Monday, January 16, 2012

The marines urination video doesn't show the real war crime The urination video does not shock me so much as the public's tolerance of these immoral wars that make criminals of marines Ross Caputi

The marines urination video doesn't show the real war crime
The urination video does not shock me so much as the public's tolerance of these immoral wars that make criminals of marines
Ross Caputi
* * 

* guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 January 2012 13.47 EST 

Video allegedly showing US troops urinating on bodies of Taliban 
fighters (warning: contains potentially distressing images). 
Video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/13/us-marines-video-urination-war-crime 

The video of US marines urinating on Afghan corpses does not shock me. Though their behavior is disgusting and 
unacceptable, I find the public's reaction to this video far more 
troubling. People are not outraged that there are dead Afghans; they are outraged at the manner in which the dead are treated. This is 
indicative of our culture's tolerance for war and war crimes – as long as they are done in a gentlemanly fashion. 
During the second siege of Fallujah, blatant war crimes were committed, yet 
the corporate media reported them with indifference. The siege itself 
was a war crime, according to the International Committee of the Red 
Cross Summary of International Law, because indiscriminate tactics were 
used, constant care was not taken to protect the civilian population, proper distinction between civilians and combatants was not made, medical personnel and medical units were not protected, indiscriminate weapons were used, and recent research about 
the current health crisis in Fallujah suggests that poisonous weapons 
may have been used as well. 
Many of these war crimes were reported by the corporate media, though they were not described as such. For example, the New York Times reported on 8 November 2004 that American forces "seized" the Fallujah general hospital. An incident 
that I witnessed, as did Paul Wood and Robbie Wright from the BBC, was 
when my unit fired grenades into a house until it collapsed – with full 
knowledge that there were two resistance fighters and a young boy 
(roughly 10 years old) inside. Paul Wood interviewed the lieutenant at 
the scene, and he acknowledged that they had killed the young boy. In 
both of these reports, war crimes and Geneva Conventions were never 
mentioned, and the façade of honorable conduct was preserved. 
What did not make it into the news was my behavior in Fallujah and the 
behavior of others in my unit, which I am certain would have elicited 
outrage equal to that elicited by this video of the urinating marines. I believe that the second siege of Fallujah can correctly be 
characterised as an "atrocity-producing situation". Our false beliefs 
about who we were fighting, our dehumanisation of Fallujans, our desire 
to "see combat" (a cute euphemism) and to get a confirmed kill, and our 
longing for revenge for lost comrades against a faceless enemy all 
conspired to create a bloodthirsty and lawless atmosphere.

witnessed marines stealing from the pockets of dead resistance fighters 
and looting houses. I've heard firsthand accounts of marines mutilating 
dead bodies, of a marine who murdered a civilian, and of a marine who 
slit a puppy's throat. As the days of the siege passed, we used 
increasingly indiscriminate and illegal tactics – like "reconnaissance 
by fire", which is when you fire into a house to see if anyone is 
inside. The violence, the hate and our distorted sense of morality made 
many of us sick, including myself. I stole a black ski mask out of 
someone's home, because I wanted to take it home as a trophy, as 
evidence that I had fought against the "terrorists". 
My behavior 
and the behavior of others in my unit was despicable, as was the 
behavior of these marines urinating on corpses. But we shouldn't let 
ourselves be fooled that an immoral mission and immoral war could ever 
be conducted in an honorable manner. War crimes were implicit in the 
invasion and occupation of Iraq, and they are abundant in the continued 
occupation of Afghanistan. 
Yet, many of us choose not to see these war crimes, even though they are 
right in front of our faces. Only when a shocking YouTube video comes 
along, do we choose to look. And even then, what we see is the 
urinating, not the dead bodies.

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