11 March 2012

US Soldier Kills More Than a Dozen Civilians in Afghanistan - Who Are the Good Guys, Again?



Photo Credit: AfghanistanMatters'
A few hours ago the news wire broke the story that a United States soldier went on a night time shooting spree in an area in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province. As it goes these days, my news feed on Facebook quickly flooded with reports of the rampage. The Guardian, El Pais, Truth-Out, The New York Times, all reporting on the horror through the social network. 

The soldier attacked two separate villages, Balandi and Alkozai. Eleven members of one family were slaughtered around 3 am, when the as yet unnamed soldier entered their compound and opened fire. Afghan president Hamid Karzai, in condemning the attacks as an assassination, stated that 9 children and three women were among the victims. The White House gave their formula statement, saying they were deeply concerned and would be monitoring the situation closely. 

The soldier in question has been arrested, and reports indicate he made no attempt to cover up the night time murder run. The area was at one time a Taliban "stronghold" and in the past had seen heavy fire fights between Taliban and coalition forces. But this wasn't a raid on Taliban insurgents. This was a lone gunman entering the homes of two families in the dead of night and killing women and children. The actions of a sadist or a madman. 

The news, as should be expected, has led to anger in the streets. Afghanistan residents were said to be demonstrating soon after hearing about the slaughter. Just a few weeks ago the region erupted in anger when US troops were caught burning copies of the Qur'an. The offensive actions against the Muslim holy book led to days of protest and violence, much of it deadly. It seems all too reasonable to assume these killings will give rise to similar outrage and bloodshed. 

In early January of 2012, a video was released showing four US soldiers huddled around the bodies of dead Afghanistans. They proceeded to piss on the corpses, mocking the dead men as they relieved themselves. Three actions now, barely 2 full months into 2012 that serve to remind us that the grim tortures meted out at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq aren't as far in the past as we might think. Photographs at that time revealed "insurgents" being tortured and emasculated by young men and women that, at least in the West, we're told to revere as heroes. 

Do heroes piss on the dead? Do heroes mock the strongly held beliefs of the people whose country they've invaded, and occupied for the last decade? Do heroes burst into villages alone under cover of darkness and open fire on women and children? 

News of this atrocity comes after a week in which Invisible Children launched Kony 2012 on YouTube, a campaign that seeks to make the world aware of Joseph Kony, a bastard who leads an army of child soldiers on rampages where women, children, entire families are slaughtered in a similar fashion to those who've just been murdered by a lone American soldier in Afghanistan. One of the goals of the Kony campaign is to bring western military intervention in to get Kony. Good guys like the men who piss on corpses. Heroes like the unknown soldier who just slaughtered a family. 

This is what western intervention looks like.

It's an ugly reminder that in the wars we wage today, there are no fucking good guys, just a varying degree of villains. It doesn't matter if they're wearing the makeshift togs of the Lord's Resistance Army, or desert fatigues with the American flag stitched into the fabric. A child killer is a child killer.