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Poor conditions for our troops in the field is not a new thing, unfortunatly. I've spoken with a number of Vietnam vets who told me stories of soldiers that would willingly cross known mine-fields because of the presence of a good meal on the other side. At least in Vietnam, our troops could take some R&R and even booze it up once and again. Iraq is a "dry" conflict. Getting caught with booze is a court martial offense at present. Needless to say, there's a thriving black market for alcohol out there.
As for Iraqis being treated as Untermenschen, to some degree, that's standard military doctrine. A soldiers basic humanity is challenged every time they have to pull a trigger on another human being. If the baseline opinion of the indigineous peoples is that of less-than-human, it becomes psychologically easier to whip lead into them. Since, technically, any Iraqi *might* be a potential enemy, they all have to be treated the same. These opinions are only reinforced by our labeling them as Third World. In our overwhelming arrogance, we don't even rate their basic society as equal to ours. (your mileage may vary on this topic) Ultimately, we cannot ask for humanitarian behavior from our soldiers. We ask them to kill people, and lots of them. That a British soldier has the brass cojones to step down because of what he sees makes him a damn fine human, but clearly, a less than effective soldier. That being said, I applaud his ethics and his ability to stick by them.
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