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Okay, mind set, "these m-f-er's are gonna kill us", they won, and are "celebrating".
My son, is 24, he is in the Army. The reason he is in the Army, he is never gonna be a brain surgeon, and he needs to be told what to do, or he gets into trouble. I can see my son doing something dumb like this, and thinking he is hot stuff.
I love my son, but he is not the brightest bulb on the tree. Don't expect too much from guys we give guns to, and expect them to walk into enemy fire and shoot others.
They are good people, dedicated, who got caught up in the moment. Blame their commander.
I know, but you deflected from my actual question. "What I'm really telling people is the greatest risk we can accept is to lose the support of the people here," Gen. Stanley McChrystal told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview aired Sunday night.
"If the people are against us, we cannot be successful. If the people view us as occupiers and the enemy, we can't be successful and our casualties will go up dramatically."
Unfortunately, the actions of these soldiers will increase the threat and animosity of the locals, not win over their hearts and minds - therefore, putting more American lives at risk. In war, you are supposed to minimize risk, not exacerbate it. Therefore, it is hard to accept that people who usher accolades for this sort of action are serious about preserving lives, especially American ones on the front line.
A Marine's job is not to win hearts and minds. His job is to put a bullet in hearts and minds. Marines leave the psycho babble to the politicians and brass who comfortably "fight wars" from Pentagon offices.
Okay, mind set, "these m-f-er's are gonna kill us", they won, and are "celebrating".
My son, is 24, he is in the Army. The reason he is in the Army, he is never gonna be a brain surgeon, and he needs to be told what to do, or he gets into trouble. I can see my son doing something dumb like this, and thinking he is hot stuff.
I love my son, but he is not the brightest bulb on the tree. Don't expect too much from guys we give guns to, and expect them to walk into enemy fire and shoot others.
They are good people, dedicated, who got caught up in the moment. Blame their commander.
Which is the reason he is in the Army and not a United States Marine
Afghans are not culturally similar to ourselves in the first place; they have much more in common culturally with the Taliban. Actions perceived as desecrating Muslim remains, cultures, or customs will absolutely be noticed - OF COURSE they will care. It's a tenuous partnership to begin with.
And every act like this is two more IEDs, one of which will perhaps kill one or three more Americans.
Every act like this is one more Afghan who turns against the US and joins the enemy.
Every act like this is one more Afghan in the field who stops giving inside info to US personnel, which means perhaps one more terrorist who will get away to strike another day. How do you think intelligence in the field is gathered? For all our technology, you need people on the ground.
Every act like this is one more international ally who starts thinking twice about publicly supporting the USA in these kinds of missions, especially when they have other influences and allies to diplomatically balance in their relationships.
So even from a purely utilitarian standpoint, doing things like this is actually hurting the mission, not helping it.
That's just the thing - you think "me good, you bad, me KILL - OOGA OOGA."
In reality, it's more complicated than that and requires some strategic tact. We absolutely need to kill the bad guys, but we also need cooperation with other people there who are already on the fence about liking us in the first place and who have more commonalities with the bad guys than with us - after all, they didn't exactly invite us over. That's why this is a delicate operation and requires leadership by people with brains, not just machismo.
This one act alone isn't enough to make a difference. But keep doing this a hundred times and escalate it further, and it will become a real problem for the US. That's why they have to demonstrate that they are going to nip it in the bud.
No war is not complicated its quite easy. If you do not want to win then get out. War is easy kill or be killed especially while being shot at.Only politicians intersted in their coctail circuit makes war hard.
I know, but you deflected from my actual question. "What I'm really telling people is the greatest risk we can accept is to lose the support of the people here," Gen. Stanley McChrystal told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview aired Sunday night.
"If the people are against us, we cannot be successful. If the people view us as occupiers and the enemy, we can't be successful and our casualties will go up dramatically."
Unfortunately, the actions of these soldiers will increase the threat and animosity of the locals, not win over their hearts and minds - therefore, putting more American lives at risk. In war, you are supposed to minimize risk, not exacerbate it. Therefore, it is hard to accept that people who usher accolades for this sort of action are serious about preserving lives, especially American ones on the front line.
I spent my time in Quang Nam Province carrying the "pig" myself and this kind of stuff doesn't bother me too much. Soldiers will do things like that because...well...soldiers do things like that. It's a part of the dark humor they need to survive.
You may all find it repellant, but that's the price we pay when we send young men and women out to do the barbaric things they do in our name. Then, when the psychological consequences of what they do exacts it's terrible toll and they turn into barbarian's, we're shocked. Since most people have not seen what combat does to people, and their only experience with war is "Saving Private Ryan," they can't understand that THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.
Don't like it? Don't send someone else off to war. Before you so easily condemn those young men from your heated and padded recliners, go yourself and see what YOU are capable of doing.
that is so right on the money. War is Hell. Those dead muslims probably were trying to kill our boys before they died. We can't even begin to realize the psychological trauma that these american guys go through over there while fighting a useless war.
While I agree pissing on a some dead corpses is hardly the worst we have to worry about in a time of war, even comparing our behavior to Somali and Taliban fighters is ridiculous. So just as long as we behave just slightly better than they do we are somehow better than they are? Just as long as we urinate on their corpses but don't drag them through the streets and behead them we are are slightly better than they are? Again grow up! American used to be exceptional because of our belief in justice, humanity, liberty, etc. and while we haven't always acted in those interests it's ok nowadays to throw in the towel and say oh well atleast we aren't beheading our enemy and burning their dead bodies in the streets. REALLY? Have we sunk so low as a population that we don't have an ounce of respectable ideology left in us? And we wonder why our country is in the dishonorable mess and shambles it is in. Look around you, look at some of these posts, look at the talking heads in media. I'm glad we atleast have a leadership as much as I despise them that have come out publicly and criticized this behavior. Maybe there is some hope left.
Just as an example of how much we've changed over the years, consider this....what do you think the public reaction would have been in 1944 to a picture of American's whizzing on dead Japanese or Germans?
I doubt it would be what we're hearing today, don't you?
A lot of Marines and soldiers on the front lines are nothing but gangsters with a rifle. Sad but very true nowdays considering the recruiting standards of the US military. The more professional and highly trained SOF, SEALs, Delta etc. would never be caught doing crap like this least of all being caught videotaping it like a college fraternity.
You can't be serious....can you?
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