If Only All Marines Would Write Offensive Songs

I’ve opposed the Iraq War since before it started. In fact, whenever I hear complaints about the soldiers’ behavior I generally side with the complainants. So I’m certainly no war-crime apologist, and I can say in good conscience that people need to leave Joshua Belile the hell alone.

Belile’s the Marine stationed in Iraq who wrote and sang a song called Haji Girl, which probably wouldn’t have mattered except somebody posted a tape of it on the Internet, and that might not have been such a big deal if the tape hadn’t surfaced around the time our forces in Iraq found themselves accused of things like covering up civilian massacres and murdering detainees.

Anyway, the theory is that our 'hearts and minds' campaign won’t work if Marines sing songs about being ambushed and turning the tables on their attackers. So the brass is taking this quite seriously.

I thought the song was funny. So did the Marines you can hear laughing in the video. The thing about military guys in war zones is, even if they didn’t have a dark sense of humor before they got there they probably have one now. Also, if the most evil thing a man in a war zone does is write or laugh at a rude song, he’s a good man to have on your side.