It was known that with a detachment of well-armed militants "Mountain Tigers" he was hiding in remote places, mountains, in one of the villages. And so, at that very moment, when the special forces took a comfortable position, watching the village, a herd of bleating goats appeared next to it, and with them three shepherds: two adults and a boy of fourteen. Pointing at them weapon, The "seals" gave the signs to understand that they immediately sat down, and then began to confer.On the one hand, before them were civilians, unarmed; on the other hand, if they are allowed to leave, they can inform the militants about the presence of Americans.
The ideal way out of this situation would be to firmly tie the shepherds and, in the meantime, change positions. However, the ropes were not at hand, but for some reason they did not guess to remove the clothes from the shepherds and use them as improvised material. As a result, there was only one choice, to shoot down random, potentially dangerous witnesses.
Then the squad leader Lt. Murphy made an unexpected decision - he put the question to the vote: what to do with the shepherds, kill them, or let them go?
One of the fighters - Matthew Axelson - declared: “We are in the war, behind enemy lines, sent here by command. We have the right to do everything to save our lives. So letting go of the shepherds would be a mistake. You should kill them. ”
Another fighter - Danny Dietz - abstained.
The third "cat" - Marcus lutrel - was in turmoil.
“I understood,” he recalled later, “that Matthew is right, and we should not let the shepherds go alive. However, having a Christian soul, I listened to her instructions, and she told me that it would be wrong to kill unarmed people. ”
In the end, it was his opinion that was decisive. The good shepherd in the imagination of the Christ-loving "cat" stroked the lamb, and the Afghan shepherds drove their goats further.
After about an hour and a half, the four “cats” were surrounded on three sides by the militants (the data vary, then fifty, one and a half), armed with AK-47 and grenade launchers, and after an intense exchange of fire, only Marcus survived. Along the way, spooks also shot down a helicopter that flew in to rescue the group, so that 16 special forces fighters who were aboard went to another world.
Well, foreman Marcus, badly wounded, was still able to go down a steep slope and, after a difficult journey, in a few days he reached the Pashtun village, from where he had already been taken away by his people.
Later, writing the book "Survivor" (Lone Survivor: SEA Team 10), foreman Marcus Lutrel unequivocally condemns his deed and even says that the decision to let go of the shepherds was "the most brainless decision in his life ", And" having prevailed in the vote in that vote, he signed the death sentence to the whole group, "so that fatal decision" will pursue him right up to the grave. "
This история in the mountains of Afghanistan immediately became widely known in the States. Harvard University professor Michael Sandel (Michael J. Sandel) even contributed this episode to his well-selling book “Justice: What does it do right” (Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?) As a case study on the topic of “moral dilemma”, which is considered with students as part of his super-popular course "Justice" (the last time more than a thousand listeners enrolled there).
He notes that, of course, it would be easier to make a decision, had it been known that these civilians (shepherds) cooperate with the Taliban and, although unarmed, they are undoubtedly enemies. And what if they do not cooperate? But what if the militants learned under torture from the shepherds, whom they met on the way, driving their goats home?
Is it right to kill them, allowing such a version of events?
At Harvard professor among the moral puzzles there is this: Imagine, he says, that you are a tram driver, and your brakes failed during the descent. On the paths in front of you are five workers, whom you will surely crush. But there is an opportunity to have time to turn to the second path, and there only one crush ...
Looking back, the surviving "fur seal" would have been guided not by the pious moods of the soul, but by the arguments of reason, in the style of the great accountant of morality, the arithmetic of the ethics of Jeremiah Bentham. And already in the States, seeing the Afghan mountains again in front of him, only in imagination, and realizing the choice - either the 19 of the American guys, or three shepherds, - he would send his trunk at the second vote without delay to the latter, regardless of whether they cooperate are they with the Taliban, or are they ready to hand over the whereabouts of the "seals" under torture ...
But this is all just a game of imagination.
So, what do we have in reality, according to the testimony of the survivor? Thanks to the introduction of democratic methods of control by the lieutenant in difficult combat conditions, as well as the soul of the foreman inclined to philanthropy, as the church teaches, the “Red Wing” operation failed miserably: the al Qaeda leader remained alive and for some time sowed death, the mountains still roam bearded and heavily armed shaitans, a helicopter was shot down, and nineteen corpses were brought to the States with honors. The living ones get up and, blowing a tear, sing God Bless America!
However, another turn of events was also possible; it could have entered into annals and another story. “Navy seals”, performing the task to which they were sent by the military commanders, fulfilling the order of the president, executing the will of the people, being close to the goal, without ceremony, would calmly shoot random, if not real, then all the same dangerous witnesses, for which the whole operation could fail ...
The operation is not failed, they are returning to their homeland, where, soon, with publicity, it would become that the "seals" killed civilians. To start here! Journalists, civil activists, gays and lesbians, politicized Christians, intellectual Muslims would organize pickets, protests, trials, an echo of indignation would reach Europe, the outskirts of Paris would again flaunt ...
There would be a court in the States, during which it would be revealed who had given the order to “remove” the shepherds from the path. And who knows, maybe Lieutenant Murphy would have been imprisoned, or, remaining at liberty, would have tolerated mockery from compatriots who had not fought, but had been reading books and dreamed of spreading democracy throughout the land, including Afghanistan. And so he is today a hero.
Well, the foreman Markus Lutrel after the end of the service is a guest at all the shows and patriotic events. This good-natured big guy keeps well on stage. At all the events, the “only survivor” came with a dog, presented to him by a puppy during the rehabilitation course.
He tells the audience how it was then. The hall is always full, everyone listens with a sinking breath. And all this time on the stage lies the yellow Labrador bitch DASY, in whose name the initial letters of the three dead fighters, associates of the foreman Marcus Lutrell, who released three Afghan shepherds with the world, are inserted ... But Daisy soon joined Marcus's friends: in 2009, a couple of imbeciles shot her when she walked in the yard. Why? So, for fun ...
What was really in the mountains then, we hardly know, and what we know from the words of the only survivor looks like a myth to some.
Meanwhile, Peter Berg, an American screenwriter, producer and director, began filming The Survivor, which is due to be released this year. Journalists are watching the filming, critics are burning with impatience, some of the military are protesting (all this in the Wall Street Journal “Will 'Lone Survivor' Be the Next 'Zero Dark Thirty'?”).
The US premiere is scheduled for November 15 2013.
In the meantime, you can bet on the main ideologeme of the film, the main theme: will the cinema be about the peculiarity of the American spirit, or will it be about its superiority?