How can our well trained troops kill innocent people?

Question

Will I see the Bush supporters walking the "Walk of shame" tomorrow?

Answer 1

Some of the answers you received for this question are amazing, considering most of these people have never been in the Military, let alone a war!
And I'm sure you have never fought in war!

Answer 2

There are two subjects here.

It doesnt matter how well trained troops are if the enemy dresses like a civilian, and uses civilians as human shields, and fires their weapons from civilian houses / mosques / hospitals etc, it is inevitable that civilians will be killed as part of the process of protecting you and your buddies from harm.

The concept of innocence is interesting as well. Its funny how everybody and anybody you speak to in prison is "innocent". It was never them and it was always someone else, or a police frame up etc.

A dead insurgent will look like a dead civilian once the T.V cameras get there because the AK47 will have been carried off by another "innocent civilian".

A real tragedy here is also when we talk about children and over the last 40 years we have seen an appalling increase in the use of children in guerilla warfare all the way from the 8 year old child soldiers forced to kill their parents in Sierra Leone, through to the children who appear on the streets of every middle eastern town throwing stones at soldiers as a pre cursor to some lunatic firing an AK47 from amongst them.

The insurgents are not stupid. They value propaganda and they know how to use both our media and our western values and they cynically put their most vulnerable members of society into harms way to get that. Human life is not the most valued commodity of the religious fanatic.

The second thing however is the rape trial, and as you know I was very much of the mind that those guys were innocent until proven guilty. If now, as looks likely, they are found guilty then on the trial reports I have read so far they should get the maximum sentence under the law and then some. It is unnaceptable for members of any society, whether in the army or not to behave in that way at any time.

You cannot however use the actions of those particular animals to impugne either the United States military, The President himself, or people who happen to have a different political view to you.

Answer 3

The truth is, if our troops were really well trained and equipped, there wouldn't be any killing. The goal of any army is to overwhelm and subdue an enemy, not slaughter. If Bush supporters someday walk a "Walk of Shame", I would want them to hang their ignorant, mean-spirited heads in shame for not only the killing of innocent people, but for the hardships and horror that our own insufficiently supported troops have suffered.

Answer 4

You have no idea what's going on down there. It is not easy to know who the enemy is and who is not. If you have not been to war you have no frame of reference. It's not that easy. The rules of engagement are built around to prevent the loss of innocent lives- shoot until shot at. I'm not a Bush supporter, but I am a vet of this last war and I know exactly what is going on down there. You walk into a room scared for your life, or your clearing a building. You have no idea what is in there. In close quarters combat, it is an automatic reaction to shoot when you see movement.

Answer 5

Its very easy to make mistakes in combat. A mistaken identity or inaccurate intelligence might yield a high level of civilian casualties. Also bombs are not trained to sniff civilians and differentiate them from soldiers. So i can say that even the most well trained soldiers can still commit mistakes killing the innocents by simply having the wrong information and by using the wrong weapons.

Answer 6

don't you know that many Americans soldiers are asshole....I'm telling you the truth,,i don't know why but many of them are rapist. just like what happen here a few months ago in the Philippines, they rape a young girl...and in japan...they also rape a young girl..many cases of rape here in the Philippines is done mostly by Americans soldiers...and not only here all over the world...most of them are Americans soldiers.I know all of you agree with me..maybe their training is very very bad...maybe they are trained to be a tough soldiers and because of that they become evil..they don't care if they hurt someone..they don't respect other people. In TV..its like they are the good ones, they fight the terrorist but the truth is they are the real terrorists in another way, they want to control the world and that is bad. How many innocent people do you think have been killed in the Arab countries? American government don't care if they killed a thousand innocent lives as long as they achieve what they want. they don't care..........I'm not a racist..I'm not from the east either, i love Americans, i just don't like the system of American government

Answer 7

You use the handle "erudite". I wonder. Why should we walk the "Walk of Shame"? I will not try to justify what the media is reporting, but at the same time, I will take it with a LARGE grain of salt! The media sensationalizes and flat-out LIES. Add to that the fact that you've obviously never walked a mile in a pair of combat boots under fire, and perhaps you're not quite as "erudite" as you suppose.

Answer 8

I want some of you to ride along with me on a convoy in iraq. You will see for yourself how our enemy operates. They hide behind children and women, but they are heroes right? I am, and we are a well trained army. It is a war folks, it happens, i dont want innocent people to be killed, but it is nearly impossible to identify the enemy until we are already hit. You have no idea, so i think you should quit your whining and simply say thank you troops for allowing us to have the freedom to be simple minded.

Answer 9

in other countrys it is not a fair fight no one is "tagged" enemy anymore no one wears uniforms such thing called guarilla warfare it is behind enemy lines and it is dangerous they are nto trained with a enemy tracking device planted in there brain and most soldiers do not plan on killing any civilians they have a thing called cought in the crossfire not intentional killing of innocents and bush supporters will not be walkin the walk of shame tomorrow sorry

Answer 10

Come on... it's not like they purposely go and kill innocent people. But it happens sometimes. It's part of war fare, and it sucks, but such is life. We can't wait for all the civilians to move before we act. That's how OUR men get killed. It's not like they're saying "Hey, here's an elementary school filled with tons of kids and one terrorist... lets bomb it" That's not how it works. They will use strategies to save as many civilians as possible, but sometimes they get in the way.

Answer 11

It used to be you could tell your enemy by the uniform he wore.

Enemies don't play that way any longer.

Now, ANYONE could be an enemy.

It's either kill or be killed. You cannot judge our military folks in the field if a few "innocents" get in the way. Unless you've been in combat before, you'll never understand.

All our military wants to do is complete their missions and get their asses home - in one piece!