West arming Syrian rebels who eat human flesh,Vladimir Putin says

[MADem]

41. I think there has been brutality down the ages. That said, there

was a time when it was considered cowardly to fight like Americans (hide, and don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes) and there were many examples recorded of gentlemanly conduct during WW1 (mostly because neither side particularly wanted to be there).

I do agree with you that video enables more "gotcha" moments these days. First person descriptions don't pack the same punch as a visual, in any event.

Peeing on the enemy is certainly not something that was invented in Iraq or Afghanistan. Nor was chopping someone open and going for their heart (and missing and grabbing a lung instead, apparently). It's just that we haven't seen the latter recently...!

A discussion on the subject, from the instructive folks at DISCOVERY: http://news.discovery.com/history/eating-the-enemy-130514.htm

More recently, former Liberian President Charles Taylor — sentenced last year to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war –was accused of ordering his militias to eat the flesh of captured enemies and UN soldiers. Taylor himself reportedly ate the heart and livers out of dead soldiers.

I'll bet they don't serve much heart or liver in prison...!