Taleban patients 'upset troops'

[Каие]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7845408.stm

I have several problems with this;

A bunch of soldiers went behind the Armies back to sell a story, and throw this into the media sensationalist shite pit, in which the likes of The Sun and ''patriots'' and wannabe hard men will complain and get angry about things they don't even have the slightest clue about which will force this spineless establishment to bend to political correctness.

Secondly the fact they went against the Armies back. The surgeon-general has never received a complaint about it, neither formal or off the record, yet a bunch of guys thought it necessary to go straight to the dastardly bastard media.


About the policy;

Not only do I support it, I actively encourage it. It's some of the very little honour left in the Army, and immediately separates the good guys from bad guys. Civilised armies [oxymoron?] treat all the wounded, not just our own. Imagine, would the Taliban or fanatical militants see an injured Brit on the floor and take him back to base, or execute him on the spot? Or perhaps take him back to be paraded on TV, or worse even give him a Baghdad haircut.

Stick to talking about just epic hero like this lads. We barely heard about it over here.

[Treize]

I don't know...
But they will probably release them after the treatment and they will fight you again...

[Каие]

They are prisoners, obviously!

[Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus]

Good post. It annoy's me when demagogues and yellow journalists who sit safe at home criticize the humanity of an Army in the field, which has so little comfort's compared to the ignorant journalist yet the army maintains it's cool and avoids knee-jerk ultra-nationalist reactions.

And good link about those men and women who fought in Helmand. Looks like they had a beastly fight.

[Xen]

I agree, it's important to honour your enemies. I would have no problem with being treated in a hospital with a taliban next to me.

[Treize]

I agree, it's important to honour your enemies. I would have no problem with being treated in a hospital with a taliban next to me.

But I hope the doctors DON'T leave any scalpels behind

[Von Reichgraf]

generally i find following the geneva convention is the advisable thing to do.
Could it be a bummer to wake up next to the guy who may have shot at you the day before? surely. Should animosities between combatants be a priority when your stapling them back together?

[Adhamh Ashashi]

That is very honorable, it reminds me of the trenches in WWI around Christmas.

[Thanatos]

Very honourable for them to treat the wounded.

[The Super Pope]

Hearts and minds. If Iqbal the terrorist wakes up and thinks"I fought the British but they still helped me" he might think twice about going back into the fray

[Sher Khan]

The issue here isn't treating enemy combatants (it'd be a crime not to, honor or no), but treating them in the same ward with our own wounded.

[The Alcotroll]

On reflection, I'd call 'bollocks' on this article.
We've been in Afghan for eight years now, and it can't have taken all this time for someone to notice that we treat the enemy injured as well as our own, and that restrictions on space and equipment mean that they occasionally wind up in close proximity.
I've never heard it made an issue of before, and as the MOD spokesbod rightly points out, it's been policy for as long as anyone can remember.

Most likely, some ticked off Tom has done some drunken whinging to an over-friendly journo, and a boozed-up rant from one bloke at the bottom of the food chain becomes (with the help of some journalistic licence) an important concern of "Military Personel".

Bottom line; it's a complete non-story, so ignore it and read the sports pages instead.

[Каие]

I know but you don't know our media and what people think here in the UK. That is the least on their mind, they will concentrate on the "OMGZORS WE ARE HELPING WOUNDED ENEMIES INSTEAD OF SHOOTING THEM IN THE HED!!111"

[The Alcotroll]

I know but you don't know our media and what people think here in the UK. That is the least on their mind, they will concentrate on the "OMGZORS WE ARE HELPING WOUNDED ENEMIES INSTEAD OF SHOOTING THEM IN THE HED!!111"

I rather think the usual readership of the BBC will think; "Oh my goodness, those uncivilised barbarian soldiers object to letting poor wounded Taleban fighters share their medical care!"

Could be I'm just paranoid.

[Каие]

I rather think the usual readership of the BBC will think; "Oh my goodness, those uncivilised barbarian soldiers object to letting poor wounded Taleban fighters share their medical care!"

Could be I'm just paranoid.

Or that. Media sensationalism goes two ways these days, you're right.

Now, now. This is a modern army, and that sort of thing is perfectly acceptable these days.

[The Alcotroll]

Just don't join the Marines.

[aarons got funky fresh]

I believe in treating and helping enemy soldiers, but not terrorists like the Taliban.

I'm sure they'd execute you on the spot rather than help your wounds if they saw you on the floor, alone, bleeding.

[The Super Pope]

I believe in treating and helping enemy soldiers, but not terrorists like the Taliban.

I'm sure they'd execute you on the spot rather than help your wounds if they saw you on the floor, alone, bleeding.

That's why they're terrorists. You can sink to their level or fight them as an honourable opponent

[aarons got funky fresh]

Tor fight them as an honourable opponent

There is nothing that will make me view the Taliban as an "honourable opponent".

In my eyes they're scum.

[The Super Pope]

There is nothing that will make me view the Taliban as an "honourable opponent".

In my eyes they're scum.

I didn't say they were, I said the British army should conduct itself as an honourable opponent. Sorry, it's the internet and it's inability to convey tone