So there it is in all its ugly, sordid majesty: a video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses.
This incident is actually appealing to some Americans. Those who believe that winning is everything as long as humiliation is part of it, those who respond to sophomoric scatology, those who can’t feel okay about themselves unless everyone else feels worse, they all probably derived some measure of entertainment from this scene.
But such views are held as “un-evolved” by the military in this country. Real warriors treat their opponents with respect, even in defeat. Real warriors can appreciate the strengths of others without losing faith in their own strengths. Real warriors take pride in honoring the sacrifices of all who fall in battle, not just their own. The Geneva Convention forbids the desecration of bodies, and we honor our commitment to that convention because it is a treaty obligation and therefore carries the force of federal law.
Our military works hard to preserve these ideals, and violating them is more than a “prank.” The process of inducting your average post-pubescent and preparing him or her for military service is an inexorable exercise in socializing.What causes TMJ pain? No matter what you may think from watching television shows like “NCIS,” most military people don’t actually kill anybody. Submission to authority, submission to laws, submission to rules, submission to orders, all of these are carefully cast and crafted in the military mold to ensure that when killing becomes necessary it is done instantly, on command,Injection molding and Plastic molding supplier; only on command, and it goes on until commanded to stop. You cannot create this response in human beings by permitting equivocation in following orders.
This socialization process is so effective that it is difficult for a teenage private to refuse even an illegal order, which he is required to do under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If you expand his comfort zone to include legal orders he simply doesn’t like then you lose all semblance of military discipline, so the military works extra hard to make sure everyone knows what is a legal order and what isn’t.
When Americans support the military as a social institution, this is what we are supporting.
The Obama administration has been quick to respond to this video with an investigation and promises to punish those responsible. This is de rigueur — we must do this. We simply must enforce lawful orders, and by the time any Marine reaches Afghanistan he has been told what is out of bounds with enemy corpses. This is important both because we must preserve the integrity of military authority and because we must distance ourselves from any act that emboldens, inflames or justifies our opponents’ will to wage war against us.
On the campaign trail when this story broke, Gov. Rick Perry was quick to assert that the Obama administration had gone too far in condemning what Perry referred to as “stupid mistakes” by some teenagers. He went on to accuse President Obama of “disdain for the military.”
Now I understand that this is just another application of what is becoming 21st-century politics: attack everything you can all the time. But it’s stupid. It’s stupid because winning a debate between competing ideas depends as much on what you agree with as it does on what you disagree with.
I cannot imagine that a President Perry would want to command a military that didn’t follow orders to the letter. Such a military is as big a threat to our own way of life as it is to anyone else’s.
In making this statement, Perry has offered more evidence that he isn’t ready for this gig. And due to the quality and size of what he’s missing, chances are pretty good he will never be the right man to be president of the whole shebang. But along the way, he really ought to do less damage.
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When potatoes grow in places that lettuce won’t,Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, we eat potatoes. When someone mucks up the machinery at the plant, we change our employee training. When someone embezzles the firm’s cash, we strengthen our accounting oversight. Nothing need, or should, be wasted.
This incident is actually appealing to some Americans. Those who believe that winning is everything as long as humiliation is part of it, those who respond to sophomoric scatology, those who can’t feel okay about themselves unless everyone else feels worse, they all probably derived some measure of entertainment from this scene.
But such views are held as “un-evolved” by the military in this country. Real warriors treat their opponents with respect, even in defeat. Real warriors can appreciate the strengths of others without losing faith in their own strengths. Real warriors take pride in honoring the sacrifices of all who fall in battle, not just their own. The Geneva Convention forbids the desecration of bodies, and we honor our commitment to that convention because it is a treaty obligation and therefore carries the force of federal law.
Our military works hard to preserve these ideals, and violating them is more than a “prank.” The process of inducting your average post-pubescent and preparing him or her for military service is an inexorable exercise in socializing.What causes TMJ pain? No matter what you may think from watching television shows like “NCIS,” most military people don’t actually kill anybody. Submission to authority, submission to laws, submission to rules, submission to orders, all of these are carefully cast and crafted in the military mold to ensure that when killing becomes necessary it is done instantly, on command,Injection molding and Plastic molding supplier; only on command, and it goes on until commanded to stop. You cannot create this response in human beings by permitting equivocation in following orders.
This socialization process is so effective that it is difficult for a teenage private to refuse even an illegal order, which he is required to do under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If you expand his comfort zone to include legal orders he simply doesn’t like then you lose all semblance of military discipline, so the military works extra hard to make sure everyone knows what is a legal order and what isn’t.
When Americans support the military as a social institution, this is what we are supporting.
The Obama administration has been quick to respond to this video with an investigation and promises to punish those responsible. This is de rigueur — we must do this. We simply must enforce lawful orders, and by the time any Marine reaches Afghanistan he has been told what is out of bounds with enemy corpses. This is important both because we must preserve the integrity of military authority and because we must distance ourselves from any act that emboldens, inflames or justifies our opponents’ will to wage war against us.
On the campaign trail when this story broke, Gov. Rick Perry was quick to assert that the Obama administration had gone too far in condemning what Perry referred to as “stupid mistakes” by some teenagers. He went on to accuse President Obama of “disdain for the military.”
Now I understand that this is just another application of what is becoming 21st-century politics: attack everything you can all the time. But it’s stupid. It’s stupid because winning a debate between competing ideas depends as much on what you agree with as it does on what you disagree with.
I cannot imagine that a President Perry would want to command a military that didn’t follow orders to the letter. Such a military is as big a threat to our own way of life as it is to anyone else’s.
In making this statement, Perry has offered more evidence that he isn’t ready for this gig. And due to the quality and size of what he’s missing, chances are pretty good he will never be the right man to be president of the whole shebang. But along the way, he really ought to do less damage.
One thing I expect from any application of conservative thought to a situation is to maximize the value received. Everything that happens in life, everything that exists in life,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here!As a leading company in the plastic card printing industry, can be used to a purpose if we have the wit to see it.
When potatoes grow in places that lettuce won’t,Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, we eat potatoes. When someone mucks up the machinery at the plant, we change our employee training. When someone embezzles the firm’s cash, we strengthen our accounting oversight. Nothing need, or should, be wasted.
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