Comments on: Something Wicked This Way Comes

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 01:21:45 +0000

Bobby, deaths can be resolved by the weregild, as was the custom of the Nordic and Saxon clans, but the rape falls in the “honor” category. We might resolve some of it by pulling the 502d out of Iraq after paying the weregild. There should be a sheik in the area who could arrange the payment, but the military is going to have to make the effort.

The Iraqi clan involved is not going to understand that this is action of individuals, that’s not how their world works. The 502d is probably not going to be safe to use in any Muslim country.

As you say, these things are passed on from generation to generation.

By: Mustang Bobby

Mustang Bobby — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:01:17 +0000

Great; that’s all we need now. It isn’t enough we’ve invaded their country; now we’re getting involved in clan wars. Those can be worse than the political ones; after all, Iraq isn’t really as much a nation by people as it was a recent political compromise (after World War I). These clan rivalrys go back many, many generations and aren’t soothed by outsiders.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:50:58 +0000

Andante, I’ve held off, especially about my belief that they were killed in the attack and their bodies were removed, because it didn’t make much sense for the regulars among the insurgents, but makes good sense as a revenge killing. The missing piece was the reason.

POP, they were in the same platoon as those accused. A platoon is the smallest unit commanded by an officer and contains between 16 to 40 soldiers. All of them would have been wearing the eagle’s claw of the 502d and their vehicle markings would have identified them as part of the same unit.

By: pissed off patricia

pissed off patricia — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 13:25:29 +0000

Were these soldiers part of the group that raped and killed the woman (girl)? If so, I would say retaliation might be at work here.

By: andante

andante — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 11:16:17 +0000

I hesitated to write my thoughts about this at the time – I suppose because my thoughts weren’t very, shall we say, tactful.

When there were no demands, no video, etc., my one-word reaction was – amateurs.

So maybe ‘amateurs’ wasn’t correct, but I knew al Queda or a deliberate kidnapping by insurgents would have been handled differently.