Panetta Warns Military Over Afghanistan Misconduct

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned on Friday that the spate of high-profile episodes of misconduct by some troops in Afghanistan not only discredited the entire armed forces, but also damaged America’s chances for battlefield success.

Mr. Panetta said episodes involving a few soldiers who “lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership” could have far-reaching consequences.

“The reality is that our enemies are losing on the battlefield, and they will seek any opportunity to damage us,” Mr. Panetta said. “In particular, they have sought to take advantage of a series of troubling incidents that involved misconduct.”

The military has been stained by disclosures that young soldiers defiled insurgents’ remains in Afghanistan, that Marines urinated on Taliban corpses and that other troops burned Korans in violation of Islamic practice. When added to the massacre of villagers attributed to an Army sergeant, these episodes have cast American soldiers in a harsh light before the Afghan public.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/us/panetta-warns-military-over-cases-of-misconduct.html

[panopeagenerosa]

1. They don't care

They just want to go home.

[bemildred]

2. Yep, it's the troops, not the leadership, right Leon?

[limpyhobbler]

3. Yet he did say they lack leadership.

I took that to mean he understood there was a leadership problem. But he probably should have been more clear about it.

[bemildred]

5. He says: "a few soldiers who lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership"

Last edited Sat May 5, 2012, 12:40 PM - Edit history (1)

which in my experience with the military means the soldiers lack "leadership", a flaw like being overweight as I have seen the term used.

But either way who is the ultimate leader? I don't see any mea culpa there, no admission that if you put soldiers in an insane war for ten years, some of them, a lot of them, will go nuts? Where is his concern about the failure of command authority and control? The fact is our so called leaders are not in control of what happens there, any more than in Iraq, and yet are too chickenshit to end it because their careers are far more important than anything in the reality based world. I don't think even he really believes what he says.

Not dumping on you, this stuff seriously pisses me off, I saw it all 40 years ago, new actors, new stage, same script, and these clowns should have known better, they should accept some responsibility for their own failures, and pigs will fly before you see any of that from the Beltway Boys. They pretend to care about this country and they destroy it and everything it is supposed to stand for.

[limpyhobbler]

6. no problem

I guess I was somewhat hearing what I wanted to hear. Like you said there was (or is) apparently a loss of command and control to some degree. We haven't really seen them discuss it in those terms publicly. So how do we know whether they even see the problem and are working to fix it? If it's even possible to fix, which I don't know if it is.

[bemildred]

7. OK. I would guess they do indeed see the problem

And they would not want to discuss it in public, which I can agree with. But I see nothing that indicates that they are intending to deal with the problem, which lies not with the troops, but with the powerful. Some wars are better avoided. We seem to have a great fondness for such wars, and reluctance to give them up, despite repeated debacles of this sort. This is not the first, or the second, or the third. We were promised after Vietnam that we were not going to do this shit again, reforms WERE made, and then they were unmade. I saw it happen. That's why it pisses me off.

[coalition_unwilling]

4. "The reality is that our enemies are losing on the battlefield . . . " -- kind of like

the NLF (National Liberation Front) was losing on the battlefield (if you believed Westmoreland, that is).

Jesus, the lies these people have to tell themselves - how do they even look at themselves in the mirror?

We were losing to our enemies the instant we threw in our lot with the thugs and bunco artists of the Northern Alliance. Everything since then has been flim-flam and con jobs, just like Vietnam was 50 years ago.

[webDude]

8. Leon, while I agree with you on the behavior, this is hard to take from a treasonous bastard as...

...yourself, someone that testifies before congress that it will seek NATO's permission to commit our men and women to acts of war, and then as a second thought, inform congress of what you are going to be doing. By all rights, you should be tried for treason, and those with you that condoned this, should be tried as well. But then again, GW wasn't tried, so I am not holding my breath.

[DallasNE]

9. Glad To See This

I have been saying since the Quran burnings that this is a failure of command and control and that for whatever reason some of our soldiers have been allowed to sabatage our diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan. Tardy, but welcome news.

[lunatica]

10. Panetta acts as if some soldiers have defiled the very honor of war itself

This is insane. War is the most vile and dishonorable thing a country does. Period.

[Enrique]

11. correct

the misconduct he is talking about is the reality of war. Someone just happened to take pictures of it.