War Crimes
There have been more recent stories on the news about soldiers committing crimes in Iraq. They had several non combatants that were shot and killed in one case. In another, soldiers went looking for a guy, didn't find him, but found another guy and randomly chose him to be shot and killed. Several soldiers confessed to these things happening and are now being punished. Alot of people simply can't understand how something like that might happen. So let me explain.
Quite simply put, the guys they put in charge for some of these missions are no older than 25 years old and sometimes even younger. You are putting the lives of the squad in the hands of a kid with very little experience. Even those with alot of experience are still very young kids given alot of responsibility. Yes, these are trained soldiers. It's not like you're taking a high school kid, giving him a gun, and telling him to go shoot people. However, they are still young. Then you send them over into a hostile environment where they constantly have to worry about being blown up or shot by any given person in the areas they have to go through. They are always on edge and it's hot as hell over there and it's just the worst imaginable environment.
Another contributing factor to the problems is the color and language barrier. People are much less likely to be indifferent about killing someone who speaks their language and who looks like them. It's a simple psychological factor. When the soldier is put in extreme situations and the people they are going up against are of a completely different culture, ethnicitiy and speak a different language, it dehumanizes them and makes them much easier on the conscience to kill. Again, another simple psychological factor.
Now, we've all seen the tragedies of the Iraq war and we've seen a few good things too. Imagine those horrible bombings and random killings of people going on...now imagine it going on in your own neighborhood. Imagine going to Wal-Mart and having to worry about being blown up all the time. That's an every day occurence for people who live in the war zone. America, you have it easy. While we sit here and people want to bitch and maon about their petty problems that have no real substance to them at all, someone in Iraq just lost their entire family to a suicide bomber or a crazed team of soldiers looking for revenge because one of their buddies was just killed by an IED. Next time you want to criticize soldiers for what they do, consider what you might do given the situations you don't even begin to understand. Neither do I, mind you. My understanding of how it really is to be in the war situations is beyond me. I've spoken to many soldiers about it and many of them don't even want to talk about it. They say they've seen things they never dreamed they would ever see. The "perfect soldier" is one that does what he is told and has no emotional connection to his actions. Guess what. The "pefect soldier" doesn't exist because to have no emotion is to be not human.
Quite simply put, the guys they put in charge for some of these missions are no older than 25 years old and sometimes even younger. You are putting the lives of the squad in the hands of a kid with very little experience. Even those with alot of experience are still very young kids given alot of responsibility. Yes, these are trained soldiers. It's not like you're taking a high school kid, giving him a gun, and telling him to go shoot people. However, they are still young. Then you send them over into a hostile environment where they constantly have to worry about being blown up or shot by any given person in the areas they have to go through. They are always on edge and it's hot as hell over there and it's just the worst imaginable environment.
Another contributing factor to the problems is the color and language barrier. People are much less likely to be indifferent about killing someone who speaks their language and who looks like them. It's a simple psychological factor. When the soldier is put in extreme situations and the people they are going up against are of a completely different culture, ethnicitiy and speak a different language, it dehumanizes them and makes them much easier on the conscience to kill. Again, another simple psychological factor.
Now, we've all seen the tragedies of the Iraq war and we've seen a few good things too. Imagine those horrible bombings and random killings of people going on...now imagine it going on in your own neighborhood. Imagine going to Wal-Mart and having to worry about being blown up all the time. That's an every day occurence for people who live in the war zone. America, you have it easy. While we sit here and people want to bitch and maon about their petty problems that have no real substance to them at all, someone in Iraq just lost their entire family to a suicide bomber or a crazed team of soldiers looking for revenge because one of their buddies was just killed by an IED. Next time you want to criticize soldiers for what they do, consider what you might do given the situations you don't even begin to understand. Neither do I, mind you. My understanding of how it really is to be in the war situations is beyond me. I've spoken to many soldiers about it and many of them don't even want to talk about it. They say they've seen things they never dreamed they would ever see. The "perfect soldier" is one that does what he is told and has no emotional connection to his actions. Guess what. The "pefect soldier" doesn't exist because to have no emotion is to be not human.
posted by Ub3rn00b at 4:54 PM
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