Disrespect and Urine
Published in Süddeutsche Zeitung
(Germany) on 12 January 2012
by Janek Schmidt (link to original)
The pictures are shocking: Four U.S. soldiers urinate on three Taliban corpses as they mock them. The ramifications of such acts, possibly prosecutable as war crimes, have been well known to the United States ever since Iraq. Now, hatred of the United States may spread in Afghanistan and further undermine America's mission there as well.
The pictures are disgusting and are the best propaganda the Taliban could have hoped for. Four U.S. soldiers, said to be Marine snipers in the Helmand Province, are filmed as they urinate on the corpses of three suspected Taliban members. The soldiers grin at the camera and mock the dead men with taunts like, “Have a great day, buddy,” and, “Golden like a shower.”
It is still unclear who posted the video to the YouTube website, but it comes at a bad time for the U.S. military. For the first time in a decade, the Taliban had signaled its readiness to negotiate, and U.S. special envoy Marc Grossman is on the verge of traveling to Kabul to convince Afghan President Hamid Karzai to approve Washington's negotiating strategy. Karzai's cooperation is absolutely essential. He is willing to do anything to gain regional prestige, including distancing himself from U.S. policies. He also immediately called for the perpetrators to be severely punished.
And that's really the only solution to Washington's problem. Of course, the Pentagon promised an immediate investigation, but that's not sufficient. If the photos are genuine, the military should offer an immediate apology. The Abu Ghraib incident should serve as a precedent. Torture photos from Abu Ghraib resulted in such hatred of America that restoring any influence there was made nearly impossible. Now that so many Iraqis are leaning toward Iran, many Afghans may turn to the Taliban. If they do, the blame can be placed directly on those soldiers who openly disrespected the honor of the people there.
The pictures are disgusting and are the best propaganda the Taliban could have hoped for. Four U.S. soldiers, said to be Marine snipers in the Helmand Province, are filmed as they urinate on the corpses of three suspected Taliban members. The soldiers grin at the camera and mock the dead men with taunts like, “Have a great day, buddy,” and, “Golden like a shower.”
It is still unclear who posted the video to the YouTube website, but it comes at a bad time for the U.S. military. For the first time in a decade, the Taliban had signaled its readiness to negotiate, and U.S. special envoy Marc Grossman is on the verge of traveling to Kabul to convince Afghan President Hamid Karzai to approve Washington's negotiating strategy. Karzai's cooperation is absolutely essential. He is willing to do anything to gain regional prestige, including distancing himself from U.S. policies. He also immediately called for the perpetrators to be severely punished.
And that's really the only solution to Washington's problem. Of course, the Pentagon promised an immediate investigation, but that's not sufficient. If the photos are genuine, the military should offer an immediate apology. The Abu Ghraib incident should serve as a precedent. Torture photos from Abu Ghraib resulted in such hatred of America that restoring any influence there was made nearly impossible. Now that so many Iraqis are leaning toward Iran, many Afghans may turn to the Taliban. If they do, the blame can be placed directly on those soldiers who openly disrespected the honor of the people there.