US Marine exonerated for song about killing Iraqis (Hadji Girl)

Al-Reuters ^

[hipaatwo]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military will not punish a Marine who performed an obscenity-laced song to a laughing and cheering crowd of fellow troops in Iraq making light of killing Iraqis, the Marine Corps said on Tuesday.

The Marines two weeks ago launched a preliminary inquiry into whether Cpl. Joshua Belile, who returned home from Iraq in March, violated military law or rules in singing the song, a four-minute video of which was posted on the Internet.

In the song, titled "hadji girl," Belile sang to fellow troops at a base in Iraq about encountering an Iraqi woman and her family.

"I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally," he sang. Laughing, clapping and cheers can be heard in the background.

"The preliminary inquiry has been concluded. No punitive action will be taken against Corporal Belile. And there will be no further investigation," said Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina.

Haney said the inquiry ruled out any violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Another Marine Corps official, who asked not to be named because details of the inquiry are private, said poor taste, poor judgment and poor timing, not to mention offensive lyrics, do not necessarily amount to criminal conduct.

[Perdogg]

Is it against the law to sing a song ?

[pissant]

Thank the Lord. The PC police have failed on this one.

[weegee]

I never heard the whole song. What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?

[dfwgator]

Not against the law, but it's certainly not a good way to win "hearts and minds."

[weegee]

With CAIR repeatedly posting it to YouTube, they were trying to fan the flames and not bring about mutal understandings.

[American_Centurion]

Sad that there had to be an investigation at all. I remember cadence that would offend waaaaaay more panty-waists than his song.

Geez we live in an era of drippy #@$$!*$

[orionblamblam]

> What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?

"Dirka dirka Mohammad Jihad."

[Zeppelin]

The U.S. military will not punish a Marine who performed an obscenity-laced song to a laughing and cheering crowd of fellow troops in Iraq making light of killing Iraqis, the Marine Corps said on Tuesday.

Thanks, Reuters. I'm sure this is exactly how the Marine Corps worded it...

"We have decided not to punish our serviceman who performed an obscenity-laced song while all our boys were laughing and cheering for the killing of innocent Iraqis."

No bias here. Move along please.

[weegee]

That is not obscene. But Reuters can lie about it if they want to.

[Alouette]

Our GI's during World War II were so sensitive and never sang denigrating songs about the Germans and Japanese. </sarcasm>

[MediaMole]

The song was funny. I thank CAIR for hosting it for download. Many of my insensitive friends were also able to watch it thanks to CAIR's help.

[lovecraft]

Saw the clip on Youtube. I laughed my ass off for a good bit. I thought the guy has talent.

[Alouette]

What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?

"I blew those F&$kers to eternity"

"Don't F&$K with the Marines"

[Zeppelin]

What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?

Well, considering it's CAIR thats lodging a complaint, those obscenities probably included the words "Bush" and "God Bless America."

[weegee]

CAIR didn't host it. They posted it on YouTube. YouTube removed it as it "promoted hate" according to CAIRs own press release.

CAIR mysteriously kept finding YouTube links to the video.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"I never heard the whole song. What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?"

The last line is "They should have known they were f'in' with a Marine." , with the three deleted letters included.

As for the little sister, he pulls her in front of himself as a shield after hadji girl's brother and father open firs on him with their AK's. That part gets left out by CAIR and the rest of the PC'ers.

[theDentist]

According to the NYT, yes. THEY are the final arbiter in laws now.

[weegee]

That I can accept, I didn't stay with the song to the end.

While there were a couple obscenities sprinkled in the song (at the end), I don't know if I would characterize it as "obscenity laced". "Offensive song" would be more characteristic.

[Mr. Lucky]

When the 1st Marine Division withdrew from the Chosin Reservoir during the winter of 1950, they made up a song to the tune of Bless 'em All, only the verb wasn't "bless".

This young jar head is only maintaining tradition.

[weegee]

Well Russia is blaming the US for the murdered diplomats. "We" are keeping the peace and "obviously not doing a good job of it".

Terrorist sympathizers cannot be reasoned with. Neither can terrorists.

[Redbob]

Screw a bunch of "hearts and minds":
if they'd simply live every waking moment in mortal fear of us - that would end the "insurgency."

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I see Reuters is still putting out the CAIR line which fails to mention that the Hadji Girl in the lyrics led the marine into an armed ambush by her family where he promptly turns the tables.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"Our GI's during World War II were so sensitive and never sang denigrating songs about the Germans and Japanese. "

Demonization of the enemy has always been part of the approach to war in this, and many other cultures.

Pretending your enemy is your best friend isn't quite as effective--or as smart, if you want to survive and triumph.

Of course, we could model ourselves after the jihadists we're battling. Then the PC Police would REALLY be pulling their hair out.

[Old Student]

"Sad that there had to be an investigation at all. I remember cadence that would offend waaaaaay more panty-waists than his song.

Geez we live in an era of drippy #@$$!*$"

When I was in Basic Training, we got forbidden to sing cadences because our squadron commander heard us singing on our way past the Standarization and Evalutation team office...

"If I had a low IQ, I could be on Stan-Team, too..."

Nearly 33 years ago... It's gonna be a long era.

[takenoprisoner]

The insanity of fighting a religious war in a politically correct manner brought about the investigation.

And I know those cadences. Jody, Susie and Charlie.

[JamesP81]

I never heard the whole song. What were the obscenities that Reuters refers to?

I read the lyrics, and to say it was 'obscenity laced' is a bit of a stretch. It uses the f-word once and there is some violence in it, but I think the characterization of it in this article is a bit of an exagerration.

[6SJ7]

Here's the video. I think the song is funny, but than I'm not offended by cartoons, Piglet, or pork products.

