It's About Who We Are

By now you are familiar with the "Urinating Marine Brouhaha." Video and still photos exist showing four United States Marines urinating on corpses in Afghanistan. What you may not be aware of is that according to the Huffington Post Texas Governor and Presidential Hopeful Rick Perry is defending these Marines.

Governor Perry defends the Marines saying on CNN's "State of the Union," "Obviously, 18-19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often. And that's what's occurred here."

I believe Governor Perry is horribly wrong.

Let's start here: Hasn't Mothers Against Drunk Driving taught us "kids do stupid things" is no defense, especially in life and death situations?

Another reason I believe Governor Perry is wrong is that photos like this embolden the enemy and weakens support at home. The effects of the events at Abu Ghraib Prison made this point clear years ago. As the old saying goes, those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In this case, the time between the two events is eight years.

The article points out that desecration of corpses is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. I say we shouldn't need an international treaty to say it's wrong to pee on the dead. When I managed a bar in the Westport district of KC, MO I once had to tell someone they couldn't pee off of the roof of the bar next door. When he said he didn't see a sign that said he couldn't I said, "Ah dang, someone took my sign? I'll have to make a new one. Get down. If you're so dumb you need someone to tell you not to urinate on a dead body you aren't smart enough to be a marine.

Then article says that Arizona Republican Senator John McCain disagrees with the Governor. The former pilot and Vietnam Era Prisoner of War says we don't lower ourselves to the level of our enemy. Doing what "our enemy does" lowers us. You can disagree with me, but Senator McCain has an expertise in this situation that nobody should ever have. McCain's point about the difference between what we do and what the enemy does is the most important.

McCain's point is not about the enemy. It is not about what "others do so we do the same or worse." It's about who we are. Are we a nation that kicks cats and pees on the dead? Are we a country that doesn't hold young men who wear the uniform of our nation accountable for their actions? Are we a people who blame others for looking at the internet and catching us with our pants down (literally) when we post it on the web?

If the answer is yes, we have become a disappointing nation.

If we hold ourselves to be a Christian nation, we need to hold ourselves accountable to what God wants for us and for all creation. These actions show a basic lack of dignity and respect that takes us too far away "loving God and your neighbor as yourself."

Love God, love the Marine Corp, and hold people accountable for what they do. Sorry Governor Perry. I think you're very, very wrong.