I Don’t Want To See Their Faces; I Don’t Want To Hear Them Scream

[sad sally]

by Christopher Cooper

The whole thing is regrettable, really. Shocking, truth to tell. And so sad, I’m sure, for those people, those blanket-wearing, beard-growing, false-god-worshiping, probably-related-to-terrorists, citizens of Afghanistan whose wives and children and babies were gunned down in their beds, shot, murdered, slaughtered, and then burned by one of America’s finest Sunday morning. But hey, what are ya gonna do? These things happen.

It seems the soldier in question was not, in fact, representative of our brave fighting men and women. He was just another in the continuing series of lone gunmen who have been shooting up the world here and overseas for as long as any of us have been reading the newspapers. David Cortright, the director of policy studies at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, tells us "This may have been the act of a lone, deranged soldier.” I saw a headline that said he was a rogue. OK; rogues do as often as not, “go rogue” as no less an authority than Sarah Palin would have us know. So given time to reflect a bit, I guess I’m sorry I impugned our noble troops.

President Barack Obama summed it up as succinctly and as eloquently as only a man of his unflappably cool reserve could, I suppose: “This incident is tragic and shocking, and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan.” Well there. And yer goddamn right, Mr. President. Our boys kick butt! We take it to ‘em! We light up the friggin sky! They don’t mess with the U.S.A. and get away with it. You don’t kill three thousand brave American heroes on September the eleventh, ten years ago, and expect your four year old girl to sleep in her own bed unmolested. Unkilled. Unburned. We do what needs to be done to keep America free, and sometimes along the way an enlisted man goes a little nuts. Just one. Just every little once in a while.

Mr. Obama got right on the telephone and called up our “partner” in this whole great reworking of Afghanistan, Mr. Hamid Karzai, and told him we were sorry. Or something like that. He expressed condolences. So did Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. I’m sure those were awkward conversations, but you know, the buck does stop there, and that’s why we pay those boys the long dollar. Speaking of which, compensation will be paid. You betcha. We have a formula. I don’t know, fifteen hunnerd bucks or so. Each.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/12-1

[RC]

1. Talk about Blood Money

"...compensation will be paid. You betcha. We have a formula. I don’t know, fifteen hunnerd bucks or so. Each."

We clear our consciousness and go on to do it again. WE truly need to just leave.

[Owlet]

2. It just strikes me as odd

that five days into this thing we know virtually nothing about this soldier alleged to have done this. Had this been a civilian here in the States, we'd know this guy's name, his background, maybe even his motivation. By releasing the information that this guy was a sergeant, had done three tours in Iraq and had been diagnosed with TBI, the military almost seems to be, albeit inadvertently, perhaps, putting up a defense for what happened.


There's obviously been enormous strain put upon members of the military. This latest incident should provide a compelling argument to end this foreign adventure and bring these people home.

[sad sally]

6. From the sounds of this, he hasn't been formally charged yet.

The soldier in the Afghan village killings had such a hearing, and it was determined there was cause to continue holding him, Col. Gary Kolb, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition in Kabul, said Tuesday. The 38-year-old staff sergeant and trained sniper is accused of the weekend slaughter of nine children and seven adults in the middle of the night and burning some of the bodies. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the death penalty is a possibility.

Kolb did not say when the hearing was held or give any other details. But Fidell said that under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the hearing was to determine that an offense punishable by court-martial had happened; that there was reason to believe the accused had done it and that there was cause to continue to hold him, such as the possibility he wouldn't return for trial or would commit another crime if released.

The U.S. military continued Tuesday to withhold the name of the suspect, saying it will not be released until he is formally charged.

"It's certainly unusual not to even release the name of a person who is taken into custody," Fidell said. He said he thought, but had no official information, that it was being done for the safety of the soldier's family over concern there may be retribution against them.

http://news.yahoo.com/look-military-justice-afghan-killing-case-220612495.html

[Owlet]

10. NPR just now said that he had been flown to Kuwait

Probably not a bad idea to get him out of Afghanistan. The report said that he was moved on the advice of Army lawyers, as the Afghans were making noises to the effect that they wanted him tried in an Afghan court. Sorry..no link.

[Muskypundit]

3. The amount of disrespect and contempt for soldiers in this OP

Is disgusting. That apology sounded less sincere then rush limpballs. So I'm just going to come out and say it; Fuck this guy. There are a million ways to write a well thought out piece about the tragedy that is war, without the sickening insinuating that all of us men and women in uniform are evil.

And Jesus.... President Obama gave a good heartfelt apology, with none of the jingoistic undertones that snarky asshole seemed to suggest.

Fuck you, Christopher Cooper.

[yurbud]

4. it is not an attack on the troops, but on policies

My Lai was said to be a one off massacre until Bob Kerrey and others made it clear it wasn't.

And it certainly fit the broad outlines of Phoenix Program, a systematic effort to destroy Viet Cong ''infrastructure'' which means the wives and mothers who cooked for them and washed their clothes, and the grandparents who watched their kids.

And going back as far as the Indian Wars, the Wounded Knee and Sand Creek Massacres look like aberrations until you take the long view and realize we killed off 95% of Native Americans.

I don't excuse the troops who follow orders like that or even less those who do it on their own initiative, but those at the top who issues the orders and set the policy that requires or makes these actions possible should suffer the same or worse punishment than any individual soldier.

[sad sally]

5. Well put.

Suppose a foreign army had been rummaging around the United States for a decade. They’d have built us some concrete-block elementary schools of course and drilled a few water wells. And their president or premier or prime minister would have secretly flown in under elaborate and expensive secrecy and security to shake hands with the soldiers and tell them what a good job they were doing bringing peace and stabilization to our misguided land, and who among us would not be grateful for that?

But then suppose, just occasionally, at intervals, one or several of those soldiers or pilots or special forces teams or secret espionage units burned a bunch of civilians for no good reason any of us could see? Mowed ‘em down. Ran ‘em over with a tank. Busted in the door in the nighttime and gutshot somebody’s old grandfather. Would that begin to take the glow off our gratitude?

[jillan]

7. omg - who wrote this horror??????

You don’t kill three thousand brave American heroes on September the eleventh, ten years ago, and expect your four year old girl to sleep in her own bed unmolested. Unkilled. Unburned.

[truebrit71]

8. So wait, what the soldier did was justified in your mind?

Or am I completely mis-understanding your post?

[yurbud]

9. it was sarcasm