Perry: Urinating Marines are ‘Just Kids’

[DeathToTheOil]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told CNN Sunday that the Marines who were filmed urinating on Afghan corpses were just kids being kids and the White House has gone “over the top” in its criticism. “When you're 18 or 19, you do dumb things. These kids made a mistake, there's not any doubt about it,” the Republican presidential hopeful said. He went on to note that other famous military figures acted the same way in a war environment: “[Winston] Churchill did the same thing.”

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/01/15/rick_perry_marines_urinating_on_corpses_were_just_kids_shouldn_t_face_criminal_charges.html

I wonder what his views on teenage necrophilia are.....

[jody]

1. Bad as the act is committed by the four marines, it pales to insignificance compared with killing

innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan under orders of the previous and present commander in chief.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. That the Atrocity!!! Their dinks shouldn't be there.

Can you imagine giving " Contractors " the diplomatic ammunity they seek.

[Skittles]

45. killing people is OK

pissing on them? not so much

[Honeycombe8]

49. And the innocent people killed by Iraqis and Afghans and Taliban, right?

I mean, you care about ALL innocent people, right?

[roguevalley]

54. he called on a mannequin. I'm not surprised by this. real soldiers will be pissed.

[niyad]

2. by definition, 18 and 19 year olds are NOT "kids"

apart from that, as so many have pointed out, these illegal, unjust, immoral wars based on lies are the real horror--and, sadly, such acts as these are not unexpected.

[WingDinger]

4. They have till forties, before they get named other than youthful indiscretions.

[zbdent]

22. longer than that, if you're a Republican ...

remember, the one guy had an illegitimate child from an affair ... which took place when the Republican was older than Bill Clinton ... not at the time of BC's "indiscretion", but at his age at the time of the impeachment!

[Nova.]

5. two flaws to this logic

1st if they are just kids then why advocate sending them into life or death situations where one 'mistake' could be there last, you don't learn if your dead
2nd does that mean when the US's enemies defile the bodies of the nations dead military are they still to be seen as just 'kids'.
You wanna see what kids look like with guns mr. perry maybe give the DRC a visit.

[Charlemagne]

6. Other things done by kids....

You know, just mistakes. Not that big of a deal. Just young kids goofin off









Just kids stuff, no harm no foul. Unless, that is, you are on the receiving end of the hijinks.

[TheMadMonk]

32. Why do you think "kids" are the ones sent out to die and kill in war?

"Kids" make the best viscious little monsters. All you have to do is leave them to their own devices and you get "incidents" like Mai Lai and Abu Grahib.

"Kids" also make the best dramatists. And despite all protests of independence, can often be the most easily led into atrocity.


Yes serious fucking harm! Yes significant bloody foul!


But also, as demonstrated by the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Millgram Experiment, naturally emergent behaviours, in the absence of countervailing regulatory forces.

[GTurck]

55. Exactly...

the way I feel about such things. There is no excuse for their behavior except for the fact that we sent them there in the first place to kill "the other" which we can't quite see as being human. Afterall if they were really human beings they would be Americans (preferably white and christian).

[riverwalker]

7. I saw that interview

this morning. He actually really said that "Patton and Churchill did the same thing". I couldn't believe my ears.
Patton didn't pee on his enemy, he peed iIN the Rhine River. Same with Churchill. They peed IN the river. Not on a dead fallen corpse.

[zeemike]

10. And I take it the media let him get away with it.

These republicans are a bunch of pigs...and the news media puts lipstick on them.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

29. Get away with what? He is not their CIC.

[zeemike]

37. With equating Patton peeing in the Rhine

To soldiers peeing on the bodies of their victims....they are not the same at all...not even close.
A good journalist would have called him on it.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

44. Good journalist...? What's that?

[barbtries]

64. yeah i was pretty incensed over that myself

i googled it. talk about a false equivalency.

[tabasco]

8. So are some of the taliban fucks beheading Americans

Being young doesn't excuse criminal acts.

[dhpgetsit]

9. War is insane

Bad things always happen in wars. I don't condone disrespecting corpses, nor do i condone war. Why isn't Perry advocating bringing the "kids" home and bringing an end to warfare in general?

[SemperEadem]

11. then let's go dig your meemaw up

and take a wiz on her... after all, it's just a kiddie prank.

These "kids" are US Military personnel. IF they can't curb their stupidity enough to know that peeing on a dead body #1 is VERY bad and #2 that the military in which they serve has rules of combat engagement to which they're bound to obey, then they don't belong in the military.

One would think that the Marines would be better than this. I expect this shit out of Blackwater/Xe/Academi, not US Marines.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

27. "One would think that the Marines would be better than this."

Last edited Sun Jan 15, 2012, 11:23 PM - Edit history (2)

One would first have to consider the human element, and that the inhumane and ruthlessness of war, influences soldiers differently. And further, that it will have a negative effect on the military bearing of some of them.

