This is of course disgusting and utterly indefensible. Not only for the practical, realpolitik reason that there can be few more effective ways to alienate the entire population of the Middle East, but also because it is wrong on every conceivable moral level. No matter if these dead men were Taliban fighters, we owe them the dignity in death they denied to others in life. When we give them their dignity we uphold our own. When we defile them we defile ourselves.
But consider this; the actions of these soldiers have been condemned by the Pentagon, by the President, by the US Secretary of Defense and by prominent figures from both sides of politics including former soldiers like John McCain. Pretty much the only major figure to try and excuse this incident has been the unelectable bozo, Rick Perry, which only demonstrates further why he will never be President.
The men have been identified and an investigation is already under way with action to follow. Time will tell how transparent the process will be and how appropriate the punishment will be, and this will no doubt be cause for further discussion in the future. But an important question to ask is this; can we imagine any of the above being said and done by the Taliban?
The Taliban leadership, those who order the mass execution of political enemies, who sanction the mutilation of women and the murder of children, who command their followers to blow up civilians and to capture and torture NATO troops, those who ban music and condone rape, have described the act as "barbaric". To label this as 'hypocrisy' is to cheapen the tragedy of those subjected to Taliban rule.
I say it again; any barbaric act by anyone, whether in Afghanistan or anywhere else, is to be condemned, but let's not kid ourselves that this latest scandal is anywhere near the the level of the worst atrocities being committed in Afghanistan by those politely referred to as 'insurgents'.
No comments:
Post a Comment