US Army degenerates by leaps and bounds

While the U.S. fights for "equality and democracy" around the world, the U.S. army gets morally degraded. The soldiers serving outside the United States, commit serious crimes: rapes, robberies and murders. However, most of them get away with it easily, whereas the facts of such crimes are swept under the carpet. So what do the U.S. military do away from their fatherland?

The U.S. has many military bases abroad, and the number of servicemen serving there is quite large. News reports about the misconduct of American soldiers overseas appear in the media every now and then. Drunken brawls, fights, robbery and rape - this is an incomplete list of their crimes.

In April 2012, The Los Angeles Times published photos, depicting U.S. soldiers posing with body parts of dead suicide bombers. A total of 18 photos were published - the disturbing pictures appeared in the paper owing to a serviceman from the 82nd Airborne Division. According to the newspaper, two years ago the soldiers of the division were sent to the place of a terrorist attack to identify the bombers - that was the time when the scandalous pictures were taken.

Many global publications noted that the shocking photos showed the level of culture and morality in the U.S. Army, to which the United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that the action committed by several soldiers could in no way reflect the level of morality in the U.S. Army as a whole. However, he added, the soldiers posing on the photographs, were, of course, guilty and must be punished. Pentagon officials called their act inhuman.

The above was not the first case. A year ago, a video appeared on the net showing several American soldiers desecrating the dead bodies of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. And in February of that year, it was reported that servicemen at the military airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan arranged a "show," at which they publicly burned, from 60 to 80 religious books, including a Quran.

However, civilians also suffer from the actions of U.S. troops. A scandal broke out in May 2012 with General Sinclair, who served in Afghanistan. News agencies said that Jeffrey Sinclair was accused of many crimes, including rape, illegal actions of sexual nature committed against subordinate females, sodomy and abuse. A solid stock discs with pornography was found during the search. In addition, the general was charged with the possession of alcohol, failure to execute orders from senior management, and so on. The softest charge was about inappropriate treatment of subordinates.

Experts from the U.S. Department of Defense said that the crimes of General Sinclair, a famous military leader, who spent in the Armed Forces more than 27 years of his life, greatly undermined the morale of the American army. Sinclair's crimes were so serious that it took specialists quite a long time to collect the materials of his case. The trial on the general was held only on November 5, 2012. One of the main charges that were brought against the general, was about the rape of five women, four of whom were his subordinates. The general threatened one of the victims with physical violence and even death if she told anyone about their "liaison."

Al-Jazeera noted that in 2011, about 3,200 women in various countries suffered from the actions of U.S. troops. The Pentagon was forced to admit that it was only a small part: most victims feared to complain to local authorities, fearing reprisals. Not only local residents, but also female soldiers of the U.S. Army suffer from acts of sexual nature committed against them. One of the nurses, who served in Afghanistan, said, for example, that she feared harassment from her fellow soldiers a lot more than enemy attacks.

Doctor of Political Science with the University of San Francisco, Aaron Belkin, noted that the matter was indeed about the low culture and morality in the U.S. Army. In addition, U.S. military personnel practice the concealment of crimes committed by servicemen.

However, some secrets of the U.S. Army did become public. Not that long ago, 38-year-old Sergeant Robert Bailes was put on trial. While serving in Afghanistan, Bailes shot 16 civilians, including nine children, in March of 2012. Prosecutors demand capital punishment to Robert Bales. During the last 50 years, no soldier has ever been sentenced to death in the United States.

Even though war crimes are plentiful, few of the caught criminals receive punishment. The Pentagon has no desire to investigate the crimes committed by U.S. soldiers abroad, and even more so to punish the perpetrators. However, some "exemplary" actions have been conducted (the trial of General Sinclair).

By the way, not so long ago, the U.S. Defense Department banned the military men serving in Okinawa, to drink alcohol outside the military base. The decision was taken after a series of blatant cases took place in Okinawa involving drunken American soldiers.

For example, in October of 2012, two drunk American soldiers raped a woman. In August, an infantryman was arrested, who attacked a local woman. In 2006, an officer in the U.S. Air Force was caught after a double rape, reports theInternational Herald Tribune.

Noteworthy, most crimes are committed by servicemen under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The more of these cases, the more the Pentagon tries to hide them from the general public. While the U.S. tries by all means to fight for the idea of ​​"equality and democracy," the foundation of the country - the army - degenerates by leaps and bounds.

Sergei Vasilenko

Pravda.Ru

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