Respect for You're Enemy

While researching for my last blog post, I found an article that I wanted to blog about but thought I should talk about it in a seperate post.  Here is the article.  I chose to blog about this incident in a seperate post because I think they are two very different situations.  In the first post, while contrevercial, the soldiers could have simply been misleaded.  This, however, is disgusting and unacceptable.  

As you can see, a video has been leaked of marines urinating on the bloodied bodies of Taliban fighters.  Apparently in the video, one of the marines says, "Have a great day, buddy".  The Taliban responded to the video in the following way, "We strongly condemnthe inhuman act of wild American soldiers, as ever, and consider this act in contradiction with all human and ethical norms.”    Hilary Clinton, secretary of state, indicated that "It is absolutely inconsistent with American values and the standards we expect from our military personnel.”  

I realize that I could never understand what soldiers who serve abroad are going throught.  This was the marines' second tour of afghanistan.  The stress they were under must be immeasurable but something must be done to preven such acts of inhumanity.  Perhapes better counseling to teach respect for enemy or stress relief should be offered.  Something must be done to preserve the values and ideals America stands for.

Symbols

Religious rights activists have recently called for the prosecution of a Scout Sniper team stationed in Afghanistan after the release of the photo to the right.

If you don't recognize the lower flag they are posing by, it is the flag of the Nazi SS.  The Marines claim that many Scout Sniper squads use it because the two S's represent "Scout Sniper".  They argue that, while they understand it might have and offensive connotation, they do not mean it to have any affiliation to the Nazi SS.

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation believes that “If these guys just get a non-judicial punishment, it’s absolutely absurd.”  Thus far there has been no judicial punishment, however the scouts have been removed from Afghanistan.  A Marine official argued that, “We don’t believe these Marine Corps snipers had a historical appreciation for what this symbol meant.”


While it is hard for me to criticize the actions of those who chose to serve while I am here at home, far out of harm's reach, it is hard for me to accept that there are no other connotations other than the acronym.  There are plenty of ways to display the two letters, SS, why do they feel the need to display the exact flag of one of the most horrible organizations ever to exist.  It is my opinion that while there should be no judicial punishment, Marine officials would be more aggressive in making sure that such a sensitive issue is left alone.


Please comment with your opinion!