Nestled amid this provocative collection of rare photographs from Saipan (h/t: Ace) are two links also about the subject of the horrors of war:
- ‘Kids make stupid mistakes’: Rick Perry jumps to the defence of Marines who urinated on dead bodies in Afghanistan
- Syrian soldier ‘decapitated seven-month-old boy in front of his mother after finding suspected rebel was not at home‘
In the moral scheme of how we fight, urinating on corpses is not acceptable. It is unchivalrous, ungallant, whatever you want. But we need to remember, as Bill Maher reminds us, how inhuman our enemies are. Not because “Tu Quoque” is a valid argument, but because a sense of proportion is needed.
Should the offending Marines receive some manner of punishment for their actions? Sure. Give ’em two days in the brig, and then move on. And when that’s accomplished, our media can start putting the actions of our enemies on the front page, their burning of schools, their decapitating babies, their murder and rape and arson and overall pitilessness. Otherwise, I am forced to conclude that the media focuses on the Marines’ misdemeanors because to do the same to our foe’s felonies would invite a fatwa.
Content Blues 
I’m sorry, but these Marines shouldn’t receive anything less than a Dishonorable discharge, but all they will get, most likely, is a slap on the wrist like always. AND comparing our soldiers to any other soldiers, or terrorists is stupid! The United States Military has a code of conduct that is supposed to be followed at all times, saying, “well, those guys cut a babies head off so, in comparison pissing on dead people isn’t as bad” is fucking stupid, the extremes they go to should have nothing to do with how we conduct ourselves. I mean, with your logic, If I got arrested for breaking into your house, I should be able to say, “well, at least i’m not a serial killer! worse things could have happened” and then you should say in response “well ok, i’ll drop the charges”. That makes no sense!
Your argument would be solid if I hadn’t already conceded the main part of it (Google “Tu Quoque fallacy”).
But this is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re perfectly willing to expend all that energy on what OUR guys do, but you hear that a Syrian soldier chopped a baby’s head off and it doesn’t even register. Can’t quite bring yourself to actually get mad at a foreigner?
I’m not asking for the Marines to get a wrist slap: a few days in jail seems entirely appropriate to an action, that, if anything was excess of passion from a firefight. I’ve never been in combat, so I don’t know how easy it is to downshift when the fight is over. Maybe you’re an authority on such matters.
Punish them, sure. But that doesn’t mean the rush to judgement, combined with the refusal to do the same to the other side, doesn’t speak volumes.
And the media can’t get enough of what our side did, but do you even hear about what happens to our soldiers in their countries? Of course not. Why do the left love terrorists? Allen West said it best: “Shut up; war is hell”. I only wish they would shut up.