Soldiers Under Attack by New Enemy: Political Correctness

Note: This post also appears on the blog But I Can Hear You.

You're in Iraq. Your squad is finally relaxing, taking a break from being shot at by Islamic extremists, watching Team America. You're drinking some coffee, kinda wired, frustrated at these terrorists who want to kill you and your family. You hear a song in the movie aforementioned and think up some alternate lyrics to it. They're kinda catchy so you write them down. It catches on among your buddies and you've got a band back home so you agree to do a music video. It ends up on the net. Where do you go next?

Certainly not to prison. Yet that's just what some people have in mind. Corporal Joshua Belile of the United States Marines did in fact write a song with alternate lyrics to those in the movie Team America: World Police, and now he is under inquiry as the media and CAIR attempt to link him to the alleged Haditha murders. Now I've read some of the lyrics. Yes, they're rude. Yes, they're inappropriate and distasteful. No, I don't particularly care for them. But an inquiry into murder? Because what you say pokes fun at Muslim terrorists you can now be charged with murder? Let's organize some thoughts here.

1. Corporal Belile, like every other American citizen has the right to free speech. If I wanted to I could decry any race or religion I want. I don't of course because it's wrong. But I could without reprisal because I have the right to. So does Belile. If he chooses to say or sing or write derogatory things about Muslims he has that right. But he wasn't even doing that. He was singing derogatory things about terrorists!

2. Belile was not in fact singing about all Muslims. He was singing about terrorists. I see nothing wrong whatsoever with this. I make fun of terrorists all the time. But at least to us civilians the terrorists are something vague and far away. Corporal Belile has to deal with these wackos constantly. I'd get pretty frustrated too. Plus he was watching Team America. I mean come on guys, any of you ever seen Team America? If CAIR is looking for "insensitivity" I would think that that would be the first thing to sue over. But of course since CAIR knows that the makers have large piles of money they don't. Instead they pick on soldiers who they know they can make accusations against without fear of looking like morons.

3. The guy is twenty-three years old! He's just some kid in Iraq, bored out of his skull. Heck, he's entertaining himself better than most people his age or younger. Yeah twenty-three's old enough to be responsible but come on. How boring do you think it's gotta be to sit there day after day without action? Creative writing, as distasteful as his might be, is at least better than some things he could be doing.

4. Belile is a soldier. He's fighting for CAIR's right to even complain about this song. How would you like to go to war, fight for your country and get shot at by terrorists only to have the country stab you in the back?

Corporal Belile later apologized and offered to retract any video he has control of on the web. He should not have to, nor should he be under inquiry for anything. There is no way you can link a song to murder. It's shameful that the US military would side with CAIR rather than one of their own marines by launching an inquiry over a song. Yes, it was a dumb thing to do, but you can't try a man for murder just because he wrote a distasteful song. It's wrong and unfair, and as long as we keep bowing down to CAIR and other terrorist defenders political correctness is always going to win over those who are fighting for freedom.

Sources: The Daily News, (Jacksonville)