So I guess I should weigh in on the “conspiracy” involving the Marines urinating on the corpses of the Taliban fighters.

I’m not going to act like I’m offended, or even disappointed in those currently accused of committing these acts.

I’m not going to condemn them, or renounce the fact that I served in the same branch of service of them.

I’m also not going to absolve them of doing something that was really, really stupid.

What I will do, is admit just that. They did something stupid. They didn’t commit a crime. They do not deserve jail time, they do not deserve to be kicked out of the military, they CERTAINLY do not deserve all this attention they’re getting.

Tangential side note - I watched 4 members of the ANP (Afghan National Police) use the head of a suicide bomber for a spirited game of soccer.

Back on point. What these Marines did was stupid. Colossally so. But what was stupid wasn’t the act of urinating on the dead taliban, but the documenting and then later publicizing of it.

I get it. War is hell. Look at the picture I’m posting along with this article. This is from World World II. An American Soldier sent home the skull of one of his kills to his sweetheart. And it was in Time Magazine. And not as a negative thing, either. It just…was.

When humans are put into extreme situations they often do extreme things. They don’t think about their actions, and they don’t think of the consequences. 20 minutes before the video was taken those same dead taliban fighters were probably shooting at the Marines. 20 minutes before, if the taliban fighters had been successful in killing the Mariness, they would have attempted to drag their dead bodies through the streets. Had they captured a Marine alive, they would have tortured and beheaded him on video to show the world.

Idiocy isn’t contained to nationality. Neither are barbaric acts committed in haste under duress.

Most people can’t even begin to understand the things that you can rationalize, justify, and accept when in combat. You can’t imagine what it’s like to be completely desensitized to body parts strewn across a market place in an attempt at mass murder, unless you’ve seen it enough times that it no longer makes you queasy. 

The Marines committed a really, really stupid act. In 5, 10..maybe 20 years when thethought of war and atrocities are no longer common to them, they’ll look back on their actions and probably feel really guilty for what they’ve done. They’ll realize they are idiots and regret their actions. And really, that should be enough. 

It’s the fault of the same people now crucifying them that they were even in this position in the first place. Shouldn’t they shoulder some of the blame as well?