Dear Dirty America

By now the news of our Marines urinating on corpses is being discussed in America’s churches and bars. Some Americans are for pissing on dead enemies while others are against it. You might have heard a statement from Republican Representative from Florida, Allen West.

Says West:

I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

I have one main problem with West’s self-righteous indignation over the self-righteous indignation. When Blackwater security contractors were killed, burned, and hung in Fallujah, they were busy invading a country they had no business helping to destroy. The same with the soldiers beheaded and gutted. Why would we be outraged when it is our own country who is at fault?

War is hell, as West puts it, and that means when you invade a country, and you come with your guns and missiles ready, you will be, and should be attacked. Except what happened in Iraq wasn’t even a war. How did comedian Bill Hicks put it? It’s not a war when there’s only one fucking army. That’s an invasion. So stop calling it war.

When U.S. soldiers storm a country that has no business being brutalized, we should expect the most desperate acts of violence and terrorism from those desperately fighting for their country. Who can blame Iraqis for defending their families, homes, marketplaces, and mosques?

I’m not over-emotional or un-American for putting myself in the Iraqis’ position. I’m human. Nobody should have their body mutilated or pissed upon, yet one should never forget which country is doing the invading, the plundering, and the mass majority of killing.

Our country went in, guns blazing, and a few of Iraq’s 26 million inhabitants were probably offended. A few million were forced to leave. So, for Allen West and anybody else, unless you know what it’s like to have your country invaded and destroyed, one million or more of your fellow countrymen slain, your country’s economy dismantled, and your religious sites blown up, you might want to shut your mouth.

Invading other countries should be hell. Whether you’re eradicating Iraqis or Afghanis, that’s no excuse for pissing on your manufactured enemy.