Innosurgents

[weaktwos]

Let's take a look at some of those insurgents we're defeating:








So, someone tell me how maiming innocent children helps fight the War on Terror? How does an Iraqi tell the difference between us and Saddam? I suppose the difference is, he probably would have buried them in mass graves, dead or alive.




Source: http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com/

You can find video of the marine shooting an unarmed insurgent, here.

Comments

[darness.livejournal.com]

You can find video of the marine shooting an unarmed insurgent, here.

I'm really disappointed with the way this story is being portrayed by most news outlets. They're downplaying or leaving out some of the most important portions -- like the fact that marines in the same unit were killed just one day before trying to tend to the dead because bodies are being booby-trapped with explosives.

Sad either way.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is sad. I'm not seeing the benefits to this: of subjecting our soldiers to this grave sacrifice: either death or a life lived with memories of untold horrors for a cause that in the end, may not be truly just.

[wiseacre.livejournal.com]

What's sad about foreign invaders being killed by freedom fighters? The more, the better.

[libidoergosum.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to defend the killing of the unarmed insurgent, but do realize something: This is what happens when you tie the hands of the military with a "peacekeeping" operation and expect them to stay in line while the enemy continues to wage an all-out war.

as for the civilians killed, a couple of things come into play.

1: We did give them the opportunity and means to evacuate, they chose to stay

2: urban combat is going to have collateral damage, it's the unfortunate nature of the beast.

3: We're using artillery, we can't see the target, we just set the gun on the proper deflection and quadrand then shoot... we can be up to 18 miles away, and shells do a LOT of damage.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

1.)Well, it's hard for me to imagine children leaving their parents
2)Yes it is the nature of the beast. Which is why I would rather not do this sort of thing using a doctrine of "preemptive war", especially when the pre-emption was not justified.
3)See 2.

[imlac.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I'm sure there were a lot of similar pictures of maimed French and German children during WWII. The pictures, while gruesome, do not by themselves prove much (but it's important to keep them in mind, not to look away, and acknowledge the realities of war.)

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

That's my problem. If we are going to kill civilians, it should not be for pre-emptive war. Hitler was invading everyone, he had to be stopped. There comes a price for that. But we're the invaders, now.

[enragedoftw.livejournal.com]

Pre-emptive war implies that we were preventing someone from acting before they did, which is what we did. If the British and French governments had acted against Hitler earlier on (for instance, when he reoccupied the Rhineland or annexed Austria or annexed the Sudetenland or took over the rump of Czechoslovakia) then we would have eliminated the threat.

War is horrible. Nobody likes war. But do we actually know how many of these children were injured by American bullets or ordnance as opposed to bullets or ordnance fired by insurgents?

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

I think we can be fairly certain that we've killed many children from our artillery.

Yes, War is horrible. Some people do like war.

Now, we know Saddam tried to invade Kuwait. We stopped him. He was not gearing up for any more invasions. Had he tried, we would have stopped him again. We didn't need to be there in this fashion. Considering the diverse and angry factions at play in Iraq, this place was not ripe for the democratizing, either.

[unclemilo.livejournal.com]

Of course, you have to add to that fact that
George H. W. Bush said that America would take no action if Saddam went into Kuwait... and then did an about face after Saddam actually did it.

And no one seems to care WHY Saddam went into Kuwait

Anyway... we shouldn't be there. We should never have gone there. We should drop George W. Bush on to Iraq and bring the soldiers home.

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

I've experienced something akin to the Batshit psychosis that caused that Marine to frag the unarmed insurgent in the Mosque- all I can say is I understand, but do not condone. When you've been up for at least three days straight, literally running the entire time, shooting, getting shot at and being invloved in some of the hairiest combat known to soldiers- Operations in Urban Terrain, something's going to snap. Something did, and this time the cameras were running. From examining the reports regarding the Incident, perhaps this Marine felt he had no choice, but I see at least one Violation of the Geneva accords ( Shooting an Unarmed ) and perhaps others. I'm just wondering what kind of upper he was on- It is known that the Air Force used to issue some sort of stims to their Pilots during the first "Adventure", and I wonder if the Land Forces are doing the same. All of this reminds me of one of the best books I've ever read on the Subject of Killing- Naturally, It's called "On Killing" and its author, Lt Col Dave Grossman, was a Teacher at West Point and a Psychologist. It's fascinating and revolting all at once and offers a valuable insight into the Mindset of both sides in this conflict.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check that out sometime.

I can certainly understand the Marine's mindset. This is not my gripe. My gripe is that our nation's leaders have put these Marines in this position in what I deem an unjust war. You go in there to make it better--immediately better. If a revolution takes time, let them start their own revolution instead of starting it for them.

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I still wonder why he wasn't allowed to fall on his own, or maybe a more Sub Rosa approach wasn't taken, rather than the "Over the Top" approach that we took.