Hadji Girl

Seldom am I at a loss for words but I can't quite get my mind around this story. Without ever having been in battle, I know that those who have can develop a gallows humour born of having "death rubbed in your face" on a daily basis which may prove quite incomprehensible to the rest of us. But this is troubling. Several bloggers have written about this but, as usual, Digby's take captures my reaction well.

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 hollered 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.

I'm reminded of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness wherein Kurtz, looking into this heart of darkness, exclaims: The horror, the horror...