Tough Talk with Colonel Hunt

Burning Bodies Redux

OK, time to get this one right. Being in combat is very difficult; being in guerilla war is so much worse. There are no battle lines, the bad guys never have uniforms, they seldom stand and fight, they cheat, they cut off your heads, they burn and hang your body from bridges and they fly planes into buildings. It is hell on earth.

Being in combat hurts. It is debilitating. I am not talking about the bar room tough guys or the TV warriors or the muscle guys who walk around telling everyone that they were Navy SEALS and were not; I am talking about having been in real combat—the killed-the-enemy kind of combat.

Most who have done it never talk about it. They almost never tell stories or brag about it and when the guy at the end of the bar or the guy on the blog starts yelling about blood and guts and being real men and a ton of other bullshit, we usually walk away shaking our heads. But I will try one more time to explain it to you...

Soldiers who survive combat do so because of their courage, their training and their buddies. Most soldiers kill only when they have to and do so reluctantly and even then they are affected by it for the rest of their lives. A soldiers’ psyche or what we loosely call their humanity survives only because the horrific act of killing is authorized, legal and rewarded by their government and even then it still leaves scars. This I know.

When we talk about desecrating and burning bodies, an act made illegal in both civilian and military courts, what we are really talking about is the humanity, hearts and souls of our soldiers.

The Code of Conduct, The Rules of Land Warfare, The Geneva Convention, were drawn up and written down, in part, to try to save soldiers’ humanity. They were designed in an effort to protect that which makes them human. If we say it is ok to burn bodies then we send our men and women down the road to hell that is littered with the dismembering of bodies, collecting ears, rape, murder and more.

When we justify our actions by pointing to atrocities committed by the enemy, when we do the things that they do, when we become like them we become them. We become the thing we hate.

What we need are leaders that stop soldiers from doing harm to themselves; leaders that were not present in Afghanistan when soldiers burned two bodies, in broad daylight in front of an film crew.

I don’t care a damn about the Taliban bodies that were burned or the Muslim religious laws that were violated. I don’t give a damn about those things. But I do care that the soldiers who did this will probably be messed up for the rest of their lives. I do care that there leaders did not protect their men and say, “Wait, stop...” I do care that the leaders did not take care of their guys.

Let me be very clear, if burning the bodies was really necessary, then the leaders should have done it and taken the hit for it. They should not have allowed their soldiers to do it. Also, the leaders should have never allowed the cameras to be there--period. I do not agree that the bodies needed to be burned but if the guy on the ground made that call then the leader of that organization should be the one doing the deed.

There are many more aggressive and effective things we should be doing in this War on Terrorism, like killing bad guys in their sleep, using whore houses as intelligence collection points, pitting Imams against other Imams, bombing Damascus and Tehran, finding and killing bin Laden and Zarqawi. These things work; burning bodies only diminishes us and hurts those that do it, in ways to terrible to contemplate and too difficult to explain to those who have never been there.

Other links on this topic:

Stop the ACLU, Cao's Blog and Big Dog's Weblog

BlackFive, Jason Coleman, and Hyscience

or Independent Conservative

Burnt to a Crisp

Using unsavory methods, threatening to do terrible things, faking it, twisting it, propaganda, lying—all of these things are fair in war. (Not in love, but yes, in war.) So, when two American Soldiers were accused of turning two dead Taliban bodies away from Mecca and burning them; it got my attention and probably yours.

I like the idea of letting the Taliban think we are burning bodies. I like the idea of adding things to the fire so that it smells like we are burning dead bodies. . I like the idea of showing the pictures of the burnt, dead bodies. I like all of it, right up to the time when we actually burn the bodies. Actually burning the dead bodies is a HUGE no-no.

We are a nation of laws. We have rules. We have a thing called the code of conduct, and the rules of land mine warfare and the Geneva Conventions. All of those things say that mutilating the enemy is wrong. All of them say that it is actually a crime.

It is very difficult to regulate, legislate or otherwise control the manner in which a human being kills another, be it in War or any other time. It is even more difficult to control soldiers fighting an enemy that does not share the same belief system, laws or concerns.

However, we, as Americans, are expected to do just that. It might not be fair but it is the law.

Our government will investigate and prosecute those responsible, if in fact one of the good guys went stupid and actually burned an enemy soldiers’ body. First let us make sure its true then, punish the guilty and move out.

This is an aberration and should not reflect on the entire American Military but like Abu Ghraib it will to some countries and of course the always "fail" New York Times.

Links to discussions on this topic:

WMD, BlackFive, Riehl World View

New York Did the Right Thing..

Information was “captured” in Iraq was analyzed by the CIA and the FBI. The information was finally sent to those most affected, the people of New York City, who in turn, reacted. New York City did exactly the right thing. The Department of Homeland Security, who gave them the information, did what they usually do. They did nothing and then they passed judgment on those who acted.

New York City has arguably the best large-city police department in the world, especially when it comes to their approach to Terrorism. The Big Apple has its own intelligence service, liaison officers as well as highly trained terrorism experts. The Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, a good man, has real power. He can actually tell people what to do without forming a committee or asking “mother may I” to twelve other politically motivated bureaucrats. Kelly can get things done.

When New York City got the word that they might be attacked by multiple suicide bombers, they did not hesitate. They went full throttle and called out the Terrorists. They went public, the city mobilized and they did all they could and then some.

The Federal government pointed fingers. They carped. They parsed. They blamed. The city of New York yelled at the terrorists, "WE KNOW YOU, WE WILL FIND YOU." The Federal Government said, “We doubt the credibility… blah, blah, blah.

Nice going, New York. Shame on you Department of Homeland Security—again.

What? Katrina was not enough of an embarrassment for you?

Today we learned that the intel was wrong. Yea! No one knew that four days ago. It doesn’t change anything. Those in charge get paid to make tough calls. New York did exactly the right thing.

NEWS LINKS

FOX, AOL, MSNBC, Washington Post

BLOGS

The Counter Terrorism Blog

EDITORIAL

NY Times

They don't care

They don't care about the Soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. So we are clear, THEY are the leaders in the Pentagon; none of them care. Not one from the rank of Lieutenant to Four Star General--not the Civilian Managers. None of them care about the Soldiers and Marines fighting for us. The guys fighting for us already don't get adequate pay, adequate housing, or adequate training. They don't get adequate veterans benefits. All of that is bad enough, but it is OUTRAGEOUS that they do not get adequate gear.

We have talked here before about the embarrassing fact that deploying soldiers are paying, on average, $1,000.00 dollars out of their own already drained pockets for such items as boots, water bags, GPS and, of course, protective vests.

This is not an Air Force issue nor is it a Navy--unless you are talking about the SEALs. Those two services live like royalty compared to Soldiers and Marines. I am not saying that the boys in blue and they boys in white are not brave; they are. They are doing a great job, but they do not have the lack of equipment issues that befall the Army and Marine Corps.

Congress, not the Department of Defense, cared enough--if you can you believe that. They passed a law that directs "...the Secretary to reimburse service members who purchased, or had another person purchase on their behalf, any protective, safety, or health equipment for use while deployed in connection with Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, or Operation Iraqi Freedom."

So, guess what the Pentagon did? They objected. They took a year to put in place a plan and a process to handle the requests. To this day, they have not given the money to Soldiers and Marines.

You're kidding me right? We pay our service men and women next to nothing. We have to send them on three and four tours back to Iraq because our leaders did not get it right the first time. We have almost 2,000 killed and over 19,000 wounded and the government cannot or will not get them the money. This is wrong. Time to throw the bullshit flag and fire the lot of them.