[lookout123]

that being said Jag - having worked with British troops under the auspices of the UN, i can tell you part of why they are coming out a bit more cleanly. better control of the media that is with them and they haven't forgotten the primary rule of combat - holding the moral high ground is particularly irrelevant to a corpse.

in another country a couple of years ago, the british commander who had immediate authority over US troops literally tore up a certain young US soldier's ROE card and laughed saying that he'd rather take the heat for being un-PC than be shot. standing orders for clearing houses were to drop a few mortars into a house before going in. US troops don't generally do that. if you were standing outside a door and had to clear the room - grenades first, then go in.

not one of our guys got smoked during that timeperiod. media types were not present during these raids. to the best of my knowledge british troops are maintaining better control of the media than US troops are in Iraq as well.

edit: i'm not saying that we should start indescriminately taking people out. i am saying that it is extremely difficult to win battles and accomplish goals and maintain your "nice guy" image in front of cameras that only report snippets of the whole story.