Marines Caught Urinating on Dead Bodies

[tlcya]

I have tremendous respect for our service men and women. This act being discussed is reprehensible. Soldiers are a cross section of humanity. They come in all colors, shapes and sizes. There are Christians, muslims, athiests, racists, compassionate souls, and every type of personality and belief structure between.

I am saddened but not shocked by this act. There are as many different types of personalities in the service as there are outside of it. I hope these particular soldiers are punished for their actions. What seperates our own military from many others is the level of trainng, discipline and accountabiliy to the American citizens that exists. We hold our military to higher standards than those countries hold theirs. Rightly so.

While I am still angry with many of the atrocities and indignities Americans have suffered at the hands of terrorists and those who would assist them, I can never accept our own soldiers retaliating with the same type of behaviors. Else how do we seperate ourselves from those terrorists and their sympathizer?

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

It's wrong and perhaps some will think this is an excuse but what do you expect? These are guys over here doing three, sometimes four or five tours of duty in one of the worst wars in modern history. I have a client who did several tours there as a medic. He wishes he could have been sent to Iraq instead. Says it's a party over there in comparison.

Now imagine, these guys are fighting day in and day out against a gruesome enemy. One willing to behead people, torture women, use little children as bait. They walk around in a perpetual state of heightened anxiety. Many come home with PTSD and if they don't end up waterboarding their children, burning their wives to death, gunning down a bunch of people or killing themselves, they are sent back, with PTSD, to do yet another tour:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...rs-and-soldiers-waterboarding-their-kids.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...the-armys-terrible-ptsd-treatment-record.html
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/s...an-in-trouble-for-waterboarding-daughter.html

Peeing on the bodies of the enemy is probably the least of what some do.

We expect these young men to come out of these situations unscathed and to act normally and sanely at all times under such circumstances. I think that's a ridiculous expectation.

Bring em' home. And when they get here, treat them with dignity. Treat their mental and physical health issues with the seriousness they deserve and with the understanding and gratitude for what those boys lost over there and will never recover. :twocents:

I agree, and add to that the fact that many of our soldiers are not even of legal age to buy a beer...but we consider them legal age to die for our country. They have suffered over there in ways we can't even pretend to understand. So while I do not condone their actions, if they had been home where they belong, their actions would never have been an issue.

 

[MarthaM]

As a veteran of Viet Nam and more importantly, someone who's been through the training, in order to be able to train someone to kill, the enemy must be dehumanized. The enemy is always spoken of in derogatory terms such as gook, kink, gerry etc. I don't know what name is currently being used but I'm sure there are some, it's a necessary part of the training. They were pissing on something less than human, in their minds. The government created them and any severe punishment would be wrong IMO.

But are they trained to desecrate the bodies after they kill them?

 

[Soulmagent]

So, you kill a man/men in their own country, on their own soil, then pee on their bodies. Nice - honor and integrity at it's finest. Is this what America has come down to?

My opinion only

I would expect for these men to kill these other men ,in their mind they have already had to dehumanize them. They were asked to do this by the U.S.A.

They have to look into the eyes of a human and see them as unhuman to save their own,and doing what they are told. After they arent viewed as human beings with families and children. The ones who cant veiw them differently then themselves have the most problems with what they have seen and done. The peeing on the bodies may have been a way to reinforce to themselves that the men who had just died were not worthy of living, so the soilders as thinking feeling human beings could continue to function .

Could have started with , a quick look arround and someone says, "damn" in wonderment ,and the next guy says "piss on em" meaning forget them etc.. and then a group of guys is like'' yeah piss on em'' Then it went farther than it should have.

We are missing the context which might explain the "how they could do something so vile" . JMO.

 

[lorann]

This sure won't be a popular post, I already know that. How many people are really shocked? Honestly? Am I sorry it happened? I am sorry it made the news and these guys will have to face discipline because of the outrage of the general public who have no idea of what it is like. Washington will have to answer to the general public - We will probably appoint a commission of senators...:maddening:



Another generation of souls to try and piece back together because they served...

