I've been feeling angry about the whole Afghan massacre. My personal feelings are that this man is a monster. To sneak away from your base/post, walk into houses where civilians are sleeping and then slaughter 16 civilians (9 children) is the very epitome of evil.
So what shocks me is how many people justify it. They say things like, "well, it's war" or "he saw friends die" or "they were the enemy." How can anyone justify the cold-blooded murder of a young child? How does that make us (as a society) any different than justifying the genocide of Jewish children during the Holocaust, or any other mass extermination of innocent people.
The whole thing reeks of My Lai. William Calley (convicted of premeditated murder of 22 civilians) served 3 years of house arrest and then lived a normal and wealthy life applauded by his fellow Georgians. Dude grabbed a 2 year old who tried to climb out from underneath the dead bodies of his family and run away, threw him back into the pit and shot him in the head. And he's living the high life in Georgia now.
Sigh...makes me sick.
Re: TIP opinions
OMG, thank you! If one more person blames this on PTSD or fog of war or something else, I'm going to effin snap.
Dude didn't see a comrade fall and blindly start shooting. He calmly took his happy ass off post and went on a shooting spree of innocent civilians. He's no better than the people who shoot up schools or post offices. Barring new information, I don't believe he's some poor, mentally disturbed man driven that way by the mean old military. He's a cold blooded murderer.
As a vaguely related side note, my notSIL named her kid Mylay. Ugh.
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Dude, this was his third deployment, yes but I heard it was only his first combat tour.
And now I know what to expect should H go back, right? That he'll kill small children? Thanks for the warning.
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Is this at me? That's not what I was saying.
No. I meant those who are giving him a pass.
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Ah. My bad. Carry on.
Yeah, this guy sounds like a crappy human being even before. Assaulted a previous girlfriend, previous DUI, another time where he fled the scene of an accident, but later said he fell asleep at the wheel (aka, waited until his BAL went below the legal limit and then said he fell asleep), swindled people out of their savings as a stockbroker, etc.
And he's saying he doesn't remember any of it. Of course.
Yeah. I'm not saying I have any experience that compares to combat, but I did therapy for PTSD and, for a while, medication. I was "running out of bed at night, screaming, husband had to chase me down and stop me before I started breaking sh*t" traumatized, and I am pretty sure I never murdered any kids. Not an excuse. 1) Because it's not and 2) because it makes everyone else who has legitimate PTSD seem dangerous, unstable, and evil. Like those people need more problems or stigma.
I completely agree - he should get no free pass. I'm not sure these thoughts make sense out of my own head - but basically - insane/PTSD/whatever made him do it - he did it and has to pay for that. But for me to be able to live my day to day life and not stress about a crazy person knocking down my front door and killing my family for no apparent reason, I need to believe he had mental issues. Why that makes me feel better I don't know, but it does!
I hope he gets azzraped a sh|tton in prison!
That's all I have to contribute to this discussion!
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes