U.S. Marine being probed over song on killing Iraqis

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/U_S_Marine_being_probed_over_song_on_killing_Iraqis.html?siteSect=143&sid=6812145&cKey=1150331117000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps is investigating whether a Marine did anything wrong by singing an obscenity laced song to a laughing and cheering crowd of fellow U.S. troops in Iraq making light of killing Iraqis.

A four-minute video of the performance, posted on the Internet, showed Cpl. Joshua Belile, who returned home from Iraq in March, singing lyrics about encountering an Iraqi woman and her family.

He sings, "I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally." In the background, laughing, clapping and cheers can be heard. snip

Video of Belile's performance in Iraq was posted on the Web site www.youtube.com, but was recently removed. CAIR has posted the video on its Web site, http://www.cair-net.org.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. "video no longer available"

[Union Thug]

3. It was on Democracy Now this morning.. try democracynow.org..

maybe it's there.

[Cocoa]

4. it's at CAIR's site

http://www.cair.com/video/marine-hadji-girl.wmv

I'd like to see the lyrics. I couldn't make out some of it.

[Igel]

11. Enjoy.

I was out in the sands of Iraq
And we were under attack
And I, well, I didn’t know where to go.

And the first thing I could see was
Everybody’s favorite Burger King
So I threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
And I knew it was love at first sight.

And she said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I can’t understand what you’re saying.

And she said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I love you anyway.

Then she said that she wanted me to see.
She wanted me to meet her family
But I, well, I couldn’t figure out how to say no.

Cause I don’t speak Arabic.

So, she took me down an old dirt trail.
And she pulled up to a side shanty
And she threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Cause her brother and her father shouted… (or maybe: shot her)
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They pulled out their AKs so I could see

And they said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me.

As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally

Then I hid behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M-16
And I blew those little fuckers to eternity.

And I said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They should have known they were fucking with a Marine.

-----
Gibberish is, it seems, from South Park.

For those that didn't listen to it: it's sung as a love ballad, sort of the same kind of thing (not quite so 50s-style) as Pearl Jam's 'Last Kiss'. Completely incongruous when it goes horribly wrong in an ambush.

[Cocoa]

12. thanks

especially the explanation about the gibberish, I knew I was missing the joke.

Note, the Iraqis shot first, in the song. Not so, apparently, in Haditha.

[Union Thug]

2. What a prick. What noble miltary men these guys are.

Fucking assholes. Things like this make really make me wonder about 'supporting the troops'. Yeah, I know they aren't all this way, but the conspicuous lack of outrage from their military peers makes me wonder what the fuck is wrong with so many of these crackpots.

[MnFats]

5. it was just on Air Am., Rachel's show I believe.Stunning!

stupifying. horrifying.
what has become of our country....

we countenance torture.
we countenance killing of civilians.
must we countenance glee over the killing of children?

[Cocoa]

7. but it seemed like the child was killed by the Iraqis

in the song, that is.

I could be wrong, the words were hard to make out.

[Solo_in_MD]

6. I've seen it

Did not really bother me. It was like some sort of skit night...the video quality was poor. CAIR always gets its knickers in knots but seems to ignore basic freedoms when Islam is being criticized

[yngliberal]

8. So you think this video is just fine? .... n/t

[Solo_in_MD]

13. Its typical dark humor found around the military, bikers, trauma

units, and others. Having been there, I understand it. Its intentionally politically incorrect, ribald, and sophomoric. Its not intended for public consumption. Best I can tell it was a one off deal. You should hear what gets said about officers and others under similar circumstances. I say that as one who has been the target of it as well.

This kind of thing also goes back a long ways...so of the WWII humor about Dugout Doug was also quite shocking for its day.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. I wonder if the soldiers who took those pictures at Abu Graib

also didn't intend them to be for public consumption.

[BeachBuckeye]

10. "Islam gets criticized?

That's what you call the filth performed by Cpl Joshue Belile? "Islam gets criticized"? I'm sorry but your post is just about as fucked up as that guy's attempt at humor.

[Solo_in_MD]

14. Not at all

My point was the CAIR wets its pants over trivial matters, real or contrived, but openly encourages suppression of free speech when it comes to things that are the least bit critical of Islam.

I support free speech, even when its sophomoric humor that I don't personally agree with. CAIR wants to suppress anything they disagree with, including some cartoons a while back. Lots of people here at DU complain about the xtian fundies, mormons, and catholics. They have not seen anything yet until they deal with muslims.

[Igel]

20. In fact, while

Solo is mostly accurate, Islam is not criticized.

Except for the gibberish refrain: Dirka dirka mohammed jihad sherpa sherpa bak allah.

But that's not really criticism, is it? merely the uttering of three words (as far as I know) borrowed from Arabic. But misogynist ambushers are killed, so I can see why CAIR is upset. Any right thinking progressive would be, obviously.

