The
video of the broadcast of the burning dead in Afghanistan is now online.
The video provides more context to the situation. According to the reporter on the scene, while the PsyOps used the burning of the bodies to taunt, the soldiers around the bodies were doing so because the bodies presented a health hazard. But the video also offers a glimpse into how the rest of the world is viewing America now. Clips include scenes of earlier torture in Iraq and scenes from Guantanamo Bay.
Tip: AmericaBlog
More on whose to blame - below the fold.
Cross posted at my blog: Political Porn
This kind of thing should not be happening. And that these sorts of things keep happening is a problem. It speaks to misdirection from the top, of tolerance for behavior approaching this and indifference to the lives of our "enemies."
War is brutal. It involves killing and all sorts of terrible other things. That's why civilized nations don't choose to go to war. Wars of choice are beyond the possible in a civilized society - since the outcome of war is always tragic. We are seeing such a tragic outcome with these and other images.
While I believe that each person has the choice to participate or not in an immoral and illegal war, or in individual acts of misconduct - I place the blame for such continues on those in charge. That's because those in charge have the power to send soldiers to war and to enforce standards of conduct that are moral and civilized. Our leadership has failed us and the soldiers. And so have we. By reelecting George Bush, and by failing to beat him, we have failed our soldiers and the victims of our wars.
Shame on America. Shame on us - all of us.