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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: TimF who wrote (161306)5/3/2005 1:11:46 AM
From: Maurice Winn  Read Replies (2) of 281500
 
<Perceptions can be important but I'm talking about the reality not perception.>

The reality is that many USA soldiers are trigger-happy gun nuts. They are trained to be like that. They don't mess around. If somebody goes near an American, such as the escaping Italian hostage, it's a fusillade of ammunition. That includes their own star football players and other "friendly" fire.

No doubt Iraqis have learned now to avoid Americans or risk instant corporeal disassociation.

As I wrote, a lot of Iraqis see Americans as wanton killers. When you are a child and you see your family shredded, that's reality, whether the press releases agree or not. Telling the child that their parents should have stopped sooner or driven on or something won't change the perception.

Telling people that their perceptions are awry isn't normally very convincing.

I'm pretty sure that the USA military suffers enough friendly-fire incidents that they spend quite a bit of time in trying to get the troops to identify actual threats before letting rip. "Come on you guys. At least look for a USA military helmet before shooting their brains out."

I hasten to add that the USA is probably one of the better military forces in controlling arbitrary carnage, though the British seem to be better.

Mqurice
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