One for the right and the left

[Crab Lungs]

Whatever your place on the political scaling, this is ridiculous...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265134/Marine-Commando-Mark-Leader-hit-Taliban-bomber-suspect-cutting-lip-But-did-REALLY-deserve-life-ruined.html

[trousers]

Whatever your place on the political scaling, this is ridiculous...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265134/Marine-Commando-Mark-Leader-hit-Taliban-bomber-suspect-cutting-lip-But-did-REALLY-deserve-life-ruined.html

 

Agree.

 

But as it's the Daily Mail it must be a made up story....

[Thedelldays]

they said he got thrown out of the army...well that is not true

[Crab Lungs]

they said he got thrown out of the army...well that is not true

 

Well, that's poor journalism for a start, agreed.

 

I await the angry left's response

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

What a personal tragedy. A government that puts young men into war zone and then insists they are judged by their own politically correct obsessions. Should have been punished though because that is the discipline that the army is founded on.

[Smirking_Saint]

It is another reason why political correctness or more importantly f*cking human rights need to be seriously looked at.

 

These sort of individuals (and i'm talking about the terrorists) must be laughing that they can do anything they wish when persuing the worst attrocities possible in order to carry out their Jihad, and then hide behind the western countries legislation whenever they have been found out.

 

This is a personal example within which you lose your human rights (to an extent) when you have been found to have been doing what they are doing, do we really think these guys will abide by the rulings laid down by the Geneva convention ??

 

It is a hard concept i know, as i am not asking for barbarity, however unless we respond to these people then it will never stop.

[Saintandy666]

I totally understand while he might have lost it in that situation, considering who the guy might have mean and at the end of the day it's a ****ing war, not the playground... people get hurt(and I'm a 'leftie' btw).

 

However, this is the Daily Mail and they have a history of over exaggerating and under exaggerating stuff to make the story seem more sensational, so I refuse to make any further judgement without evidence from other sources.

[IamLeGod]

It is a tricky one. It does seem a shame for a man that is portrayed as being a dignified man with a distinguished career to lose so much for such an act. Though I do agree there has to be some level of discipline. Lest us remember this is a war for 'hearts and minds'.

 

War in modern days is a different creature to days gone by of 2 countries meet in a field and charge each other. Conflict in Afghanistan proves this. We are not fighting the state, we are fighting a subsect of the population - it is perhaps easier to think of this in terms of us going to war with a group like the IRA. Our aim in this war (whilst admittedly cloudy and unsure) is to rid the country of the influence of 'Al'Qaeda' (I have my reservations over using this term - as this is more a media creation) and win the 'hearts & minds of the general population. To have any hope of achieving this we must maintain the moral high ground. It is of vital importance that we can continue to be perceived as the 'good guys'. Therefore we can not allow ourselves to resort to barbarism and maintain dignity in the face of anything these groups have to throw at us.

 

Also, I do doubt the credibility of this story. There (as to be expected with the mail) a stupidly high amount of bias and speculation, which if anything actually detracts from its ability to make the point it is trying to make. This section in particular I fell demonstrates this:

 

Ekhlas was handed over to the notoriously corrupt Afghan police and released without charge. Perhaps not surprisingly, he could not be traced when his testimony was sought for Sgt Leader’s court martial. No one can be certain, but few doubt that the Afghan would have returned to the bomb-planting which apparently led to his arrest.

 

As I said before this is wild and speculative, which, as a piece of journalism is a wreckless, lazy and dangerous thing to do.

[dune]

It's not in the Guardian so it can't be true.

[Saintandy666]

It's not in the Guardian so it can't be true.

 

The Guardian is the only upstanding beacon of truth left within our cracked society.

[jeff leopard]

Whatever your place on the political scaling, this is ridiculous...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265134/Marine-Commando-Mark-Leader-hit-Taliban-bomber-suspect-cutting-lip-But-did-REALLY-deserve-life-ruined.html

 

I assume you’re talking about the quality of journalism

 

The Daily Mail really should come with a warning ‘Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental’

 

As people have mentioned already, the story is so toe-curlingly biased that it’s almost impossible to make any rational judgement. The whole point of the story is to illicit extreme responses, which is obviously how the joke press functions.

 

If anyone hit me in the face, loosening two teeth, then I’d want them to face some kind of punishment. If the aggressor was occupying my country, then I’d feel especially aggrieved.

 

We can’t just leave Afghanistan and there’s no doubting that our forces out there are doing some good and are taking unimaginable risks every day. But I don’t buy into this attitude of all troops are heroes, there’s bound to be at least a few wrong ‘uns out there who for whatever reason, would love to give a Johnny foreigner a damn sound thrashing. This is why there has to be measures in place to punish troops that step out of line, which is what apparently happened here.

 

In stark contrast to the article being discussed here, there was a great piece of journalism on radio 4 this morning about the American prison at the Bagram airbase which has been keeping suspects in solitary confinement for months on end, and then releasing them without charge and leaving them pysically and mentally destroyed. As long as such systematic abuse continues, locals (whether they are terrorists or not) will keep on playing the ‘torture/abuse’ card against the Western forces.

[Wiltshire Saint]

It is another reason why political correctness or more importantly f*cking human rights need to be seriously looked at.

 

These sort of individuals (and i'm talking about the terrorists) must be laughing that they can do anything they wish when persuing the worst attrocities possible in order to carry out their Jihad, and then hide behind the western countries legislation whenever they have been found out.

 

This is a personal example within which you lose your human rights (to an extent) when you have been found to have been doing what they are doing, do we really think these guys will abide by the rulings laid down by the Geneva convention ??

 

It is a hard concept i know, as i am not asking for barbarity, however unless we respond to these people then it will never stop.

 

I must say, old chap, that I find your attitude to human rights slightly disturbing. Maybe more disturbing than Pancok's descent into madness.