Interesting picture, what do you think?

[tmleadr03]

[WillysWagon]

Without details, it's hard to say.
Did the guy in the pic write it, did he take it from someone who did, etc..

[Pancho Villa]

It's kind of dumb. Uninvolved (the term 'innocent' ruffles my feathers a bit, as one can be a civilian and very much not 'innocent.') people die in war. In more rational times we held that it was the aggressor's fault that such people died, even when the other side (accidentally) killed them. They started it and necessitated the response, after all, and the hurt party's standard ought to be to preserve their own soldiers and people.

It's a very strange moral standard, that ties the good man's hands and works to the advantage of the evil man. We could speculate as to the motives of people who promote such a moral standard - what they hope to accomplish - but that is considered rude in this day and age.

[Sawin]

It's kind of dumb. Uninvolved (the term 'innocent' ruffles my feathers a bit, as one can be a civilian and very much not 'innocent.') people die in war. In more rational times we held that it was the aggressor's fault that such people died, even when the other side (accidentally) killed them. They started it and necessitated the response, after all, and the hurt party's standard ought to be to preserve their own soldiers and people.

It's a very strange moral standard, that ties the good man's hands and works to the advantage of the evil man. We could speculate as to the motives of people who promote such a moral standard - what they hope to accomplish - but that is considered rude in this day and age.

Extremely well put Pancho. I couldn't agree more.

[Sawin]

If I had to take a blind guess at the picture, I'd be inclined to think the soldier is suffering a bit of PTSD, originating from sadness and guilt, but WillysWagon is correct. We need more context or a story alongside the photo, to more appropriately speculate on it's intention.

[TFOGGER]

A flag flown inverted is a distress call. Without more context, it's very hard to assess what is behind this photo.

[NightCat]

Strip his rank, send him home, dishonorable discharge him and get him the fuck out of my army.

RLTW

[Ronin13]

Strip his rank, send him home, dishonorable discharge him and get him the fuck out of my army.

RLTW

I concur! Better yet, let him bunk with Hassan in Leavenworth!

[Sawin]

Strip his rank, send him home, dishonorable discharge him and get him the fuck out of my army.

RLTW

Maybe it is entirely political. If so, definitely demote him, but really a dishonorable discharge? If it is just a poorly thought-out and disrespectful stunt to send a political message, I'd agree he should be punished and demoted, but unless there's more to it, that seems like enough to me. Maybe I'm wrong...?

[BushMasterBoy]

Maybe he is protesting war crimes committed by other members of the US military. Historically US authorities are very reluctant to prosecute such occurrences. Maybe there was a "My Lai" massacre we did not hear about. Do you really advocate the killing of women and children, just because we are at war? Sometimes grave injustices require unusual and offensive gestures to receive proper attention to alleged war crimes. Hopefully we shall find out the truth about this photograph.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre


PS This statement "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable".
was first spoken by Howard Zinn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn