NC Marine Says Offensive Song Wasn’t Meant to Offend Anyone

By Linda Orlando

Cpl. Joshua Belile is a 23-year old Marine who lives in Jacksonville, NC, and serves with Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 167. He returned from Iraq in March and shortly thereafter became embroiled in a controversy over the obscenity-laced lyrics of a song he wrote while sitting around drinking coffee with his buddies in Iraq.

The song, titled "Hadji Girl," tells the story of an American Marine who falls in love with an Iraqi girl. The girl takes the Marine to her family’s house, but the family becomes angry and shoots the girl. When they point their guns toward the Marine, he grabs his beloved’s little sister and uses her as a human shield to escape unscathed while he guns down her father and brother. "As the bullets begin to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes and then I laughed maniacally," the song says. "Then I hid behind the TV and I locked and loaded my M-16, I blew those little (expletive) to eternity. They should have known they were f---ing with the Marines."

Belile was filmed singing the song, and the 4-minute video was posted on the YouTube website. As with many YouTube videos, word of the song spread like wildfire and quickly caught the attention of the Council of American-Islamic relations, who contacted the Pentagon and complained that the lyrics glamorize the killing of Iraqi civilians. Many feel that the song is a direct reference to the alleged incident at Haditha where a Marine unit was suspected of killing 15 Iraqi civilians and later claiming they were killed by a roadside bomb.

Belile says that the chorus of the song was taken from the adult cartoon comedy "Team America," which parodies the American war on terror. He says that the song was just a joke, and his fellow Marines enjoyed hearing it and put him on stage with a guitar to film him singing it. When the controversy over the song first became public, Beilie told reporters, "This is in no way, shape or form related to the events that happened at Haditha." He said that the song was written long before the events happened and is completely fictional. "I think it was a joke that is trying to be taken seriously," he said. "I think it’s a joke, and anybody who tries to take it seriously knows it’s a joke. People can’t just laugh at it and let it go."

As Belile began to worry about the controversy affecting his career, his family, and the Marine Corps, he issued a statement apologizing to people who may have been offended by the lyrics. "It’s a song that I made up and it was nothing more than something supposed to be funny, based off a catchy line of a movie," Belile said. "I apologize for any feelings that may have been hurt in the Muslim community. This song was written in good humor and not aimed at any party, foreign or domestic." Belile then told reporters that he had been advised to wait to make a statement until after he talked with a lawyer, and he asked to have his earlier comments about the song replaced with "no comment."

Marine Corps officials didn’t share Belile’s feelings that the song was a joke, and they began an investigation. They issued their own statement, saying, "The Marine Corps has recently been made aware of a video posted to a website that purports to show a Marine singing an insensitive song about Iraqis. The video has subsequently been removed from the website." The statement continued, "The video that was posted anonymously is clearly inappropriate and contrary to the high standards expected of all Marines. The video is not reflective of the tremendous sacrifices and dedication demonstrated, on a daily basis, by tens of thousands of Marines who have assisted the Iraqi people in gaining their freedom."

Ibraham Hooper, the communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that his group cannot understand Belile saying that the tasteless song is a joke. "I thin kwe agree with the Marine Corps," Hooper said, "that the video is inappropriate and insensitive and shouldn’t be taken as a reflection on the entire body of U.S. military personnel." Like many people, Hooper doesn’t see an humor in a song about killing a child. "I don’t think it is a joking matter when you talk about holding up a child to being shot," he said.

After the Marine Corps investigation, officials announced that Belile had not violated military law by penning the song. Shortly after learning that he was not going to suffer any consequences for his appalling lack of taste, Belile began attempting damage control. He worked with producer Alan Grossman to produce a recording of the song, although Belile himself did not participate in the actual recording at the request of his superiors. The song was aired Wednesday on the radio show of conservative talk show host Mike Church, and listeners can download the track online for $1.99.

Now that the song will not be censored by military officials, Belile, who is scheduled to return to Iraq soon, has changed his tune about feeling remorse for writing it. While his superiors were investigating his actions, he told reporters, "I will never perform this song again, and I will remove all video and text inrelation to this that I have control of." But once he learned that he wasn’t going to get in trouble, Belile told reporters, "If anyone’s offended, that’s not my intention. But I’m not responsible for those people who are insulted by it, and I suggest they not listen to it. Belile insists that the song is just "a piece of music written to inspire laughter."

Such a claim is beyond comprehension. How would Cpl. Belile’s family feel if he were killed and an Iraqi soldier wrote a humorous song about it? It’s a sad day indeed for our world if civilized people—particularly American soldiers—feel like laughing at a song about a child being killed.