Barbarity walks both sides of the street

[theHandpuppet]

Yes, many or most of you here saw the CNN clips quite some time ago, but I saw them for the first time last night. Now I know exactly what you were talking about.

American troops surround an Iraqi who has been gravely wounded... the man on the ground is in obvious agony and, with his back to his gun, makes a weak but fruitless effort to crawl away.

Our troops let loose with a barrage of fire, striking the helpless man in the back, killing him. They then break out in laughter and congratulatory quips.

One young soldier, interviewed later about the killing, said it felt "awesome!" and that he couldn't wait to do it again.

Yet so many Americans rail with righteous indignation at Fallujah? Sure looks to me as if barbarity walks both sides of the street in Iraq.

[RapidCreek]

1. and right after that he exclaimed his love for Jesus....

I have the clip if you want it....I don't think I got the jesus part though....I saw that later on the news...the same snaggle toothed back shooting blond punk.

RC

[theHandpuppet]

3. I just don't get it ....

... how could someone proclaim it was an "awesome" experience to murder a man with a shot to the back and then proclaim his love for Jesus? I'm obviously missing something here.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. It's much worse than you think.

Read Grossman's book "On Killing. He's a PhD psychologist and an Army colonel who taught at West Point. This book will scare the hell out of you about what happens to the minds of people in modern combat. I'm a combat vet of VN & the book explained a lot to me about what I had seen and felt.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0316330116/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-2615985-1848903#reader-link

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. Yep, and that was only an incident caught on camera

What else has gone on when there WEREN'T cameras around to document the acts?

[KG]

4. dropping thousand of missiles into crowded cities isn't barbaric enough?

if we are to compare or quantify barbarity, let us note which side had the ability to be wipe out thousands of innocents and choose to do so.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Believe me...

... I'm with you.

It's just that last night was the first time I had seen the clip of that kid and it was gruesome what pride and glee he took in murdering someone. Coming on the heels of all the Fallujah coverage, I just wonder how many Ma and Pa Smiths out there were able to draw any comparisons about acts of barbarity. That young man put a face and voice to our own.

[KG]

7. to think that many more such acts of brutality haven't occured

would be delusional. just because they aren't somehow recorded doesn't mean it didn't happen.

unfortunately, it's common for the members of a tribe to deny or justify the atrocities of its own.

[Toots]

8. American soldiers are barbaric ~ You don't know the half of it.

I have witnessed with my own eyes such barbaric behavior by US Soldiers that would make even the most hard ass SOB cringe. Believe it or not we are not a country of Angels. Not all soldiers are that way but it doesn't take more than a few.