Charles is upset by blog entries at The New Republic which indicate that U.S. soldiers are brutal and callous. He quotes a statement by a public affairs officer and here's a part laden with irony:
recommending that they talk to their Soldiers about Army values and the Warrior ethos, reminding them of the rules for blogging in uniform and also reminding them of integrity and telling the truth.
I don't know if the posts at The New Republic are true or not. Either way, we have good reason to be suspicious of the wingnut meme about our military is above reproach. We have Marines being sent back to Iraq even after they have been diagnosed with PTSD (San Diego Tribune, 3/19/06):
Cmdr. Paul S. Hammer deals with such issues daily. Hammer, a psychiatrist, is responsible for the Marine Corps' mental-health programs during this deployment rotation. He confirmed that Marines with post-traumatic stress disorder and combat stress are returning to Iraq, though he would not say how many.
This will naturally lead to aberrant behavior in a very stressful situation, something Rep. Jack Murtha warned us about over a year ago (excerpts from his 5/17/2006 press conference), speaking in part about the Haditha massacre:
They're under constant and severe stress.
This war is coming at a huge consequence, the unspoken consequence of an overstretched and overstressed force.
Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.
So it's a very serious incident, unfortunately. It shows the tremendous pressure that these guys are under every day when they're out in combat.
I think it was today's paper (that) they have an eight-page report that I looked at that shows some people with psychological problems are being given drugs and sent back into combat.
You may have read about Cpl. Trent Thomas being given bad conduct discharge and reduction in rank to private for his role in the abduction and murder of an Iraqi civilian but you may not know that Cpl. Thomas, in his 3rd deployment to Iraq, was suffering from PTSD and brain injuries (San Diego Tribune, 7/17/07):
Maria Mouratidis, said Thomas suffers from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Those ailments probably stemmed from repeated exposure to explosions and other combat factors, said Mouratidis, who heads the Traumatic Stress and Brain Injury Program at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.
The situation in Iraq has deteriorated to such an extent that one Marine described Cpl. Thomas' actions this way (AP, 7/15/07):
Lopezromo, who was not part of the squad on its late-night mission, said he saw nothing wrong with what Thomas did.
"I don't see it as an execution, sir," he told the judge. "I see it as killing the enemy."
He said Marines consider all Iraqi men part of the insurgency.
9 comments:
This is a must read. If Chuckles happens to be seeing this: Read this and howl, jackass.
Most sensible adults recognise that the world isn't black and white/ good guys vs bad guys/them vs us.
"You're either with us or against us" is the kind of rhetoric that only appeals to people too dumb to read books.
US soldiers (as with any nation) sometimes do terrible things.
It's possible for the same person to be hero one day and a psychopath the next.
War does funny things to people.
While most of the worlds teens and 20somethings are trying to get laid, partying and playing video games these poor youngsters are expected to kill and die for reasons they probably suspect are bullshit.
And - how's this for a "PC gone mad" head-fuck? - sometimes the young soldiers who do terrible things need help and treatment rather than being thrown into prison as scapegoats for failed policies.
This is why the LGF website with it's simplistic views and the childlike mentality of it's "Lizards" (America/Israel = good. Muslims/Europeans = bad) is both such depressing and compulsive viewing!
I REALLY support the troops which is why I never wanted the poor bastards sent out there to be sitting ducks and cannon fodder in the first place.
Yet another example of American extremism and intolarence that Charles diddn't bother to blog about.
Charles, are you racist?
One night in early February, John Amaechi went to bed a retired basketball player - arguably the UK's most successful - about to release his autobiography, Man in the Middle.
He woke up emblazoned across the front pages of USA Today and the New York Times. The news that his book would reveal he was gay had been leaked out by bloggers.
"It was a very strange experience," he says. "I consider myself a pretty rounded guy. I've done pretty elite things in business, sport and academics and all of a sudden I woke up one morning and I'm a 'big, black, British, gay guy'. That was frustrating at times."
His admission rocked US sport and prompted spiteful remarks from top players and death threats from the public, although the response on the whole he says has been "95% positive".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6903211.stm
The Sphinx - thanx for the link to the Maclean's article.
You're welcome =)
a question:
If free speech is so important to Europeans, and muslims are the only people to not accept the 'dignity of allowing themselves to be mocked,' why are no media organizations or blogs protesting strongly the Spanish decision to ban a cartoon? Isn't free speech an "essentially Western principle?"
http://www.osamasaeed.org/osama/200
7/07/cartoons-censor.html
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2007/07/curious-case-of-controversial-cartoons.html
Check out this thread starting at #233
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26384_Totten-_In_the_Wake_of_the_Surge
Nice?
pegcity
Off Topic but let me rant here!
Debbie Schlussel: Shamelessly exploits a tradegy.
July 23, 2007
By Debbie Schlussel
Time for another edition of "Guess the Religion." I post the story, and you guess the religion. As in most cases, it's very difficult to figure out the theology involved. Per usual, they are blaming it on the person of a certain religion's "mental illness":
Atlanta Shooting Leaves 4 Dead, Including Gunman, 2 Injured
A man neighbors described as a retired factory worker shot three people to death and wounded two others before killing himself in a southwest Atlanta home Monday, authorities said.
All of the victims were believed to be related, Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.
Police identified the gunman as Abdulaziz Ibrahim, 52. Officers also found the bodies of Hana Yusuf, 26, and Luna Tesfaye, 24, Schwartz said. Another victim, Mohammad Ibrahim, 28, died at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Three-year-old Amir Abdulhakim was in critical condition at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and Yusef Ibrahim, 27, was in stable condition at Grady, police said.
Police said they were interviewing both a teenage girl who was in the house during the shooting but was unharmed, and Abdulaziz Ibrahim's wife, who had left home shortly before the 7 a.m. shootings.
Atlanta Murder-Suicide Neighbor Charlene Weiters said the family moved into the house about 12 years ago from overseas. She said Abdulaziz Ibrahim was a retired manufacturing worker who occasionally gave the neighborhood children small toys and school supplies.
"We think he was sick, he must have been," she said between sobs. "He was so sweet, he was so sweet he wouldn't hurt anybody."
Weiters said she often saw him playing with his grandson in the yard. She said she believed Ibrahim lived in the home with his wife, three children, two nieces and two grandchildren.
Comments
Good.
Let the Muslims kill each other. They are killing each other in Iraq every day, anyway. I think we had part of our revenge for September 11, 2001.
I call it: "Internal Jihad," "Self Purification," or the "Other Jihad."
Unfortunately, they won't get any Virgins by killing each other.
Oh well, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
Posted by: Independent Conservative
Hey Debbie: Next time a non-Muslim shoots people dead at work or school you will use those tragic deaths and episodes of mental illness to remind your readers how mad, bad and dangerous those non-Muslims are, right?
"I post the story, and you guess the religion"
Cute game Debbie and it's appreciated by your dumb as fuck readers.
Haha, i was reading the outrage over this:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26410_Sarkozy-_Trust_Arabs_with_Nukes#comments
A few weeks ago it was all "God Bless France." now its back to the usual "damn surrender monkeys."
I pointed out a while ago, that sarkozy, "suggested amending the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State, mostly in order to be able to finance mosques and other Muslim institutions with public funds" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Sarkozy) and some other things that i cant remember now but would promptly get him charged with moonbattery by the LizTards.
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