http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1927660,00.html
Iraq: The Real Story
Video: Sean Smith's film of life in the battalion of the convicted US soldier James Barker.
GuardianFilms
2006-11-19 21:04:19 · 34 answers · asked by Nothing to say? 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I don't believe this behaviour is isolated and only "by a few". There must be a reason for 92% of iraqis wanting the foreign (mainly US) soldiers to leave. Even the iraqi "ally" says in the film that life was better under Saddam Hussain.
2006-11-19 21:15:33 · update #1
I agree with a good majority of the replies to this question. you must understand, have exprienced life out there.
On the other hand!!!! if you actually watched the video before replying to this question you would have a further understanding that the US Forces, as you quite rightly said, are trigger happy, arrogant and deluded.
Ok before the abuse starts, yes i have been, let me explain:
point 1.
why are we there?.... well we, UK, are there because Blair is so far up Bush's **** you can see the soles of his shoes.
Why are you, US, there? ........because you suffered a terrorist attack for the first time in your history. we have lived with this evil for over 30 Years,IRA, but what do you do about it......invade a country looking for 1 man....don't find him....**** it....so lets invade another one.
Point 2.
Drawing Fire.....hmmm!!!!! the idea of drawing fire or as UK Forces use, covering fire is to what ? to keep the heads of the enemy down so we can advance and clear the enemy positons.
What we see in the video is US Forces firing at, yet again, **** all.
Point 3.
They were engaged in a 6 Min fire fight and how many did they kill???? a big fat ******* ZERO!!!!. Nice shooting boys !!!!!! have you tried aiming?
Point 4.
Hearts and Minds...its a basic concept, very basic,win the hearts and minds of the people and you will beat terrorism because the people will do the intelligence for you. alienating every iraq you meet is not a good idea.
Final Point.....thank god i hear you say
Reply from SGT to this question, i quote "USMC when in doubt, empty the mag"
enough said!!!!
Dont bother replying to this comment as i will be out of the country very soon, currently packing for a little holiday in Afghanistan, yet again cleaning the **** up created by another country........nice job in afghan boys.......bomb the the **** out of it and leave...it's ok we'll clean up for you.
2006-11-20 10:24:30 · answer #1 · answered by david m 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They are not trigger happy or arrogant. They may well be disillusioned and with good cause. The only thing that video shows is that the USA should get those poor, brave soldiers out of Iraq. There unfortunately has to be a civil war there. Then the Iraqis will get the dictatorship that they appear to want.
2006-11-20 03:50:38 · answer #2 · answered by william a 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, when you take the worst of a situation, and disregard the better points, it always seems worse than it is. When they are being "trigger -happy" in this video, if you pay attention, the guy says that they are drawing fire. If you don't know what this means, it means that they are being a distraction so others can catch the enemy off guard with minimal losses. Unfortunately people always think that gunfire is evil, and take things the wrong way, then spread the misconception to innocent people who previously didn't have a solid opinion. As for being arrogant and deluded? well, there are two choices you have when you are thrust into battle, appear to be confident, or appear to be scared. What kind of an image would it send back home if all of the fighters were scared all the time? They are doing what they are trained to do, and what is necessary.
2006-11-19 21:13:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 1⤋
You can never be sure that you're getting an impartial account from modern media so wouldn't judge. The US isn't a conscript Army so they know what they are getting themselves into but put yourself in their shoes. They are on tour for a year (with 2 weeks off in that time), in poor conditions and under constant pressure. I did 3 months in Baghdad with the British Army and i can feel for those lads. Every time you pass a car is it a suicide bomber? Are the Iraqi police/Army at the check point real or are they militia about to take you on? Its a faceless enemy and living with that day to day gets to you, I've nothing but respect for the majority that are there.
Non of that pressure in anyway condones atrocities such as Abu Graib, but despite what the media would lead you to believe, those type of events are very rare.
Instead of constantly knocking soldiers, why not lobby the politicians for sending them to war through a pack of blatant lies?
WMD count? Nil. Messers Bush and Blair are the real criminals
2006-11-20 08:02:34 · answer #4 · answered by Tiger8214 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The nature of the question tells me that you know very little about modern warfare.
If you become involved in a firefight then part of your team general puts down a suppressive rate of fire towards the enemy. This ensures that they keep their heads down.
In the meantime another part of your team tries to outflank them. This may take some time and the suppressive rate of fire goes on until the team goes into attack.
If the enemy are winning the firefight then the troops would call in an artillery or air strike to suppress them.
Unfortunately this is the realities of war.
Kill or be killed - which would you prefer?
On a personal note, I do not think any of the troops should be in Iraq or Afghanistan, however, since they are there they will hopefully carry out their duties in a highly skilled and professional manner.
2006-11-19 21:27:46 · answer #5 · answered by Nutcracker 3 · 7⤊ 0⤋
I've got to say, having watched the video, that the soldiers in it showed restraint when they captured a bunch planting road side bombs and when they spoke to the Iraqi police doing nothing to stop attacks. This may have been for the camera's benefit but how are you supposed to treat people you know are planning to kill you or just standing by doing nothing?
These blokes aren't policemen but are soldiers trained to fight a war. They're being put into a role that they aren't designed for and so there's bound to be problems.
2006-11-20 00:48:25 · answer #6 · answered by greg m 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Hummm...
Have you seen the documentaries about how the Muslims make fake videos? The dead get up and run away. The same wounded women and children show up over and over in different buildings?
Do you remember Michael Moore video? He couldn't go more than 30 seconds without a major distortion of the facts but if you didn't know the truth, you'd believe everything he said.
Has any one ever told you that you can't believe everything you see?
This is just another instance. Try doing some fact checking next time.
2006-11-19 23:29:39 · answer #7 · answered by Zee HatMan 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Did you even watch your video? They were being shot at. Even a retard can understand this principle. Your being shot at, you return fire. Someone throws a grenade from a building, you search it and question its occupants. There was nothing even remotely wrong in this video. The problem is that too many people listen to the liberal left wing media without doing any investigation of their own. Every thing I saw in this video is up to the army sop. Standard Operating Procedure. Nothing wrong or illegal happened. Get a clue. As far as them being arrogant, look the word up. Wouldn't you be a little upset if you were training a military to defend themselves, and they didn't want to do anything to help. They were ordered by one of their officers to not shoot at the insurgents. If I had some men who I was training to defend themselves, and they let me do all the work, I would call them lazy as well. It seems like the only person here who has delusional or deluded thoughts is you.
2006-11-20 00:02:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
In most cases they're mentally and physically tired of fighting. If you would have listed to the commentary on the video, they were shooting because they have been under constant sniper and AK47 fire from the insurgents. They're just firing back. They seem arrogant because they are proud of being US soldiers trying to hold on to the belief that they're fighting for a just cause. The seem deluded because they realize that their mission is becomming futile and they just want to go home. You would react the same way if you were put in that situation. It's much more complex than you imagine.
2006-11-19 21:24:21 · answer #9 · answered by JayJay 3 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Because there were no British Soldiers to show them the right way and keep them on the straight and narrow.
It just goes to show what effects signing up the young and the stupid and then giving them great big bloody guns to play with can have. And if they are not killing innocent Iraqi's they are shooting at their Allies. Twats.
2006-11-20 05:30:51 · answer #10 · answered by Stripper 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