 

[Nova]

As a veteran of Viet Nam and more importantly, someone who's been through the training, in order to be able to train someone to kill, the enemy must be dehumanized. The enemy is always spoken of in derogatory terms such as gook, kink, gerry etc. I don't know what name is currently being used but I'm sure there are some, it's a necessary part of the training. They were pissing on something less than human, in their minds. The government created them and any severe punishment would be wrong IMO.

Thank you for the first-hand account, Sam. It is exactly as I feared.

And I imagine that "dehumanizing the enemy" is even more a problem when friend cannot be distinguished from foe. If you dehumanize the "bad" Afghans, how do you avoid having similar feelings about the "good" Afghans?

 

[Nova]

This sure won't be a popular post, I already know that. How many people are really shocked? Honestly? Am I sorry it happened? I am sorry it made the news and these guys will have to face discipline because of the outrage of the general public who have no idea of what it is like. Washington will have to answer to the general public - We will probably appoint a commission of senators...:maddening:



Another generation of souls to try and piece back together because they served...

I'm not shocked at all, lorann. I wasn't shocked by the My Lai massacre either, an atrocity far, far worse than this incident. I assume that when we keep young people in fear for their lives for months on end, at least a few of them will act out in unfortunate ways.

There were atrocities in the so-called "good wars" such as WWII, as well and on all sides. Most of them were not reported until many years after the fact. Soldiers didn't carry phones with built-in movies cameras in those days.

This is by NO means to demean our troops in general or to take away from the heroic sacrifices they make.

I'm only saying that human beings can only survive under such dire circumstances for so long before some of them crack.

 

[MyBelle]

But are they trained to desecrate the bodies after they kill them?

I doubt they are taught the enemy's body is sacred after they kill them.

JMO

 

[Candy_Pickletoes]

The Utopia - "if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them"

We teach our soldiers to kill, war teaches them to hate, they watch their brothers being brutalized and murdered, yet we condemn them when they act out upon happenings in their world, a world many of us could never even come close to imagining.

The only thing I take exception to is that it was videotaped and put on youtube. Other than that, none of us can even pretend to know the happenings 15 - 30 minutes prior to that 1 minute video. Therefore, I cannot pass judgement on these military men, I can only thank them (and all service men) for waking up every day and fighting for MY right to be sitting here typing these very words.

Mine may not be the most popular opinion but I wouldn't be being honest if I simply sat here and typed how disgusted I was with this act. The fact is, I'm not disgusted with the act of urinating on men who were most likely attempting to take the lives of those soldiers.

MOO

 

[animlzrule]

I agree, and add to that the fact that many of our soldiers are not even of legal age to buy a beer...but we consider them legal age to die for our country. They have suffered over there in ways we can't even pretend to understand. So while I do not condone their actions, if they had been home where they belong, their actions would never have been an issue.

We also have to remember that they were not FORCED into the military. There hasn't been a draft for decades. Lets not pretend that our military ranks are composed of exclusively benevolent, peace loving, necessarily intelligent innocents. Some are, some aren't, just like in regular society. But I find it hard to swallow that any of them thought they were joining the military to ultimately enjoy soaking up the sun, see the world, and spread peace and love. Yes, many have seen brutal, horrifying things. But what did they expect? Particularly those who joined after it was well known that the leaders of our country at the time were sending them to an invasion justified under false pretenses. Now, just because they've gotten more than they bargained for, I can't be so cavalier as to let them off the hook for perpetrating atrocities and allowing themselves to regress to their basest instincts. The whole thing, the wars, the Taliban, these soldiers, Al Qaeda, our former administration---they're all disgusting. And the fact that it was filmed???? They found this entertaining. So that's the caliber of some of our soldiers. Nice.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Thank God for ALL of our soldiers.

JMO

 

[animlzrule]

This also shows a stunning lack of regard for their fellow soldiers. Even if they have nothing but blood lust for "the enemy", you'd think they'd be cognizent of the PR implications of this thing. We're they really that naive? I wouldn't want one of them moving in next door to me when they get back. And how shameful for their families. Then again, people that are compelled to do this kind of thing probably weren't raised with the most sterling examples of civilized conduct to begin with.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Many join for college funding. For some that's the only way to get an education.
They provide service for our country in return.

