SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Neocon who wrote (133680)5/21/2004 2:30:14 AM
From: cnyndwllr  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
Do you think they did the right thing, or should the offending GIs have been busted for having lost it over the horror they had encountered?

Do you need to ask?

They killed them not from a sense of duty, not from necessity, and not because it would prevent a greater harm; they killed them because they got angry. And those they killed were all unarmed and defenseless. Did they do the right thing?

We all get angry sometimes. That doesn't allow us to act out our anger without some penalty. The penalty may be lessened depending upon whether a reasonable person might have been overcome by rage, but unless they were "temporarily insane," the crime is not excused.

Nor should it be. They shot unarmed and defenseless PEOPLE, some of whom were undoubtedly individuals who would have been spared by the VICTIMS based upon acts of lesser cruelty or perhaps even kindnesses. The killings of the soldiers were not much different than the acts of the German soldiers who mowed down unarmed prisoners.

But we would not penalize our soldiers much. The reason is clear; when we send men to kill others we can't expect them to respect life and abhor killing like they did before we sent them to war. These guys had undoubtedly killed other men who'd done far less to arouse their ire than had these guards. In those circumstances their actions were predictable. If there was anyone that we might truly find morally repugnant, it might be their Company or Platoon officer whose job it was to follow the rules and "protect" his men and the prisoners from these acts of rage.

But then this stuff happens all too often in times of war, including from our soldiers despite all the protestations of the naive that "Americans don't do these things."

That's the face of war and that's why so many of our generals and our veterans had a far higher standard for invading and occupying Iraq than the "no shows."
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News