Well I don't think he did anything wrong,

Thar

Well-Known Member
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ds-newsxml


Quote:
A Gurkha soldier has been flown back to the UK after hacking the head off a dead Taliban commander with his ceremonial knife to prove the dead man’s identity.
The private, from 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles, was involved in a fierce firefight with insurgents in the Babaji area of central Helmand Province when the incident took place earlier this month.
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.

The Gurkhas had intended to remove the Taliban leader’s body from the battlefield for identification purposes.
But they came under heavy fire as their tried to do so. Military sources said that in the heat of battle, the Gurkha took out his curved kukri knife and beheaded the dead insurgent.
He is understood to have removed the man’s head from the area, leaving the rest of his body on the battlefield.

This is considered a gross insult to the Muslims of Afghanistan, who bury the entire body of their dead even if parts have to be retrieved.

British soldiers often return missing body parts once a battle has ended so the dead can be buried in one piece.

A source said: ‘Removing the head in this way was totally inappropriate.’
Army sources said that the soldier, who is in his early 20s, initially told investigators that he unsheathed his kukri – the symbolic weapon of the Gurkhas – after running out of ammunition.

But later the Taliban fighter was mutilated so his identity could be verified through DNA tests.
The source said: ‘The soldier has been removed from duty and flown home. There is no sense of glory involved here, more a sense of shame. He should not have done what he did.’
The incident, which is being investigated by senior commanders, is hugely embarrassing to the British Army, which is trying to build bridges with local Afghan communities who have spent decades under ­Taliban rule.
It comes just days after a rogue Afghan soldier murdered three British troops from the same Gurkha regiment.

I hope they don't charge him with anything.:evil:

ATB

Tahr
 
Can't see a problem do not the taliban take great delight in public beheadings why should they protest about being treated as they treat others, the head could surely have been returned for burial following formal identification. Why should the army feel embarrassed about a soldier thinking on his feet, did it not occur to anybody that if this man was a law abiding Afghan citizen who was not busy shooting at people then this would have never happened.

John
 
These people need to make up their mind, wanting a dead body to confirm ID is a bit Mcabre in the first place but if the situation on the ground dictated that to return the whole body would put a single british Army Soldier in jepordy then the lad did the right thing. It is easy to judgemental from ivory towers. TBH if we let the Gurkhas of the leash the Taliban would soon pack up and go home!!

Dave
 
give that man big cegar and a medal.everyday those guys are faced with landmines and unfair warefare this county just gets more rediculous by the minute.
 
They ask for what they get - I agree with Si. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Been sent piccies of a little lad - no more than 10 who was caught stealing bread. The Taliban drove a truck over his arm to mangle it so he could never use it again - and we're supposed to repect these people - **** me :evil:

The bloody Army have a nerve too - the poor sod was under fire and used his inititive - bet they didnt provide him with a DNA kit ! - I mean they can hardly afford to provide the PBI with ammo ! Would they rather he'd died trying to get the body back ???? Typical of the PC brigade - dont they realise that we're at war. I'm sure that the Taliban respect our dead !!
 
This reminds me of a story my Grandfather told me about the Allies fighting the Japanese in New Guinea during WW2, the allies were paying the native tribes a bounty for each Jap they killed, they were bringing in Jap’ heads to prove there kills, the Allies in the end said just bring in the left ear and that will do to get your money.:cool:

ATB

Tahr
 
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They should have promoted the fellow for quick thinking! An insult to the Taliban? I'd like to carpet bomb their sensitivities away.~Muir
 
That's where this country has gone so wrong. We seem to think that no matter what someone does to us, they have rights and should have our complete respect. It's all over britain - Bad kids that can't be restrained, bad staff we can't sack, muggers we can't assault, Taliban we can't behead.... It's one rule for the crook and another for the good guys. Unfortunately somewhere in the middle of it all things have got mixed up and it's the bad guy who has the most rights!

I hope this Ghurka doesn't have to do too many press ups for his initiative!
 
They should have promoted the fellow for quick thinking! An insult to the Taliban? I'd like to carpet bomb their sensitivities away.~Muir
............ Andy, I have a friend who gets quite emotional about our loss of personnel, very emotional, very easily,& it brings on an anger that makes him come out with "we should use up some of those rusty nukes"
 
If there is anyone in this country who gives a toss about this story then they want to take a long hard look at themselves. If the brass and polititians do anything other than quickly sweep this under the carpet where it belongs then they should get a grip, what the hell did they send Johnny Ghurka over there for in the first place? They sent him to fight and kill his enemy, don't remember anywhere where it said 'only do it nicely and tastefully'. How the hell can any culture that believes in suicide bombing consider the human body as something to be respected? The entire population of Afganistan are not worth a drop of a single British soldiers blood. JC
 
1964, flew out to singapore on a military flight to join ship, sat next to an army cook who had been home on medical leave, he'd been shot in the ass!!! and was returning to his unit in Borneo, he told me the main front line troops in borneo ( apart from the SAS, who I found out 30 years later were going over the border to do things that only they can do best ) were the Ghurkas, he, the cook, said he hated going into the fridge in the morning as there would always be a pile of ears inside, apparently when the Ghurkas were on patrol if they came across the enemy and a battle ensued they'd cut off an ear and take it back as proof that they'd "dispatched" their foe, this Ghurka was only doing the same except he brought back both ears and whatever was in between, cracking stuff I say!!!.... callie
 
This reminds me of a story told to me by a friend who while fighting in the Falklands war was pinned down in a trench for 7 hours by Argentinian machine gun fire, there being no air support available because of low cloud,
In a lull in the gun fire over the back of the trench appeared a Ghurka and asked them why they were not going forward, after they had explaned he said he would sort the problem and disapeared over the back of the trench.
A while later he slid back into the trench with an Argentinian head in his hand and with all his might hurled it forward into the Argentinian trench where the machine gun fire was coming from after about 10 seconds the firing stopped, end of problem.
When they went forward the Argies had left everything including there guns and were no where to be found but they had left the head behind.
 
I am quite surprised everybody agreed cutting heads off is acceptable. I am sure you all agree it does not matter if it is Afgans or British head... Logically it should be equally aceptable.. :confused:
 
If we want the Ghurkas to fight for us then we must respect their ways.... This is not a typical war, the lads out there are fighting terrorists who don't have any respect for life and have no rules of engagement. They have no morals, just their warped beliefs which have been brainwashed into them from an early age and it is still going on. The only way to break the chain is to wipe out the entire race, Harsh words I know but it's true.
Take the Afghan soldier who shot those three soldiers who were training him for example.... you can't tame a wild animal then be suprised when it turns on you.
 
Bloody rediculous......I'm glad i'm not serving now. These **** poor governments lack any sort of backbone and that's exactly why we're wasting our time and resources over there. Come back home, immediately deport each and every numpty with even the remotest of sympathies for their 'cause' right into the middle of afghan (regadless of nationality) and don't let a single one back in.
 
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