This just in: soldiers have sex, too

Arthur Chrenkoff links to a story we heard on the radio this morning:  soldiers in Iraq actually did naughty things of a sexual nature to each other.

Of course, there has to be an Abu Ghraib angle to this, and so we get this obligatory bit:

A source familiar with the camp said bright lights seen in some of the pictures may have been trained on large, open-air holding pens - indicating that Iraqi detainees could have seen or heard the commotion.

But an Army spokesman in Baghdad denied the incident happened within sight or earshot of Iraqi detainees.

Well that is a blessing.  Wouldn't want the prisoners to be traumatized by a strip-tease.

The Posse is completely underwhelmed by this news.  Knowing more than a little about the military, we can say that this sort of behavior happens even in peacetime, even at stateside US bases.

The "root cause" isn't the brutality of war, nor is it a memo from Alberto Gonzales or personal decrees from George W. Bush.

It is human nature.

Young men and women like having sex with each other.  It's a proven fact.

Indeed, it is the reason why humanity even exists.

Thanks to the sexless left, however, we are expected to pretend that such impulses are unnatural.

As Michelle Malkin rightly points out, men and women are supposed to be trainable to the extent that basic human nature is fundamentally altered.

What this episode truly demonstrates is that the ancient codes of military and social conduct were not arbitrary.

Men and women in military service should be separated.  When they are allowed to freely comingle - particularly in areas with active combat operations - discipline and order will break down.  Guarenteed.

During the 1990s it was possible to pretend that this wouldn't be so, that somehow when war broke out (and most foolishly assumed it wouldn't) that people would "get over" their basic instincts and young men and young women would decide to live lives on monastic asceticism while on military service.

As hard as it was to type that with a straight face, it is even harder to accept that some people actually believe it.

We're not sure how that happens, unless it is another symptom of alternate reality - a common trait on the left.

Events have shown that the peace of the 1990s was largely an illusion.  As events within the military are making clear, so was the naiive belief that one could comingle physically active and vigorous 18-year-old men and women and sex wouldn't happen.

The Posse wants to make this clear: we do not believe that resegregating the sexes would ensure this never happens again.  Human nature means that some soldiers will always find a way to screw up, often with spectacular results.

But common sense dictates that these people be given a mechanism to blow off steam, to relax in a stressful environment.

By understanding this and controlling the environment - specifically by removing temptation - military commanders can prevent incidents like this from happening.

The Posse will add that there is a lot of fraternization going in the military, most of which is dealt with administratively and will never make the papers.

It isn't a sign of command weakness, but a fact of life.  Men and women like each other.  Always have, always will.