
The Crimes of SEAL Team 6 - Huhty
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/?source=Snapzu
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sleepingeights
The article is about the failure to make something honorable of the worst
actions a person does to another. What is so surprising of that fact other
than the US spending billions on their Navy SEAL brand and exceptionalism?
They could spend trillions on prettying up the act of war on men who only find
killing another to be their only solution and they will still have the same
problem if not worse.

"Canoeing" itself is a tradition in the US armed forces long before the SEAL
Team 6 undisciplined actions. It was common for US military soldiers and
Americans to refer to Chinese and Koreans as "zipper heads" because they used
to shoot those civilians and PoWs for sport in the same manner as the Navy
SEALs practiced in their desecration and mutilation of enemy combatants.

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junto
Let's not beat around the bush here. These guys are government authorised
death squads. Many of them are psychopathic or deeply scared by what they've
seen and done. They learn to treat the enemy as subhuman. That leads to a lack
of respect of the dead and any war conventions. Is it really so surprising
that this was the outcome?

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lightbyte
They are essentially equal to the terrorists they fight against in my eyes.

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regressiveparty
So blowing up a bomb in a market thats specifically designed to target
innocent civilians = shooting an enemy combatant corpse after its dead

Great logic.

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jpfr
The article basically says that some members of elite military units are
psychopaths and acting as such.

How ... unsurprising, given their choice of occupation.

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Inconel
The contents of this article notwithstanding, I'm not sure I feel comfortable
with that kind of broad generalization. I'm sure there are a number of reasons
why individuals would chose to serve in such roles, and like any large
organization or industry, I'm sure there are people who fall within a wide
spectrum of ethics or morality. I wouldn't necessarily think there are any
more psychopaths in the military than there are in Silicon Valley.

As a counter point, albeit one steeped in personal anecdote, one of my best
friends whom I've known since childhood, served a number of years in an elite
military unit, and continues to do so in a slightly less elite Air National
Guard unit, and he's probably the most honest, charitable, and fiercely loyal
person I've had the privilege of knowing.

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jpfr
I am sorry if you feel your friend was offended.

I did not say all members of elite military units are psychopaths. Some are.

And after all I've seen, the concentration seems higher in those military
units than in the general population. We are talking percentages here.

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dba7dba
I read half or quarter of top 500 public companimy ceos are considered
psychopaths clinically. I think for anyone to reach such high level of
achievement, you are crazy to begin with.

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grzm
I think it would be worth providing a reference with a claim like this, as a
courtesy rather than as proof, so to speak. If it's interesting enough to post
in a comment, it's likely interesting enough that others would want to read
more about it.

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dba7dba
I apologize for not including source as I was typing it on my phone.

I just googled "public company ceos are psychopaths" and found
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-
are-p...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-
psychopaths-australian-study-finds/) among others.

"Australian study has found that about one in five corporate executives are
psychopaths – roughly the same rate as among prisoners.

The study of 261 senior professionals in the United States found that 21 per
cent had clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits. The rate of
psychopathy in the general population is about one in a hundred."

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grzm
Cheers. I wasn't able to find details of Brooks' research online. Looks like
it's yet to be published in the European Journal of Psychology.

[http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/one-in-five-ceo-s-are-
psychopat...](http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/one-in-five-ceo-s-are-psychopaths-
study-bond-university.html)

