[richlevy]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

I'm torn on this. On one hand there is no excuse for this, our soldiers are trained professionals, we do not stoop to the level of the pathetic sadistic meatbags we're fighting over there. But on the other hand after hearing report after report about Iraqi civilans either attacking crews of downed helicopters or calling in armed insurgents to kill them I'm finding my sympathy drying up very quickly.

To the best of my knowledge, Al Qaeda does not recruit 5-year-olds.

If the cops came into your neighborhood after hearing rumors that civilians were supporting gangs and starting randomly shooting your neighbors, you would probably be upset.

One excuse for invading Iraq was Husseins brutal treatment of Iraqi civilians. His defense is that if he were not brutal they would become terrorists, which is sort of what you are saying.

Maybe the women in that house knew about that bomb and maybe they didn't. Since they were all executed, we'll never know. If we really want to start taking pages from the Nazi handbook on how to clamp down on insurgencies and control unruly populations, then someone had better let me know first.

Shooting unarmed women and children is wrong. What amazes me is that conservatives who rail at liberals for any kind of 'moral equivalency' are suddenly becoming very understanding. They are taking an almost liberal attitude in defense of the Marines. I'm almost expecting the 'he had a troubled childhood' defense.

I don't mean to single you out, Engineer, but I wouldn't be surprised if your attitude has already started to be shaped by 'talking points'.

Right now we are looking into the face of hell in Iraq and hell is starting to look back at us. I predict that 2-3 years after troops return home we will start to hear about cuts in veterans services, especially mental health services. Trying to reacclimate hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been fighting this kind of war is going to be brutal.