But the song is simply incongruous, and the humor dark. That the humor comes from incongruity is telling.

Once, in a really, really stressful office, my coworker friend "Jane" and I were talking; we were going to quit. Were we overheard by the boss or his snooping son "John", we'd have been in serious trouble, but it was lunch, and the office was closed. Then we heard a noise, and we didn't know if it was another coworker returning early, or the boss's son. Jane was afraid that the John had come in while we were talking and overheard us. I said, matter of factly: "If it's John, we'll just have to kill him, that's all." If it was possible that I would actually have hurt the dork, it wouldn't have been funny in the least. Jane, a single woman who spent weekends cuddling the preemies at the local hospital and who cried when spoken harshly to, found it so hilarious she had to sit down, she was laughing so hard. The marines found the bit about taking the daughter as a human shield hilarious. Incongruously so.

[zbdent]

9. Hmm, first a fake military guy on Rush touting the virtues of what our boy

s are doing over there . . . and now a real soldier yukking it up, boasting (allegedly) about the killing . . .

scares me . . .

[Igel]

15. Some of the stories present a synopsis that's

accurate. Some parrot CAIR. The first half of the song humanizes the girl and is a sort of dorky ballad, obviously funny because of the South-Park gibberish; the second half becomes a nightmare, one that the soldiers, no doubt, are familiar with.

Currently youtube.com has 5 copies going, after the original one was pulled.

CAIR's attitude disturbs me at least as much as the marine-composer's does. The guys' using their daughter/sister as sexual bait, killing the little girl in order to kill the marine rather than simply letting him go--the guys that had AK-47s ready to shoot the marine and who might have shot the girl they used as bait ... they're 'civilians'. CAIR thinks they're the good guys, the victims. Go team.

The foolish marine that wasn't seeking trouble, and at least considered the first girl human enough for 'love at first sight', was the user of a human shield when he was surprised with no protection or usable weapon, and who quickly sobered up for his own self-defense, killing those that would kill him ... he's the bad guy. He didn't have the good sense to be killed. Bummer.

There is no good guy in the song; the erstwhile victim turns the tables on the Iraqis. But it's written by a Marine; the Iraqi parallel would have the Marine dead. There is little glee at the ambushers' death, just satisfaction, and none at the girl's death. There is merely a foolish marine who, in the end, survives because he's a marine. Moral from the marine: It's dangerous, avoid dangerous situations. Go team.

[Cocoa]

17. that's what it seems like to me

these marines, the singer and the audience, are ok as far as I know. They might well be as horrified or more horrified about Haditha than we are, who knows. From what I see the song has no relation to Haditha.

[Solo_in_MD]

18. They are taking the lyrics much to seriously

since they were fitted to a the South Park theme and meant in jest. Some clues
- You do not open a door and then fall to the ground, unless you want to die
- You do not do house-to-house without your weapon being cocked with the safety off
- A TV set is neither cover not concealment
- A human shield is useless against a rifle at short range
It's sophomoric doggerel, not Shakespeare. Don't even attempt analysis. Its right up there with Mares Eat Oats or bawdy limericks.

Perhaps because I have been there and even been the butt of similar humor in similar circumstances, but is really is meaningless and CAIR and others are making a mountain out of a molehill.

[leftchick]

16. he is cool! he apologised to the islamists!

doesn't that warm your heart?

[Solo_in_MD]

19. An I am sure it was heartfelt and voluntary

[Igel]

22. The odd thing is that

I read Olbermann's apology today for something I'd never heard of. I don't listen to news or radio, beyond the local classical music station that also does NPR.

Olbermann's sorry for anybody he might have offended, but at some point somebody has to take a stand. A quasi-apology with "I'm just being a fighter for Truth and Justice." Response: What a swell guy! Such a great heartfelt apology, so sincere, what a mensch. Hey, we're so much better!

Belile's sorry for anybody he might have offended, but it was meant in just. A quasi-apology with "that's not how it was intended." Response: The scumbag! Look at that wording, that's not a heartfelt apology--he's forced to say that, he's not sincere. Freeper puke!

Chomsky's writings show conclusively that asymmetries are important clues for an analysis.

[Cocoa]

21. that's not true

he apologized to Muslims, he doesn't mention islamists at all.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060614/pl_afp/usiraqmilit...

"I apologize for any feelings that may have been hurt in the Muslim community. This song was written in good humor and not aimed at any party, foreign or domestic," he said.

[Jed Dilligan]

23. I take this song to be more about rape than killing,

probably a much more widespread phenomenon than most of us would like to believe.

[nosillies]

25. I don't think my issue with this is what he said, as I believe

in free speech, even when what's said sucks.

My issue is with an institution (be it the military, whatever) that turns what was probably a pretty nice, normal guy into the kind of person who would say that stuff. God help us when all these traumatized souls get back home.