U.S. troops commit ceaseless atrocities against the peoples they have been sent to subdue and occupy. The victims include women, children, the elderly, the armed, the unarmed, those that run away from the Americans and those who reach out to the foreign soldiers. All categories of the occupied are killable. War and occupation is the root crime, from which all the atrocities flow. “Unless the American people declare that they will no longer accept a government that has troops stationed in most of the world’s nations, wars and terror will be the norm.”
The recently revealed video of American marines urinating on dead Afghans identified as Taliban fighters has sparked much debate, but unfortunately little of it has any value. The usual suspects make the expected comments. Liberals wring their hands and declare that they are shocked, shocked to see such terrible behavior committed by their troops. The right wing shrug their shoulders and either dismiss the behavior’s importance altogether or express outright support.
The Obama administration tries to have it both ways by simultaneously expressing outrage and promising punishment of the offenders but also declaring that the continued occupation of Afghanistan is a necessity. It is meaningless for the secretaries of State and Defense to express outrage and promise to punish the offenders when they are in charge of the inherently murderous occupation.
The desecration of enemy bodies is a clear and unambiguous violation not only of the Geneva Conventions but of the moral principles most Americans claim to believe. It is also not at all shocking and not the first example of terror inflicted upon Afghanistan.
Early in 2011 a marine “kill team,” complete with photos of human trophies, became known to the public. The team killed civilians in premeditated attacks, luring people to check points and then throwing grenades at them. The photos created momentary outrage but the inertia of a political and social system dedicated to committing atrocities meant that any vocal opposition inevitably subsided.
The short-lived kill team story was not the only example of American murder. The Geneva Conventions make it clear that prisoners of war should treated humanely. When the United States slaughtered captured prisoners or suffocated them in shipping containers the stories went unreported by the corporate media. The Geneva Conventions also ban collective punishment against civilian populations, but the murders of civilians have been constant.
Afghanistan has been pissed on by the United States ever since the 2001 invasion. America has gotten its revenge for the September 11, 2001 attacks, by killing more Afghans than bin Laden killed Americans. Thousands of civilians have been killed by bullets, bombings, and drone strikes since the so-called war on terror began. Acknowledgement of this basic wrongdoing committed against the Afghan people is missing from liberal outrage about the video.
Instead of debating the merits of the actions of the soldiers, the propriety of the release of the video, or what our reactions should be, a debate about the nature of American interventions should be on the agenda instead. Atrocities and desecrations of various kinds are all par for the course of warfare.