Empathy, sympathy, kindness and care; the traits that separated them from cold-blooded murderers before they became soldiers, become subconsciously subordinated emotions. The psychological transition results in a solder more inclined to make cold-blooded decisions.

These young people are ordered off to fight an unconstitutional war and then, when the inevitable and predictable dehumanizing of the enemy results, the arm-chair generals express their surprised outrage, and call for their heads.

The process of identifying what triggered the excessive coverage of this incident becomes non-responsive, forcing me to re-boot my brain.

It remains incomprehensible to me.

[loyalsister]

12. Therein lies the problem

Adolescence isn't truly over until the mid 20s. They aren't mature enough to be in situations where the morality they have known is a challenged. With what we now know about the brain, we should rethink about the ages we send youth into situations where they have to make distinctions between when it is necessary to go against what they have learned is ethical and when they should rely more on their "civilian moral compass."

[truthisfreedom]

13. Why did he choose this as a topic? What an IDIOT.

Jesus.

[JohnnyLib2]

15. For sure. Kind of puts his judgment on the same level as theirs.

Wow.

[thelordofhell]

14. "When you're 18 or 19, you do dumb things"

Like say, join the military

[Taverner]

16. Yeah that was me at 18 - pissing on any corpse I could find...

[LadyHawkAZ]

17. THEN WHY SEND THEM THERE, MR. PERRY?

If they're not mature enough for the job? Huh? Why send KIDS overseas to fight YOUR war, Mr. Perry? Shouldn't KIDS stay home, Mr. Perry? Would it not be considered a bad thing to send KIDS to kill people, Mr. Perry?

(Perry responds: "Uh... Homosexuality... and Abortion... and I can't remember the other one&quot

[tawadi]

18. Ya know, every time that man opens his idiotic mouth I wonder

how stupid can a human being be? Really.

[tonybgood]

57. Then Newt Gingrich opens his mouth and you get the answer!!!

[patrice]

19. Republican paternalism in a nutshell. "All you do is kill people for a living.You don't have to know

or understand anything at all about their culture or why those people might be trying to kill you."

"It's a job, no need to expect honorable behavior. Take your paycheck and go home. Leave the important stuff to your betters."

[AzDar]

20. So, I guess it'd be fine with Mr. Perry if the bodies of our military dead were whizzed on, eh?

[Charlemagne]

23. Thats where the national guard messed up at Kent State

They should have pissed on the dead students. Then it would have been chalked up to youthful indiscretion

[Jack Rabbit]

21. If Governor Perry means these guys need a stern talking-to, then I'll agree

That talking-to should come from their commanding officer with the Article 15s on his desk ready for the offenders' signatures.

In my military experience, that would be the proper response for this sort of misbehavior. I hope the penalty is pretty stiff, to include taking stripes and docking as much pay as the UCMJ allows.

Dumb 18- and 19-year-olds? Sure sounds like it. That's what they do to dumb 18- and 19-year-olds in the military.

[font size="1" color="red"]EDITED to add[/font]

This non-judicial punishment should be handled at the battalion level. The punishment would be more appropriate that way.

[patrice]

24. The sole moral justification to war is amongst peers who freely commit their OWN blood to that which

they have decided is worth the sacrifice of human life, be it their OWN or that of those whom they engage as equals, having made the same choice, in combat with them - - - even though I and others profoundly! disagree! with that assessment.

These "kids" and so much else about the whole situation, beginning with the LIES THAT ENSLAVED US ALL to violence against a nation that is NOT our military peer, so very very much about this and the war on Iraq has dishonored freely chosen honest combat over authentic values that this baptism of death in urine should be no surprise to anyone.

All Hail Project for a New American Century!

[zbdent]

25. "just kids being kids" ... funny thing is ...

I've heard Repugniconvict 'ADULTS' advocating similar actions and worse ...

not surprisingly, without any thought as to how much outrage the U.S. citizens would feel if the tables were turned and it was U.S. military personnel who were urinated on ...

[nineteen50]

26. Yep

that's what Jesus would say.

[HopeHoops]

28. That explains why we sent them off to die.

[japple]

30. Just like the kids doing these hijinks!

[Moonwalk]

31. It isn't peeing on corpses that makes them stupid kids....

...it's recording the incident. Anyone that dumb shouldn't be given a gun period, let alone a job killing strangers on the other side of the world.

[oldbanjo]

36. Reminds me of Nixon. He recorded everything.

[Honeycombe8]

50. That was amazing, considering what happened after Abu Ghraib. You'd think they'd have learned ...

better. It's also weird they'd want a record of themselves doing that, for their children and their grandchildren and their mothers to possibly see.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

33. Three men sentenced to death as juveniles were executed in Texas under Perry.

Fuck off already, you're a joke.

And if asked in the next debate Perry would probably claim to support the death penalty for children.

[shanti]

34. right, perry

and you're just an asshole.

