Gurkha charged for beheading dead Taliban leader
MEW sends us a link to an article about a young Gurkha soldier who, in the confusion of battle hacked off the head of a dead Taliban leader for identification purposes. The 20-year-old is now facing charges in Britain over the incident. From the Times of India;
His unit had been told that they were seeking a ‘high value target,’ a Taliban commander, and that they must prove they had killed the right man, Daily Mail reported.
The Gurkhas had tried to take the Taliban leader’s body away from the battlefield. But they came under heavy fire as they tried to do so.
Military sources said that in the heat of battle, the Gurkha took out his curved kukri and beheaded the dead insurgent.
The Strategy Page picks up the story from there;
When senior British commanders heard of this, they had the Gurkha arrested (and sent back to Britain for trial), and apologized to the family of the dead Taliban. The head was returned, so that the entire body (as required by Islamic law) could be buried.
Well, at least the commander was dead.
Category: Terror War
Pussies
Well the Gurkha could claim that such an action was part of his culture and the UK system should celebrate his diverse approach to the problem he encountered on the battlefield.
Oh great, now some IVAW member is going to read this and have a PTSD flare-up remembering the dreams he had during non-deployment.
But. . . but. . . but. . . he WAS ALREADY DEAD!!!
What are they going to charge this poor Tommy with? Certainly not MURDER!! What, desicration of a corpse??
W–T–F!! AND O–M–G!!
Just when you think you’ve heard and seen it all, along comes some even more stupid twit to prove you wrong.
Apocryphal??????
As the use of paratroops was increasing during the Malaya confrontation in the 1950’s, a British colonel asked the leader of a platoon of Gurkha if they would be prepared to jump from a C130.
Somewhat to the colonel’s surprise, the Gurkha sergeant requested a day to talk it over with his men.
The next day, the Gurkha duly reported that they would do it, but only over marshy ground with the aicraft flying at no more than 100ft.
‘But at a hundred feet the parachutes wouldn’t work,’ the colonel explained.
The Gurkha replied, ‘Parachutes? No-one mentioned parachutes!’
Shouldn’t the Brits be celebrating the rich cultural diversity that the Ghurkas have brought to their nation?
I had the pleasure of meeting some Ghurkas while serving in Korea and they are some tough SOB’s. I did some research into their history and discovered they have pulled the country, formerly known as Great Britain, butt out of the fire more then once.
The guy did wait until the terrorist was dead to behead him and it is obvious he was doing it to take a “war trophy” and they were probably just a little short of fingerprint or DNA kits at the time.
The part that bothered me the most was issuing an apology to the Taliban. Get frikkin’ real here folks. Have they ever apologized for any of the beheadings they have done on camera or off? Hell no they brag about it and we in the west are told this is a recruitment tool.
A Trial??? oh fer chrissakes, they wanted ID and he brought it to them. What the hell do they return to the families after a drone turns them into constituent atoms?
The U.K. isn’t what it used to be. Stroll on over to the Barking Moonbat Early Warning System blog and give it a read. In England you can be tried and convicted for defending you own home from intruders. In the past they would be handing this guy a medal instead of arresting him.
A bit messy, perhaps…but imminently practical. It sounds like the Gurkha did what he thought best under difficult circumstances.
It appears that the British are throwing him under the bus to try and avoid “retaliation” from terrorist elements.
I wish ’em luck with that one.
Should give the kid a medal. He got his highers the proof they wanted and under fire at that.
Political correctness has neutered the British bulldog.
Love me some Ghurkas. Go great with pastrami.
No, wait. The OTHER Ghurkas.
Loved working with those guys in Iraq. Was a ton of fun when they opened a new FOB and slaughtered a goat or two for good luck. Never, ever piss off a drunk Ghurka.
Wolf
Once again a Warrior does his job in battle and gets accused of wrong doing. This bothers me a great deal. Was it a little off the cuff? Yes. But in his Warrior ethos he did the right thing and got the job done. I love the Ghurka’s, never have met one, but I love their bravery and loyalty. Pretty darn cool culture of Soldiers. The Brits will treat him just as we did with our Haditha Marines. If this Soldier gets court-martialed it would serve the Brits right if the Ghurkas said… see ya, we aren’t going to fight for you anymore. Once again we apologize to our enemy, WTF? I just really feel for this guy, one minute fighting for his life and the next whisked off to jail for doing his job. Wonder what it is like to be in his head? It’s amazing to me w/all the politics that anyone is willing to serve anymore.