January 16, 2012
OMFG
I'm continually horrified this insensitive, ignorant clown is a candidate for anything, other than yahoo of the year, possibly. The idea he'd ever be responsible for anything as important as foreign policy when he's more worried about the hurt feelings of Marines over a little matter of apparent Geneva and UCMJ violations is just appalling. But apparently he is in the race, for a little while longer anyway.
UPDATE: To be clear: I know young men do stupid stuff, but if our ideas of "strategic corporals" mean anything, they require steadfast discretion and judgment at all military levels. If that level of discipline is not possible, the whole venture is going to be unsustainable. And this is my point: these are not kids in a playground, they are Marines, people we trust as Western society to exert the power of life and death on our behalf ofttimes, and this was an apparent act against their orders and their commander's mission, and needs to be treated by their superiors as such, of only to prevent its repetition. (And that's leaving aside Perry's idiotic comparison between urinating in a large river and urinating on a body.)
Now, that said, one could charitably interpret Perry as saying all the ISAF gains in Afghanistan to date aren't even worth the discomfiting of a couple wayward American teenagers, and that might not be a totally crazy position to take. And yes, certainly if one's gains are so fragile this would seriously damage them, we would have no significant net gains to speak of. And yeah, compared to all kinds of crimes and sins from history one could mention, it's not that big a deal. But candidates for high public office should still do a better job of laying out the expected standard of behaviour for the soldiers they might hope to lead (shudder!) one day. See also Sebastian Junger. And Pat Lang.
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