than conjecture, as soon as possible. IMO

 

[NYBamaFan]

My feeling - war is hell on earth. You do what you must to win, because the alternative is death, or worse...

 

[CrimsonKing]

What am I supposed to think? It warms my heart knowing we're keeping those people in their place. Now they'll never try and do something awful over here, right?

I know, those silly bleeding heart liberals will say that burning bodies and pointing them toward Mecca might make the average teen in Saudi Arabia, you know, seethe with uncontrollable rage. And maybe turn his life over to fundamentalist causes. And then either blow himself up while taking eight of our Marines with him, or maybe travel in America's direction with a car full of fertilizer. But I'm sure psy-ops thought all that through.

Keep up the good work and give 'em hell!

 

[Bamaro]

It has been a while since I last posted though I review this board often and enjoy the differing points of view. I would like to get the point of view of members in regard to the video showing American troops burning the bodies of Taliban prisoners and then using loudspeakers to taunt the village and Taliban calling them ladyboys for failing to retrieve the bodies. The video was shown on CNN tonight. It is reported that the bodies were turned towards Mecca as an insult to their faith. This is a very serious transgression for Muslims all over the world. The State Dept. and the U.S. Command spokesman in Afghanistan have both condemned the act and promised that those guilty will be punished. I am a Vietnam veteran and know about atrocities in war. At some point, we as Americans must refuse to engage in such acts. After the situation with the prison scandal, we do not need to further incite an already bad situation. We now have over 1996 Americans killed in Iraq and the situation in Afghanistan has seen an increase in casualties this year also.

American servicemen and women are facing an onslaught from an insurgency in Iraq and increasing hostilities in Afghanistan. The actions of a few will cause many more to face danger. These are not the traditions of the American military. We as a nation have always condemned atrocities and instances of Americans participating in such acts. This act committed in Afghanistan was in my opinion, heinous and very counterproductive to any effort to win the 'hearts and minds' of the populace where we are fighting and dying. The insurgents in Iraq will also use this to cause more havoc. Will we ever have an exit strategy if we have to continue to fight? This is a bad situation that our troops are now in. History will judge the right or wrong of this war and the decisions made by those who wished to prosecute it. I pray for our troops every day and hate that a few misguided ones will cause them more hardship.
Our cause was just in Afghanistan as opposed to what is now known about Iraq. If we had concentrated our efforts and placed the resources there that we placed mistakenly in Iraq, we would have captured the culprits behind the WTC bombings. We still have not and the wars go on. When will they end? Osama must be pleased. His war goes on and we give him fuel to stoke the masses. We should concentrate our efforts in the Afghanistan/Pakistan area to capture the ones who attacked us and develop an exit strategy for Iraq that is more than conjecture, as soon as possible. IMO

Very well put, I couldn't agree more.

 

[Bamanet]

Full story???

Before passing judgement, shouldn't we know the FULL story? Do we know what really happened?? Or is this just another case of jumping to conclusions?
I hope, for the sake of our troops over there, that there is more to this than what we're seeing. Of course, most major networks only want that part which villifies our troops. The prison scandal shows that there are a few bad apples in every batch, but for the most part our guys over there are good, decent folks who are trying to make this world a better place to live in. And, as human beings, don't they deserve a free country? I just don't know so I'm waiting to find out the whole story. I saw on one network that it seems ok to burn American bodies and hang them from a bridge, but, if it happens to one of them, then we are the bad ones. IT'S BAD NO MATTER WHO DOES IT!!!

 

[BamaNation]

rightly or wrongly what was done was done.

Now, isn't it interesting that the media, et.al. is always concerned about what our soldiers do "that might make 'them' (the arab street) mad"?

How about the shouting of "death to america" or the "burning of our flag" or "the decapitating of civilians" or "the raping of hostages" or the REAL torture of OUR soldiers?

frankly, i would be less concerned if we dug a big whole, captured any militant or terrorist, and napalmed them burning alive in that pit.

 

[Bamaro]

I saw on one network that it seems ok to burn American bodies and hang them from a bridge, but, if it happens to one of them, then we are the bad ones. IT'S BAD NO MATTER WHO DOES IT!!!

And what 'network' was that, al Jazeera?

 

[Bodhisattva]

Now, isn't it interesting that the media, et.al. is always concerned about what our soldiers do "that might make 'them' (the arab street) mad"?

It's PCI (Political Correctness International). Apparently we can kill the enemy; we just cannot offend the enemy.

How about the shouting of "death to america" or the "burning of our flag" or "the decapitating of civilians" or "the raping of hostages" or the REAL torture of OUR soldiers?

PCI only applies to the U.S. By PCI standards, to apply PCI to other countries would be not recognizing and respecting their culture, and is therefore a violation of PCI. To believe otherwise makes you an arrogant, imperialistic American, which is in violation of PCI.

Shame on you.

 

[jthomas666]

It's PCI (Political Correctness International). Apparently we can kill the enemy; we just cannot offend the enemy.

PCI only applies to the U.S. By PCI standards, to apply PCI to other countries would be not recognizing and respecting their culture, and is therefore a violation of PCI. To believe otherwise makes you an arrogant, imperialistic American, which is in violation of PCI.

