Yesterday National Review On Line had an amazing article about the Gurkhas who are fighting in Afghanistan with the British Army. The Gurkhas are soldiers from Nepal who volunteer for the British army. Their traditional weapon is the kukri, a curved short sword. According to the article, "It is said that the sound of Gurkhas sharpening their kukris was enough to frighten the Japanese in the Second World War."
In Afghanistan, the Gurkhas have again proved themselves as valiant soldiers. The Gurkhas battalions have British officers. Recently, a renegade Afghan policeman entered the Gurkha barracks and shot Major Bowman, one of those officers, dead in his sleep.
According to the article:
"...at the same time, the Gurkhas were in action in Helmand, in pursuit of a top Taliban commander. Under heavy fire, they killed him. Orders were to establish the commander's identity. It was too dangerous to drag him out while still engaged with the Taliban, so a Gurkha cut his head off with his kukri. Quick thinking, you may say."
The Gurkha who cut off his head has been recalled to Britain and may face court-martial and jail.
The article concludes:
"The story goes that by cutting off the commander's head, the Gurkha has offended Muslims, on the grounds that their custom is to bury bodies whole. What nonsense this is, what an example of the self-abasement now habitual whenever we come up against Islam in any shape or form. And the renegade Afghan policeman who shot Major Bowman in his sleep wasn't giving offense?"
I suppose this is totally politically incorrect, but would the war on terror end more quickly if we began burying terrorists and enemy soldiers with pig carcasses? Civilized society is a place for good manners--war is not. We have to be as humane as possible, but cultural sensibilities to terrorists and terrorist fighters will only prolong the war and get more Americans, British, Australians, Canadians, Czechs, Poles, and other brave men killed. Let's fight this thing and get it over with.
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