Marine Urination Video

War creates brutes. That is what it takes to kill at the drop of a hat. It dehumanizes. Those at home should not expect warriors to act as if war were tag football.

The Marine who made the video and released it betrayed his fellow soldiers. He is scum.

Arlen wrote: War creates brutes. That is what it takes to kill at the drop of a hat. It dehumanizes. Those at home should not expect warriors to act as if war were tag football.

The Marine who made the video and released it betrayed his fellow soldiers. He is scum.

I don't expect war to be tag football. But I do expect honorable warriors to still have a deep sense of respect for the lives they take. If they don't, something is very, very wrong.

In my book, only scum covers up what they know to be wrong out of some misguided sense of "loyalty". Some behavior doesn't deserve loyalty. And those that bully others into believing that it's somehow "honorable" to hide dishonorable acts are the very definition of scum in my book.

Arlen wrote: War creates brutes. That is what it takes to kill at the drop of a hat. It dehumanizes. Those at home should not expect warriors to act as if war were tag football.

The Marine who made the video and released it betrayed his fellow soldiers. He is scum.

That's the kind of betrayal I like to see.

Again, the My Lai massacre:

"When the incident became public knowledge in 1969, it prompted widespread outrage around the world. The massacre also increased domestic opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Three US servicemen who had tried to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were later denounced by several US Congressmen. They received hate mail and death threats and found mutilated animals on their doorsteps.[7] It was 30 years before they were honored for their efforts.[8]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

"Scum"? I'll wait and see. "Betrayal"? I'll wait and see. Does this "atrocity" compare to My Lai? Probably not, in terms of severity (My Lai estimates of non-combatant deaths placed at up to 500. But My Lai DID matter in terms of "The My Lai episode caused the military to re-evaluate its training with respect to the handling of noncombatants. Commanders sent troops in the Desert Storm operation into battle with the words, 'No My Lais-- you hear?'" (source: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Myl_intro.html ).

For cryin' out loud, can't we just wait to get as much of the story as we can before we condemn everyone - both the videographer and the Marines who allegedly committed this "atrocity" - as "scum".

The scum was what was occurring in FRONT of the camera...not behind it.

How do we know the body wasn't on fire prior too the vid and the guy was just putting it out?

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: The Obama administration is responsible for this. They need to apologize.

Only if they don't punish these guys the way they deserve to be punished.

You are on this planet right, the administration cannot realistically control every individual in government. But they can discipline and come up with systems to try and prevent this in the future.

You voted with the rest of us I assume, and even if you did not vote for him, by voting you accepted that your participation in the vote could result in him being president, you helped him get in by even by voting no in the system that got him there.

So why don't you applogize? Oh and if you didn't vote, then nevermind.

It's the guy that pulls the trigger, not the guy that told him to. Let's give some credit to the individual.

Yeah, it sucked. Shame shame shame. If they are Americans, well they all have family and former friends to face up to for the rest of their lives. Heck they have to live in the shame of their own bodies. That may just be punishment enough. I hear it is hard enough getting jobs after coming home. These guys are screwed if their names go public (maybe they have).

FredHayek wrote: I think it was tactless and disrespectful to your foes, but inhumane, like beheading an innocent reporter? Or throwing acid on schoolgirls on their way to class?

I think I hear your point, but somehow when I picture my wife or little ones under that urine stream, the word inhumane starts feeling right again. Ah sticks and stones will break my bones but urine will only gross me out.

Oh and I don't think we have much respect for our "foes" pee or no pee. When it comes down to it war is about killing till someone says uncle, not respect. We use words like respect associated with war to hide the fact that we are willfully killing other people or asking our govt to hire people to do it for you, your kids, your family, your friends.

Hey those guys may have peed on some corpses, but all of us asked them to make the pile of corpses to begin with. Peeing on dead people can't be nearly as bad as making them dead in the first place. Give me the two options, I will choose pee every time. Shame on us for putting these guys, who likely could have remained somewhat decent human being short of asking them to kill for us, now they felt collectively compelled to do this. I just cannot imagine these guys ever being able to look someone in the eye again. We sold their soles for revenge...and somehow I don't think we even got that.

I am feeling really good right now and have a random thought or two to spew out.

(I want to caveat this by saying that I stand by my previous post. I withhold any opinion I have about this incident and consider anyone's opinion of this who has not been in a firefight to be poop)

I see a lot of ethnocentrism in this thread.

Before every foreign port call we got a briefing from a embassy person on how to be good ambassadors and not offend the locals.

At one port o' call we had access to a bunch of ocean side resorts for the rich wealthy foreign tourist. Sailors are generally not rich or wealthy but after a bunch of paychecks at sea we could play the part.
The thing I remember is is warning about the salad. He told us that even though it was a high class place the salad was fertilized by night soil(human waste).

My thought was so. Is lettuce from human manure different from cow manure. I could be wrong but my strong impression is that he was talking from a strong cultural bias not a personal POV.



WOW, hard to believe I have been putzing around with this post for over an hour. I think I was trying to get to a point but it is too take now. Maybe tomorrow.

I wish I was as smart and as good as some on here that are damning these Marines. YOU SURE AS HELL ARE NOT IN THEIR SHOES, YOU SURE AS HELL DO NOT KNOW THIER STATE OF MIND, HOW MANY TIMES THEY HAVE DEPLOYED OVER THERE, WHAT THEY JUST WENT THROUGH OR ANYTHING. NO DAMN CLUE. IT WAS WRONG YES, BUT THE INVESTIGATION IS NOT EVEN STARTED AND UNTIL IT IS DONE NO ONE KNOWS A DAMN THING ABOUT THIS, those that served and have been in combat knows the stress levels, have most likely seen men and women crack under pressure known only to those that have been there. I have a friend that is a MARINE, awareded 4 PURPLE HEARTS, talk with him you will get a whole new perspective on this I promise you that.