To the editor:

The latest controversy in Afghanistan involves a video of four Marines urinating on the dead bodies of three Taliban terrorists, recently killed by these same Marine snipers. These Marines have been instantly condemned and vilified in our government’s frantic efforts to be “politically correct,” so as not to offend the Muslim world, especially the Taliban! Really?

It is easy for those who have never been in combat to denounce this act. As a Marine Vietnam combat veteran, I understand why this happens in war. In war there are no options, no place for “political correctness!” War is simple, basic: You kill him or he kills you! These Marines have just killed three enemy combatants who were trying to kill them. What are the true obscenities here?

I would submit the first obscenity is our government involved in a war they can’t explain or get out of. The second, is our military leadership, who ask young people to die but cannot articulate what they are dying for or why. The third is our spineless, cowardly Congress, who do not hold the military responsible so as not to offend their corporate sponsors of the military-industrial complex.

And the last obscenity is we, the American people, who send our kids off to die yet never really question why. Let’s not judge these Marines for expressing their opinion of the Taliban, Afghanistan, and war itself.  No one has that right, unless one has walked a mile … in their boots!