“Urinating on dead bodies represents ‘us’ today”

Marines in Afghanistan reportedly urinating on dead bodies.

I’ve written several times previously on the desensitization of American culture since 9/11 when we blindly set out on a path toward revenge rather than justice. In a recent post, Steve Clemons addresses the same topic in his response to the video of the five Marines who appear to be urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan.

Clemons begins:

As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, US military officers -- incumbents and retired -- and others in DC's firmament condemn the US soldiers that apparently urinated on dead Taliban militants, I'm wondering how long it will take for a movement to grow inside the United States that embraces the soldiers and the "pissing act" that Panetta has called "deplorable."

And Clemons concludes:

So, while many in the national media and in polite circles promise to investigate this act, to punish those involved as Panetta said "to the fullest extent", the truth is that the Iraq War and Afghanistan War and the building up of national security commitments that rest on the backs of a new generation of soldiers -- many of whom don't understand and operate with nuance -- has empowered those who think pissing on the enemy is the thing to do.

Whether many want to admit it or not, what those soldiers allegedly did represents "us" today -- and that's yet another part of the malignant manifestation of these current conflicts.