I find it horrid that people here sit in their nice safe homes and refer to our soldiers as uneducated.

God bless our armed forces!
No matter what level of formal education they have. Their arses are on the line. Not ours.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

They can move next door to me. I'd be honored. I'll even cook them a Gumbo.

 

[animlzrule]

Many join for college funding. For some that's the only way to get an education.
They provide service for our country in return.

I find it horrid that people here sit in their nice safe homes and refer to our soldiers as uneducated.

God bless our armed forces!
No matter what level of formal education they have. Their arses are on the line. Not ours.

I find it horrid that some people hold the members of our armed forces to such low standards. Scary.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I don't hold them to low standards but I respect what they do. I will never bash them and call them uneducated.

They get military training.

May not be up to par as far as education goes for some, but it's fine with me.

I fully appreciate every single one of them.

 

[Falcon500]

Funny how hardly anyone has a problem with the same Marine unit shooting high explosive rounds at the enemy, filling their chests full of bullets, blowing their heads off, and yet we ring our hands and whine about urinating on a dead body.

Soldiers have done this sine the United States had an armed forces. In the Civil War Union troops cut off ears of rebels and kept them as souvenirs. In WWII the same basic things happen. During WWII my father and an uncle talked of soldiers sticking things in the mouths of German soldiers and also urinating on the bodies of SS troops. In Vietnam the First Air Cavalry pried open the mouths of dead VC and inserted the ace of spades as a calling card.

War is hell. I have been in one. People do things to their enemies that they would never do in any other setting. The reason that many whiners are offended by this is because of the digital age where there are photos and videos. Why aren't they offended or speak out about the four contractors who were set afire and left to hang on a bridge in Iraq by our enemy? Why wasn't their an outcry by liberals about our soldiers and civilians being beheaded by these savages?

Anything to hurt the reputation of the United States and these people are all in.

 

[Nova]

Funny how hardly anyone has a problem with the same Marine unit shooting high explosive rounds at the enemy, filling their chests full of bullets, blowing their heads off, and yet we ring our hands and whine about urinating on a dead body.

Soldiers have done this sine the United States had an armed forces. In the Civil War Union troops cut off ears of rebels and kept them as souvenirs. In WWII the same basic things happen. During WWII my father and an uncle talked of soldiers sticking things in the mouths of German soldiers and also urinating on the bodies of SS troops. In Vietnam the First Air Cavalry pried open the mouths of dead VC and inserted the ace of spades as a calling card.

War is hell. I have been in one. People do things to their enemies that they would never do in any other setting. The reason that many whiners are offended by this is because of the digital age where there are photos and videos. Why aren't they offended or speak out about the four contractors who were set afire and left to hang on a bridge in Iraq by our enemy? Why wasn't their an outcry by liberals about our soldiers and civilians being beheaded by these savages?

Anything to hurt the reputation of the United States and these people are all in.

Maryland, I have protested all those things. But after 10 years, I tend to think nobody is listening.

 

[tlcya]

Funny how hardly anyone has a problem with the same Marine unit shooting high explosive rounds at the enemy, filling their chests full of bullets, blowing their heads off, and yet we ring our hands and whine about urinating on a dead body.

Soldiers have done this sine the United States had an armed forces. In the Civil War Union troops cut off ears of rebels and kept them as souvenirs. In WWII the same basic things happen. During WWII my father and an uncle talked of soldiers sticking things in the mouths of German soldiers and also urinating on the bodies of SS troops. In Vietnam the First Air Cavalry pried open the mouths of dead VC and inserted the ace of spades as a calling card.

War is hell. I have been in one. People do things to their enemies that they would never do in any other setting. The reason that many whiners are offended by this is because of the digital age where there are photos and videos. Why aren't they offended or speak out about the four contractors who were set afire and left to hang on a bridge in Iraq by our enemy? Why wasn't their an outcry by liberals about our soldiers and civilians being beheaded by these savages?

Anything to hurt the reputation of the United States and these people are all in.

Whiners? Really?

 

[tlcya]

God bless America and the very Military we discuss who fight and die for my right to express my disagreement (whine)to my heart' s content.