A photograph of Marines urinating on the bodies of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan is all the rage in Washington and has our Lillywhite liberal politicians reaching for their hankies to help them sustain themselves during the case of vapors caused by these crass Marines. The message from the likes of Leon Panetta and Hillary Clinton is that Marines are heroes for killing and ending the lives of the enemy, but are punishable for urinating on or near them. I don't think Panetta or Clinton are thinking clearly, but are instead only taking the most recent convenient opportunity to criticize the Armed Forces and appear to be politically correct to Islamic groups both here and abroad.
To make matters worse for our nation, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta kow-towed to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and promised an investigation into the matter. How can an apology be appropriate to Karzai when the Taliban being urinated on are enemies of the Karzai government and were trying to kill Afghans? Karzai has no role in this and definitely deserves no explanation and no promise of an investigation. And to make matters even more dire, Karzai has announced that if the U.S. and Pakistan end up warring with one another, he will side with Pakistan. Maybe the Marines should pee on Karzai for being such a weak ally, for risking their lives defending his corrupt government and then have him turn on them at the first opportunity. I also think Panetta, instead of the Marines, should be investigated for playing nice with the corrupt Karzai and for trying to have peace talks and share an office with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban should be killed, not talked to. The Taliban are truly despicable people who will never stop trying to kill Afghanis or Americans until they are dead. Peeing on them is optional.
But I can fully understand the offended sensibilities of Washington politicians who look down their noses at the middle class schlub Marines who wouldn't know the correct cravat to wear with a dinner jacket, nor the right Cognac to select for after-dinner drinks at the country club. But what the liberals who send our young men and women (largely other peoples' children, not their own) off to war don't understand is the unrelieved pressure of the war that Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and women face when they are sent to far-off places away from friends and family and asked to risk life and limb daily in a war that seems to have no end-point and only offers restrictions on military actions.
I hope all Americans follow this issue closely, and if the accused Marines get any punishment stronger than a talking-to and then sent back to their units, we must all throw a fit with the Obama administration. Because in an increasingly dangerous and threatening world, how do Panetta and Clinton think they will be able to get volunteers to fight our nation's wars if they punish every unthought-thru action the Armed Forces personnel take as criminal acts?
