Bad Soldiers or Bad Officers?

If it were only photographs of U.S. soldiers posing alongside a dead Afghan civilian, it might be bad taste, even repulsive, but it wouldn’t be that unusual.

But that’s not what the fuss is about – or, rather, should be about.

The German publication Der Spiegel has opened a can of worms by printing two grinning photos (of some 4,000 it says it has) of American soldiers Jeremy Morlock (from Sarah Palin’s home town of Wasilla, Alaska), and Andrew Holmes, holding up the head of a dead person.

Suggestions are that the photos – which the U.S. army won’t release for publication – will prove to be a worse scandal than Abu Ghraib, where photos of Iraqi prisoners being abused by American prison staff resulted in prison sentences and dishonorable discharges to the perpetrators.

The scandal of the Der Spiegel photos is not so much the questionable taste of posing with the dead body, but that the dead man was one of three Afghan civilians murdered by American soldiers last year.

Twelve U.S. soldiers are currently on trial in Seattle – five for murder and conspiracy, seven for conspiracy to cover up, as well as dismembering a corpse, mutilation and drug abuse. Spec. Morlock has already pled guilty to murder.

Members of the U.S. 2^nd Infantry Division’s 5^th Stryker Brigade -- now being called a “rogue” outfit – are alleged to have collaborated in the murder of unarmed civilians.

Morlock is accused of throwing a grenade in a ditch as an Afghan civilian was walking towards him, to give the impression that the civilian threw the grenade.

Holmes and other soldiers are accused of being aware of the ploy, and opened fire on the guy, killing him.

That’s what the trial is all about – not so much the photos.

In wars, soldiers are inclined to take photos as souvenirs. That’s unlikely to stop. More reprehensible is that there seems to have been “trophy hunting,” such as cutting off a finger of those killed, or removing a tooth as a keepsake.

That’s mutilating the dead. When it’s done, it’s usually evidence of lack of discipline. Good soldiers simply don’t desecrate those they kill.

But it does happen. Canadian snipers working with the Americans in the early days of the war in Afghanistan, were accused of cutting off and saving the fingers of Taliban fighters they shot. Allegations were that dead bodies were posed with a cigarette in the mouth.

In Somalia, 1994, Canadian Airborne solders were court martialed for torturing a prisoner, and posing with his battered body for photos. In WWII, a bounty was paid on some South Pacific Islands for the ears of Japanese soldiers killed by locals.

So misdeeds committed by some American soldiers in Afghanistan is not without precedent, and should not be used to discredit the army.

The essential thing is that, like Abu Ghraib, the incident is not being covered up but is being dealt with. The army doesn’t like publicity, but it likes rogue soldiers even less.

I would argue that the unit these men came from was not well led. The officer in charge must share culpability – and probably will.

There’s a saying in the Canadian army that there are no bad soldiers, only bad officers. There is some truth to this – and it probably applies to the unit these soldiers came from.

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