[MediaMole]

They also posted it on their own site. It was linked from a previous story.

http://www.cair.com/video/marine-hadji-girl.wmv

[CharlesWayneCT]

There were obscenities in the song, the guy was a marine. I remember the f-word and I think another word.

I really liked the song, and didn't think it was that offensive. Obviously a real marine wouldn't pull a civilian in front of himself as a shield, but in context it made perfect sense.

The song itself was an excellent example of story-telling. If you don't know the "story":

The marine sees a young, attractive Iraqi girl who puts moves on him but doesn't speak english (she says "dirka dirka Muhammad Jihad" -- a line from the movie Team America - World Police). She manages to convey to him that he should follow her home to her house.

When he follows her through the door, her father and brother appear, holding weapons. He instinctively grabs the younger daughter, in the mistaken assumption that the family wouldn't shoot their own child.

The father and brother instead open fire, killing the daughter. This drives the marine into a fit of anger, and to avenge the young girl's death he kills the two murderers.

CAIR translated that into "marines killing civilians and laughing about it".

I bet at least one of our soldiers has actually HAD something like this happen to them.

It was performed in a skit for "amateur night" in his platoon (or company, or whatever his group was), a morale-building exercise. Someone taped it without his knowledge on a cell phone, and sent it home, and eventually it was put on the web, and CAIR found out and edited little portions and lied about the words and tried to cause an international incident to smear our troops and help our enemies.

Because that's what CAIR does.

[Old Student]

"Well Russia is blaming the US for the murdered diplomats."

Like they're doing better in Chechnya, right?

[TomGuy]

Finally, some common sense.

After so many arrests of soldiers, this 'case' about a song, etc., I was beginning to wonder whether the military brass had any common sense left.

[dfwgator]

I guess the lesson is that, just as anything that you write on a computer can end up on the Internet, anything you do in front of video camera can also end up there as well.

[gondramB]

>>Is it against the law to sing a song ?<<

I understand why Muslims and Iraqis were offended -if it had been specifically about the joy of killing a Christian family it would likely have offended me.

But we don't send Marines to fight and possibly die only to take away their constitutional rights back home.

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

Golly, gee, I think one of them Marines was a breathin' wrong too. He's just gotta be court-martialled. Man, ya give 'em an inch and they take a mile. Oh what nerve he has to breathe incorrectly!!!

[JamesP81]

Seriously, CAIR leaves out the part where the Hadji Girl bats her eyelashes at him to lure him into an ambush. At that point she's laying a trap for him, and any firefight that results from that hardly counts as killing innocent civilians. If you mess with the enemy, he might kill you. It's what happens in war.

[excalibur1701]

>>Well, considering it's CAIR thats lodging a complaint, those
>> obscenities probably included the words "Bush" and "God
>>Bless America."

I'm sure he said "Christmas" as well.

[Zeppelin]

while holding a Bible

[jazusamo]

Thank God reason has prevailed. I don't imagine there are many veterans that agreed with the PC police that punishment was appropriate.

[Restorer]

You are absolutely correct about the song. I was offended by the song as reported by the media, so I looked up the actual lyrics. As you say, they are quite different from what is being reported.

[CharlesWayneCT]

That's true, but when the cameras are in people's cell phones, how do you know? Then there's the cable guy who got fired because he fell asleep waiting on hold for office help, and the customer videotaped him without his knowledge and posted it on the web.

[balk]

bookmarked

[dhs12345]

There were a whole series of Warner Bros Looney Toones movies that have since been locked away and will probably never be played again.

These movies are American history. But we wouldn't want to offend anyone.

[Alouette]

After this CAIR dust up, I found some old World War II propaganda cartoons on YouTube, like this one starring Donald Duck.

[twigs]

The whole song was pretty bad, actually very bad and offensive. But when you read it in context, I can see how it would reduce tension. It just should never have left the group it was written for.

[CremeSaver]

Yes, score one for the good guys just for a change. I am glad this Marine has been cleared for something that should not have gone this far.

[Alouette]

There were a whole series of Warner Bros Looney Toones movies that have since been locked away and will probably never be played again.

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944)

The Ducktators (1942)

Bugs Bunny Hare Meets Herr (1943)

Education For Death (1943) - Disney

Gremlins from the Kremlin (1944)

You're a Sap, Mr. Jap - Popeye(1942)

Daffy the Commando (1943)

[orionblamblam]

Hadji Girl

I was out in the sands of Iraq
And we were under attack
And I, well, I didn’t know where to go.

And the first thing that I could see was
Everybody’s favorite Burger King
So I threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
And I knew it was love at first sight.

And she said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl, I can’t understand what you’re saying.

And she said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl, I love you anyway.

Then she said that she wanted me to see.
She wanted me to go meet her family
But I, well, I couldn’t figure out how to say no.

Cause I don’t speak Arabic.

So, she took me down an old dirt trail.
And she pulled up to a side shanty
And she threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Cause her brother and her father shouted…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They pulled out their AKs so I could see

And they said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
(with humorous emphasis:)
So I grabbed her little sister, and pulled her in front of me.

As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally

Then I hid behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M-16
And I blew those little f*ckers to eternity.

And I said…
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They should have known they were f*ckin’ with a Marine.

[blu]

poor taste, poor judgment and poor timing, not to mention offensive lyrics, do not necessarily amount to criminal conduct.

Sleep safe, rappers and hipper hoppers!

[weegee]

Exactly, when they find Piglet and Jews offensive, I can't say that I am bothered by this "outrage".

Where is CAIR's outrage over the tortured and murdered US troops?

I suppose that Jack Warner, Leon Schlesinger, Bob Clampett, and Mel Blanc are all guilty of making anti-German, anti-Japanese, and anti-Italian cartoons during WWII.