One of several embarrassing episodes of US troops behaving badly in occupied Afghanistan came to an end today, when the military announced that the three US Marines who were caught on video urinating on the corpses of slain Afghan militants will not face any criminal charges.
Instead, the military is playing up a possible “administrative” reaction to the video, likely to include a formal reprimand or at best the docking of some of their pay. The video was leaked in January, but was actually taken in July of 2011.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with tribal elders in the area in which the video was taken at the time, loudly condemning it and demanding action. The US had promised to hold the troops accountable to the fullest extent, which apparently was not accountable at all.
US officials said the video was being used by militant groups as a recruitment tool, and the Marines insisted it was against their policy to do so. The desecration of corpses during a war is a serious crime under the US Uniform code of Military Justice as well as the Geneva Conventions.
They are Marin's, they are the representative of the US army, US army is proud to have them around for another time when they are at war with another country.
The meaning of your post is understood, but one small technical note: the Marines are a completely separate branch of the US armed forces (actually they are part of the Navy), and if you tell a Marine he's representing the Army you'll probably get punched in the face 😀
No criminal charges…despite being a war crime under UCMJ and the Geneva Conventions… I could understand the whitewashing of war crimes committed by Bushco/Obama – didn't agree but understand the justification such as it is – they're elites…Archons…and whatever they do is, of course, in our best interest…but to whitewash this one? Why? This was a learning moment – could have sent a serious message for the troops – and the world – that we are not entirely savages…yet. These Marines are not "heroes" (that term no longer means anything)…they are not elites and never will be…they should have been subjected to the full intent of the law. By NOT sacrificing them a message of a different sort has been sent…WE ARE ABOVE THE LAW!!!!
I know, when a Vietcong would skin an American legs and stuff his bag in his mouth, the north didn't do anything about it. I wonder if this ever drives Americans to do the things they do in combat. Walk a mile in their boot's.
Oh, well, of course, that justifies stooping to their level…what was I thinking.
I wonder what the reaction would be if a video were released showing Taliban fighters urinating on the corpses of dead Marines or soldiers. You would go deaf from the howls of indignation from New York to LA, and the calls for 'nuking' Afghanistan would clog the airwaves.
The Marines were just following orders.
I doubt there were "orders" – putting stuff like that on paper has never been how they do things – however there was definitely a trained response – the dehumanization of the enemy from day 1 of boot camp…hell, they're even showing up for boot indoctrinated already believing them to be subhuman…just state-sanctioned target shooting. We're subjected to a meme day and night that the Afghanis/Iraqis/Iranians are unworthy of respect – not worthy of being a full participant in the world society. So, I guess it's not surprising when the troops display in full theater the mindset we've instilled in our young. We get what we ask for.
As expected. When you whore your soul to the Empire in exchange for a community college education, you can expect them to kill you themselves, kick you to the curb when they're done with you, use you, abuse you, brainwash you, disrespect you and on and on. But slaughter women and children, commit the most heinous of war crimes and they'll have your back, each and every single time. Hence the reason why the army and police are such perfect cover for psychopaths all across the land.