Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said he had viewed the video and considered it “utterly deplorable.” He telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai and pledged a full investigation.Actually, peeing on the enemy has many historical roots, including during the American Revolution. There is a minor Revolutionary Holiday called Peeing Day.
Peeing Day, sometimes called Pissing Day, is a local Holiday celebrated in Princeton, New Jersey on the second Saturday of March, which commemorates the retreat of Charles Mawhood and his troops from Princeton following the Battle of Princeton. This holiday is derived from a local tradition that the expulsion of Mawhood’s forces from Princeton involved urinating on them, and consists primarily of a loose re-enactment of this event.[6]
The Taliban seem to have their panties in a bunch over the incident.Peeing Day was first celebrated in 1877 to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Princeton. From 1877 until 1883 holiday was celebrated in January, on the exact date that British forces retreated from Princeton, but in 1884 the date of celebration was changed to March because weather conditions during the latter month were more frequently hospitable to it. Since its origin, Peeing Day has been celebrated every year except 1918, when activities which could be considered anti-British were discouraged due to the American-British Alliance of World War I.
But later on Thursday, in an official statement, the Taliban dropped references to the talks and emphasized the brutality message. “We strongly condemn the inhuman act of wild American soldiers, as ever, and consider this act in contradiction with all human and ethical norms,” the statement said.Unfortunately, the Taliban thought executing a 7-year-old boy by hanging, in June of 2010, was within human and ethical norms.
The graphic video is here.
I don't agree that this is overblown. Based on our enemy's modus operandi, this video will be used to incite hatred and "jihad" against innocents in the future. There is no question that people will die because of this, the only question is how many.
ReplyDeleteI am a current Navy officer and former enlisted submariner. I work in a building that houses approximately 20,000 people. I'm sure you know the one. Let me tell you, every one of us is embarrassed and angered by their actions. We have all been there, we know that things change when a person is "at war" and in fear of their life. Military history is filled with acts of ignorance like this that people who are in-country perpetrate without really knowing the consequences. My uncle served a particularly-gruesome tour in Vietnam. He once told me that he became an animal, in that it was "them or me," and he celebrated their death. But later he realized what it means to take a life, even that of your enemy. Clearly war requires death, and the U.S. is on the right side of this conflict and the animals who were killed by these Marines certainly deserved it. But in less than one minute, these a-holes inflicted more political and propagandistic damage than they can imagine.
Do not fall into the trap of trying to defend or excuse their actions because they wear the uniform of a U.S. Marine. They don't deserve the uniform, and they have condemned more than one of their fellow servicemembers to die by their act of arrogance and cowardice.
"They don't deserve the uniform, and they have condemned more than one of their fellow servicemembers to die by their act of arrogance and cowardice."
ReplyDeleteThat is a ridiculous statement IMHO. What the Marines did was certainly unprofessional, but it will have no impact on the Taliban. They already have maximum motivation to kill us and mutilate our bodies. It isn't like playing by the rules for many years has caused the Taliban, or anyone else for that matter, to rethink their ways. The Taliban were animals before this happened and they are animals afterward. Nothing changed on that front. What is did do was offer the military hating liberals an opportunity to pretend false outrage. Of course, their opinion hasn't changed either. They hated the military before this incident and the still hate it now.
I think this behavior was WRONG, but I really don't understand the media's overinflation of the situation. I just find it ironic that everyone is so up in arms about urinating on Afghan males considering how the Taliban treats their female citizens. The Taliban thinks it is incorrect to education females and requires women to cover their bodies from head to toe in public. The way many Afghan males treat Afghan women, metephorically, they urinate on their female citizens every day.
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