Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
You cannot single-handedly accomplish the mission. But you sure can screw it up.

Flagrant stupidity should be an offense meriting judicial punishment under UCMJ. It is certainly more damaging to the mission than smoking pot during leave or getting a DUI (both candidates for UCMJ action).

Target practice with a Koran in Iraq (a Lithuanian Soldier and two ANA Soldiers were killed in Afghanistan after people freaked out over this) and handing out coins with bible verses in Fallujah (thanks for reinforcing the AQI propaganda) seem to fit neatly into that category.
You are absolutely right. It's hard to get things right, but it is too easy to screw things up. Incidents like this have almost unlimited utility as propaganda for our enemies. It actually plays into their long running propaganda that we have been waging a holy war against them. On your point of judicial punishment, you have a good point. I am not familiar with the UCMJ. As far as I am concerned, with it being all but impossible for someone not to know how people have reacted to similar incidents in the past, this is reckless endangerment at minimum.

Adam L