Reply #23: It's not so black and white. There are arguements to be made for [View All]

th sides.
Many soldiers have committed crimes in Iraq and have abused their authority. They should be tried for war crimes and so should the commanders that let them get away with it.
My point was that these soldiers should never be put in a situation where they have to kill civilians to protect themselves. Many soldiers have died trying to stop suicide bombers as they sped through checkpoints.
The problem is lack of communication and I'm sure there must be ways to remedy the situation. I don't know if anything is being done, but frankly, I doubt it because problems at checkpoints have been reported almost contantly since we occupied Iraq.
There is an interview with a medic Patrick Resta who is back from Iraq
at counterpunch.com. He gives valuable insight from a soldier's perspective. Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/

This is another example of piss poor military planning (or lack of it)
British soldiers are given classes on how to interact with civilians.
This administration could care less about our soldiers. They claim that having our troops occupying Iraq for this long was "an unforeseen circumstance".
I found the report written by the photographer,Chris Hondros. Here's the link: http://www.pdnonline.com/photodistrictnews/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000768970

<snip>
"Usually little more happens than finding someone out after curfew, patting him down, and then sending him home. On daylight patrols, sometimes, troops stop to briefly play with children or even drink tea. On evening patrols - past curfew - no one is on the streets, and the men are extra-vigilant and professional.
Tal Afar is an ethnically mixed town -- though primarily Turkoman, and had only days before been the scene of a gun battle between U.S. forces and local insurgents." <snip>

Posting those pictures generated much hatred for our troops. I'm really glad you and other DU'ers are trying to understand why tragedies like this keep happening.