Comments on: What do you do?

By: olawan

olawan — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 18:09:09 +0000

Every military massacre could probably be excused or explained away by citing: grueling OPTEMPO, strength of enemy resistance, restiveness among redeployed units, fear and anger toward native populations, or even confusion in the ranks. Using these criteria, the Massacre at Malmedy could (and has) been characterized as a mistake by follow on units! Face it, the vast majority of our armed forces would never conduct themselves in this manner. But the reluctance to criticize those who do is both a slur on the character of 99.99% of our troops as well as a sign of malignant brain rot brought on (I suppose) by Faux-Patriotitis. Call a spade a spade, isn’t that what we claim Americans are so good at?

By: Thomas L. Nielsen

Thomas L. Nielsen — Wed, 31 May 2006 13:47:07 +0000

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do learn from history are doomed to make new mistakes.
Those who learn only select lessons from history are doomed to do both.
Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark

By: Thomas Nielsen

Thomas Nielsen — Tue, 30 May 2006 09:21:54 +0000

One of the most fundamental principles of a democratic society is that one is innocent until proven guilty. And as someone has already pointed out, the press has a tendency to get it wrong, certainly the first time around. So until the Judge Advocate General is done, I’ll reserve judgement.
Having said that: Yes, it is frustrating, and scary, and stressful and much more, to live day in day out in an environment where you can’t tell friend from foe, where that cute kid waving and smiling at you from the roadside could be waiting for the right moment to toss a grenade into your vehicle, or trigger an IED, where you know that every day, you life or the life of one of your closest friends could end, due to an IED or a sniper.
BUT: THESE FACTS CANNOT AND MUST NOT BE USED TO JUSTIFY OR EXCUSE THE DELIBERATE (OR FOR THAT MATTER ACCIDENTAL) KILLING OF INNOCENTS!
If that was an excuse or a justification, then the people who suddenly go on a killing spree in a mall, at their workplace or at the local highschool, should be just sent home with a sympathetic pat on the head, since they were probably abused as children, had alcoholic parents or whatever, so it’s not their fault, really.
I’m hoping the US military learned something i Vie…Ooops, sorry, almost said the V-word there…and the incident in Haditha turns out to be just enemy propaganda (“If we’re doing it, it’s PR, if they’re doing it, it’s propaganda”). But if not: Prosecute the guilty, both those who gave the order, and those who pulled the triggers.
As such, I remain,
Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark

By: David Axe

David Axe — Tue, 30 May 2006 01:49:26 +0000

Pedestrian,
Are you proposing that we abandon all journalism because insurgents might be reading? You might as well burn the constitution, hand in your voter registration card and kiss democracy goodbye.
Cheers.

By: DS

DS — Tue, 30 May 2006 01:32:26 +0000

Ali Khan…
How do you come to this ingenious conclusion about Americans? Where are you from? If you know anything about the USA, or anything at all for that matter, you know that every country on this Earth has people who are good and civil and peaceful, and also people who are violent and murderous. EVERY COUNTRY. That means Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, UK…and yes, USA. So, before you categorize a HUGE group of people (295,734,134 people in the USA) as “sub human”, you may want to look around you and wake up to reality.

By: pedestrian

pedestrian — Tue, 30 May 2006 00:25:51 +0000

and Ali Khan the coward kafir promoting takfir writes from home without joining the Mujahidin. 17,000 or more Mujahidins that surrendered without fighting to the last blood are happy they still have a life at prison in Iraq. 5,000 other stupid Muslims that took their guns bite the ground. Hey Ali Khan, Falluja is still occupied by Americans, and Taliban are scared that they are hiding in Pakistan. Why are you still sitting in front of your computer and not going to Iraq or Afghanistan to join your friends? LOL! Anyways, Defense Tech, I hope you guys now understand Muslims are watching this site. Everytime you write something, you are risking lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By: pedestrian

pedestrian — Tue, 30 May 2006 00:13:53 +0000

and the next topic Defense Tech is the Haditha incident of killing of civilians, with happy trigger Defense Tech staffs to protrait soldiers as evils and people at the top of chain of command just days after Memorial Day.

By: Wembley

Wembley — Mon, 29 May 2006 11:30:51 +0000

Whether civilian casualties are caused deliberately (eg by insurgents trying to kick off the civil war) accidentally (eg by airstrikes) or somewhere in between, we all know that their effects will resonate for years to come, and every case like this one makes the war worse.

By: Charles

Charles — Mon, 29 May 2006 03:44:18 +0000

Well none of the witness accounts mention human shields. Additionally, the accounts mention that the buildings weren’t all shot to hell, the typical indicator of a firefight. Nor was any building blown up by JDAM or SDB, which happens when the insurgents can’t be uprooted from a building. The evidence seems stacked against a sustained firefight.

By: Byron Skinner

Byron Skinner — Sun, 28 May 2006 19:00:02 +0000

Good Morning Folks,
I’m in agreement with “Not Really”, in large part the reason the media gets so much wrong about Iraq is that they afre being fed there information by the DoD.
It appears that many, if not most “journalist?”, execpt David and Noah of course, would rather plant there butts in the “Green Zone” and suck up war stories over Diet Cokes from base camp commandos and feed it to the American people on their 30 sec. tape spot on the nightly news as fact.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner