We often hear the word “honor” in connection with the military. To be sure honor can be used to describe the behavior of a great many service men and women. But, honor is not looking sharp in a uniform, and it doesn’t come from being shot at, or killing the enemy. Honor involves performing the mission with respect toward others, doing what needs to be done without betraying the ideals one is protecting--especially when it is hard to do. The honor of the U.S. Military as an institution was tarnished with the verdicts against the Marines who massacred 24 civilians in Haditha. A roadside bomb blew up a Humvee. Tragic. Did the bombers live in the nearby houses? There is no reason to believe that they did—or didn’t. It is unlikely that the bombers would try to drive past the Marines in a taxi in the aftermath. Perhaps passersby needed to be searched for weapons. That is prudent. Murder is not. Five students and the driver were summarily shot to death. This was not in the heat of battle, and it served no military purpose other than to inspire recruits for the other side. The Marines claim there was small arms fire from the neighborhood. No Marines were hit, so one wonders who the target was. The squad “cleared” the houses by throwing in grenades and spraying the rooms with machine gun fire. Many of the dead: old men, women and children, were shot in the chest and head. Wounds—from what I read--not likely to have been incurred by indiscriminate fire. There was no honor in those murders, even though we can all understand the feelings that motivated them. On the other hand, the cowardice of the reviewing officers who released the killers without charges is inexcusable.
The desecration of fallen enemies has a long, dishonorable history. Severed heads were once posted on pikes. Crucified bodies left where they died as warnings. Vlad the Impaler skewered an entire army on upright stakes and left them as symbols of his wrath. On a more personal level, fingers, ears, noses, tongues etc. have been cut from the dead. Recently, corpses have been dragged through the streets. Urinating on the dead is rather tame by comparison, but still dishonorable.
Men in combat have more in common with the people shooting at them than they do with their own families and neighbors back home. Respect for the enemy does not mean granting them leniency, it means acknowledging the hardship and grit and fear that are involved in battle. And, if you think of Afghanistan, consider that the Taliban and their friends do not have air cover, or med-evac capability or body armor. If you think that roadside bombs are sneaky and cowardly, weigh them against bombs that fall out of the sky. The Taliban regime was as evil and destructive of basic human rights as any in history, but their fighters walk miles over desolate terrane, hide in caves, and attack troops who have them out-numbered and out-gunned. —Well, they may have to be shot, but their bodies deserve a minimal level of respect. That’s honorable.
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