Shame on you.

I think you're oversimplifying things a bit, Bodhi.

Offending the enemy isn't the issue. You want to offend the enemy, release digitally-doctored photos of Bin Laden molesting livestock. That offends the enemy, and amuses everyone else

But the action described by ed4tide4u2 (if that's what actually happened) goes way beyond offending the enemy--it offends all of Islam, only a small fraction of which is the enemy. What good does it do to offend the enemy if in the process we p*** off others whom we want as friends?

 

[ed4tide4u2]

Both the State Department of the U.S. and the U.S. Military Command in Afghanistan have both condemned this act and pleaded with the populace to not let this one act impair their impression of all American troops. I have seen war and it is very ugly. However, when we begin to commit the atrocities that our enemies commit, we are then no better than them. As I said, this is not the tradition of the American Military and never has been. If it is deemed to be okay now because of perceived atrocities committed against us, we have turned a serious corner in our beliefs of right and wrong. The media is not the ones propagating their disgust with this act. It is the American Military and State Department speaking out now. America right or wrong does not apply to commission of atrocities in war. Every soldier in war deserves a decent burial according to their faith whenever possible. The Geneva Convention stipulates this. The bodies should have been buried. If some want to wait until the 'full' story comes out, their comments should be directed to the U.S. Government which is the primary spokesperson of disgust at the present time. I agree with the U.S. Government in this instance and hope that this sort of thing never happens again. I will continue to pray for our troops and hope that we do not become the barbarians that our enemies are.

 

[Bama_Dawg]

My feeling - war is hell on earth. You do what you must to win, because the alternative is death, or worse...

If you would, explain how facing corpses toward Mecca helps you "win" the war on terror.

 

[Bama_Dawg]

rightly or wrongly what was done was done.

Tautologies are fun, aren't they? But what's your argument? That we can't judge the morality of something that occurred in the past?

 

[CrimsonKing]

Tautologies are fun, aren't they? But what's your argument? That we can't judge the morality of something that occurred in the past?

Of course! Just like we did after the Alamo, General Sherman, Pearl Harbor and 9/11. After a year or so, everyone was like (shrug), get over it already!

Or am I thinking of next year's history book?

 

[It's On A Slab]

If you would, explain how facing corpses toward Mecca helps you "win" the war on terror.

Well, it certainly helps win the hearts and minds.

In the same way that kicking suspected VC collaborators out of helos and dropping napalm on villages helped win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people.

I think we should do more of this. It will help get our boys home sooner.

 

[NYBamaFan]

If you would, explain how facing corpses toward Mecca helps you "win" the war on terror.

I won't waste my time...

 

[Bama_Dawg]

I won't waste my time...

Then let me offer a shortcut: admit you said something you can't rationally justify.

 

[NYBamaFan]

Then let me offer a shortcut: admit you said something you can't rationally justify.

Wrong - I was a soldier in the 10th Mountain Division. I have experienced combat. I will not try and explain something like this to someone who is only interested in criticizing our soldiers.

Bush didn't do this. Neither did Rumsfield. You were not there. Do not judge something that you do not understand...

 

[Bodhisattva]

I think you're oversimplifying things a bit, Bodhi.

Of course I'm oversimplifying (notice the winking face in my previous post), but not by as much as I'd like. I've never seen a country worry about the "feelings" of its enemy the way the U.S. does presently.

Offending the enemy isn't the issue. You want to offend the enemy, release digitally-doctored photos of Bin Laden molesting livestock. That offends the enemy, and amuses everyone else

I have little doubt that that tactic would be condemned by the press corps as well.

But the action described by ed4tide4u2 (if that's what actually happened) goes way beyond offending the enemy--it offends all of Islam, only a small fraction of which is the enemy. What good does it do to offend the enemy if in the process we p*** off others whom we want as friends?

Well, the actions of the Taliban and al Queda are supposedly offensive to Islam. (BTW, does anyone not care about "offending all of Christianity"?) The selective collective outrage is starting to bore me. The Arab street are leemings. Whether the burning of bodies occured or not (and I sincerely hope it did not), the truth won't matter because the press report will be portrayed as truth by our enemies.

 

[CrimsonKing]

Of course I'm oversimplifying (notice the winking face in my previous post), but not by as much as I'd like. I've never seen a country worry about the "feelings" of its enemy the way the U.S. does presently.

You just put the finger on the problem. We aren't at war with Iraq, and the Iraqi people aren't the enemy. Neither are muslims in general.

Instead, we're at war with terrorists, and we're supposed to be making allies out of non-terrorist muslims in part by making Iraq into a peaceful democracy. In fact, doing that is maybe the ONLY way to win the war on terror, since if we don't do it they'll never run out of suicide bombers.

It's hard to blame people for forgetting that these days. This war is so different from all other wars we've fought as to confuse the heck out of people.

 

[BhamTide]

I think anyone who has a problem with this should volunteer for the military today and go to the Middle East and show our soldiers the proper etiquette for war.

And, please, write home often and let us know how things are going.