Insurgent Sympathisers

by digby

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the charming song “Hadji Girl” by now. Here’s a little clip of the video from German TV if you haven’t had a chance to see how some US Marine officers uphold American values in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Meanwhile, the NY Times today reports that special operations troops used abusive techniques, but in at least a couple of cases, they were against “insurgent sympathizers.” This is a new phrase but I suspect it is going to be a very useful one. See, Hadji Girl’s little sister (the one who gets her brains blown out in the song) could easily be an “insurgent symnpathizer.” Indeed, anyone who is related to an insurgent or even knows one — little kids especially — can be seen as soft on insurgency when they cling to their mothers and fathers begging for their lives. The rules of engagement being what they are, apparently, killing these insurgent sympathizers is a-ok.

Throughout this latest report on abuses, they make the case that the blame lies up the chain of command who failed to make the rules clear. There is no indication that anyone up the chain of command will be held liable, however. And everyone else involved were just operating under a misunderstanding. No harm no foul. Water under the bridge. Move along, people.

General Formica said in the interview on Friday that he believed that the Special Operations troops thought they were following authorized procedures, and corrected them after he pointed out their error. “I didn’t find cruel and malicious criminals that are out there looking for detainees to abuse,” he said.

I was out in the sands of Iraq
And we were under attack
And I, well, I didn’t know where to go.
And the first thing I could see was
Everybody’s favorite Burger King
So I threw open the door and I hit the floor.
Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
And I knew it was love at first sight.
And she said

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I can’t understand what you’re saying.
And she said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I love you anyway.

Then she said that she wanted me to see.
She wanted me to meet her family
But I, well, I couldn’t figure out how to say no.
Cause I don’t speak Arabic.
So, she took me down an old dirt trail.
And she pulled up to a side shanty
And she threw open the door and I hit the floor.
Cause her brother and her father shouted

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They pulled out their AKs so I could see
And they said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me.
As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally
Then I hid behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M-16
And I blew those little f***ers to eternity.
And I said

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They should have known they were f***ing with a Marine

What sets this apart from most war songs, which are obviously often violent and celebrate the death of the enemy, is the fact that he holds a little girl in front of him as a shield and then laughs maniacally when blood sprays from between her eyes. Michelle Malkin thinks this is business as usual and maybe she’s right. In the video the guys listening hooted and hollard at those lines in particular, so the idea of a young girl getting shot in the head is obviously not considered any kind of taboo. They enjoyed this particular image very much.

I worry about people who think like this coming back into society. That kind of thing cannot be considered gallantry on the battle field. It’s ugly and dirty and ultimately is going to blow back on some of these guys. I hope the Republicans are prepared to spend as much on VA mental health as they’ve spent filling their right wing cronies’ bank accounts because a lot of these guys are going to need help. Our troops are in danger of losing their humanity in a war being fought for bogus political reasons. Some of them are going to have a hard time living with that.

Update: The New York Times also has a big story today on Haditha, having interviewed some of the soldiers and their lawyers. They claim thier actions were SOP, which means we will probably have another round of this “the rules weren’t clear” so nobody’s responsible.

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