Rotting From the Head Down
With all due apologies to fellow citizens, but we, the body of
America, are starting to smell. By now most who are capable of
reading and/or watching television know of the burning of dead
Taliban fighter's bodies and the accompanying taunts to other
Taliban members by what has been called an American
psychological operations or "PSYOPS" unit in Afghanistan.
Perhaps we can place this incident on the mantle next to the
Naked Human Pyramid and the Dog Attacking Naked Prisoner
trophies (to name a few).
For those unfamiliar with the story it can be found at A
BC NEWS and the story with the accompanying (edited) video
can be seen at CNN.
As usual, a more in depth analysis of the problems posed by that
act and actual references to International Law and local customs
can be found in overseas media such as The Independent, T
he Scotsman, and The Guardian.
Even if one is not outraged by these actions, a certain sense of
bewilderment must exist. After all, this is nothing more than
another "Bring 'em On" moment. First, one needs to go back to
when pesky issues such as "torture" were attempted to be
discussed only to have those that deigned bring them up (Amnesty
International, Int'l Red Cross, ACLU, etc.) be quickly
vanquished by the forces of "good" within the Administration- an
Administration that has characterized this fight/war as an
entirely "new type of war" thereby setting the stage for these
"entirely new kinds of methods".
The truth is that war is war, killing is killing, torture is
torture, and desecrating bodies is desecrating bodies. The only
"new" thing about any of this is that it apparently has been
given a wink and a nod by the highest levels of our Government.
Blaming these events on a "few bad apples" or on those who are
not "upholding American standards of decency" is a pig that
simply doesn't fly anymore. The American spirit and the American
sense of decency cannot be hijacked by those who condone these
tactics while clutching the flag and the cross in their hands-
thereby desecrating both.
More importantly, what this proves is that we are now wallowing
not only in the stench of passing the bounds of an oxymoron,
namely, "acceptable warfare", we are now trying to wash the
smell away with a stupidity shower.
Heeding the Administration's caution against "the bigotry of
lowered expectations", why not discuss stupidity? The fact is
that this was a "PSYOPS" operation. Presumably, these
individuals have some training in psychological warfare. This
act could not have possibly been in any valid work on the
subject. The chances of "smoking out" other Taliban fighters
with this act was close to nill and even if 1 or 2 did, then
that would just be a culling of the herd that would probably be
welcomed by other Taliban fighters as the "hotheads" would
ultimately prove a larger risk to them than our own forces.
If this had anything to do with psychology, then it must have
dealt with "projection" with a strong hint of Hollywood
influence. Too bad the Taliban don't watch Sylvester Stallone
and Chuck Norris movies. If they did, they'd fall right into our
trap.
There was, and is, only one outcome to this "event"- many more
recruits for either suicide bombers or fighters. The sheer folly
of it is an indication of warped leadership in a warped fight
that may be the right fight, but has not been characterized and
framed properly in the interests of political expediency that is
sure to lead to an ultimate defeat.
Far from being a statement for gentility in a fight, this is a
plea for the leadership in this country to get their collective
heads out of their collective fundraisers and see that we are
doing nothing but planting seeds for a field that we will, one
day, become too weak to cut back or control from simple
exhaustion of both manpower and treasure.
The time has come for this Administration to rise above the
pride of making it to the top as "C" students with portfolios
consisting of a lack of military service and failed businesses
(but for connections). Lives are at stake.