[Wistful Vista]

35. Is pissing on a dead person different somehow from pissing on their grave?

I'm not sure if, how or why there's a distinction. I've known a bunch of decent people, even some Democrats who couldn't wait to do the latter in certain cases....

[tawadi]

38. Pissing on a dead person infers the body was never even a human being

as if to say the person is a pile of rubbish. Not to even mention strict cultural practices like burying the dead within 24 hours, etc.

[xfundy]

43. "... decent people, even some Democrats?"

Did they also share your CONCERN?

[Wistful Vista]

66. My bad, I should have said "including some Democrats"

Assuming of course that the writers who said it are actually Democrats (I guess posting here is no guarantee, though)
shrug

[LanternWaste]

63. The difference, I believe is the metaphorical versus the literal.

The relevant difference, I believe is the metaphorical versus the literal.

[Wistful Vista]

69. Nice...that sort of distinction will get you carte blanche for a zillion "just kidding"

comments, serious or not, if it's accepted. I'm having a hard time believing that every post made here about "pissing on {Cheney's for example} grave" was just metaphorical. But I could be wrong.

(I've said it myself and except for the logistics that'd make it difficult and expensive, was meant quite literally)

[krispos42]

39. Doesn't Texas execute 18 and 19 year olds regularly? n/t

[Wistful Vista]

70. Not nearly as many as the U.S. military does (indirectly)

...

[GeorgeGist]

40. Kids in the military.

Brilliant!

[AlbertCat]

41. Just kids!

Kids with guns and grenades! It's just GI Joe...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

42. Disrespectful

[MMJjestic]

46. Remember when the dead bodies of Army Rangers were dragged naked in the streets of

Mogadishu? I seem to recall the conservatives wanted to nuke Somalia off the planet (and impeach President Clinton too)
Sadly this stuff happens in all wars, but we felt that we have higher standards, those Marines will be dealt with, Perry should be glad we have those standards.

[Igel]

47. There was a similar Iraq episode.

It's only worth bringing up the incident in Iraq because DU was up and running at the time.

Contractor's bodies were dragged through the streets and "desecrated" (scare quotes because I personally find it difficult to think of a corpse as something "sacred", and therefore "desecratable&quot .

There was a fairly large debate over the incident.

A number of people pointed out that humiliating and defacing the bodies of those that had been killing Iraqis--Fallujans, was it?--was reasonable. An understandable expression of authentic rage.

Perhaps we think less of Iraqis. The poor dears just can't help themselves, while 18-19 year old American military volunteers are obviously superior? Nah.

In both cases the enemy is putatively "our own" and so we feel a need to separate ourselves from them. In the first case, those hurting our domestic enemies are justified; in the pissing case, we sympathize with those who were most likely trying to kill our domestic enemies just a short while before. And, should our domestic enemies be killed, we make a big deal out of it because it's politically powerful to point out poor, dear, innocent kids sent off to war.

[Islandlife]

48. So he agrees with Bill Maher

Or vice versa?

[BrightKnight]

51. It was also a leadership failure.

Where were the Officers?

Allowing yorself to be filmed urinating on enemy corpses is beyond bad judgment.

[progressoid]

52. So why are we sending "kids" to war?

[SoapBox]

53. Super Mega SICK!

Perry...what a pervert.

And a SICK Son of a Bitch.

[Ken Burch]

56. And he'd have said the same if it was the Taliban pissing on Marine corpses?

What this idiot doesn't get is that this kind of thing is a perfect recruiting ad for the 'Ban.

[Snake Alchemist]

58. So were the Menendez brothers. nt

[Mendocino]

59. Child labor?

Shouldn't these "yoots" be back home cleaning schools?

[greiner3]

60. Begs the question'

And what did Perry do as repugnant while HE was in the military?

Oh, wait...

Doh!

[arely staircase]

61. perry is so desperate he'll say anything that might remotely have a chance of causing

some right wing knees to jerk. he has gone below the lowest common denominator and is defending corps pissing - almost a parody of himself.

[Zoeisright]

62. That's right, excuse war crimes, you asshole Perry.

Repukes have absolutely no moral compass or sense of decency. They prove it every single day every time their traps are yapping.

[center rising]

65. Perry is a sick bastard

[Guy Montag]

67. Only kids!?!?!? So are most gang members infesting the ranks of the Crips and Bloods in LA

Perry on the other hand is a brain dead old fool. I am not surprised the jerk said this.

[brooklynite]

68. Here's a simple "Texas style" question for the Governor...

Suppose a bunch of "just kids" urinated on your front lawn. Would you laugh it off as "just kids", or would you call the police and demand that Justice be served?

[Jeneral2885]

71. yeah well

My flatmates leaving the stove/hob on are just kids too.

[Taverner]

72. No, Rick, Churchill peed in the Rhine

Dipshit Rick needs to get his facts straight