Why did US Soldiers taunt dehydrated Iraqi kids with water?

Question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9a_vxiob...
Who taught them to act like this and make Americans look bad? Do you think these kids and their future kids will grow up likeing America by taunting them?

mike-- you make NO sense.
good kids/bad kids my azz. there is WAR in that country. kids are starving and thirsty. even good kids have to steal in order to survive. just give them what they need. no need to taunt them if you dont like their attitude.

Geronimo.why do they just want the bottle?

Answer 1

i agree with you they shouldn't be taking it out on the kids what harm have they ever done

Answer 2

I will not defend the soldiers in the video. They were totally unprofessional, and do not represent the majority of the soldiers in Iraq in any way. They should be punished accordingly.

I will point out a minor discrepancy though. The vast majority of children in the urban areas of Iraq are not dehydrated as the questioner implies. Every time while I've been out on patrols and gave the kids water, they would pour the water out and keep the bottle. It's not the water they wanted, but the bottle.

EDIT: I honestly don't know why they value the bottles so much. We would see them pour out the water and then go fill them back up with Cola or something. This would happen in multiple towns and cities, it wasn't just an isolated incident. It just goes to show that kids are the same all over the world... in that they do things that make no sense to adults.

Answer 3

I am asking myself the same question on a higher political perspective. Why are these Iraqi kids chasing after a bottle of mineral water?. How did life degenerated into something like this for the Iraqis?. It just shows how miserable the life had become for the Iraqi citizens. I came to think that the Iraqi people were far better-off during Saddam's reign. In spite of Saddam's brutal regime, ordinary Iraqis enjoyed the simple conveniences in life. Children didn't get hungry, they can go to school, they can play in the streets. The parents can go to work, they can go shopping, they can take their family to the movies. In fact, people had the freedom to do things as they wish, as long as they never cross the line of doing something that would bring down Saddam's wrath on them.

But now, daily bombings and killings had become a normal way of life. Iraqis are fleeing the country by the millions. The Iraqi refugee problem had now become an enormous humanitarian catastrophe.

Answer 4

For those that haven't seen the video because the above link was corrupted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9A_vxIOB-I

As for who taught them? Their parents. I can assure you that such behavior is not instilled by the military, nor is it considered acceptable. In fact, because of the 'softening' of our military training, it has become more difficult for military basic training instructors to properly mold recruits from average Americans into proper military soldiers. And who pushed for the 'softening' of the training? Who could have possibly been so concerned & worried that we were being too rough on our trainee soldiers? The same people that will now say that it's the military's fault.
I'm normally very moderate on here, but in this case, I do blame the liberal left for pushing to make our military training 'kinder & gentler', which has led to this sort of inappropriate behavior. If drill instructors (and other basic training instructors) are not given the proper tools and authority to instill good morals in our soldiers, and if the soldier's parents didn't do it when they were young, these sorts of events will keep happening.

Having said all that, this is not that big of a deal, in the grand scheme of things. Let's not insult these kids by insinuating that they can't tell the difference between 'some people are jerks' and 'all American soldiers are jerks'.

DD '73

Answer 5

Of course this video does not tell the whole story. Just another carefully edited snippet that pushes a particular political agenda.

During my tour in Iraq we had 'good' kids and 'bad' kids. Guess what? We treated the good kids nice and the bad kids did not get treated so nice.

Besides - after a while you really get tired of the attitude of many of those kids - they do not ask for things - they demand them and then will steal anything they can.

Too many of those kids will smile at you until you run out of things to give them, then curse you afterwards.

I would recommend that people remember that not all Iraqi kids are 'nice kids.'

Answer 6

I have to agree with The Pilot.

These soldiers are not doing it with thinking. War can make the cleanest man into a sensless animal.

While, there is no excuse for their act, this is just a part of the war-torn and battle weary phychology of a military long stuck in war. In fact, every military has such elements.

Answer 7

Well, I didn't get to see it because the link was bad. If they were taunting them, they learned it from their parents. Their kids will probably do the same. Of one video of soldiers doing the wrong thing, I have seen many more them doing the right thing.

Answer 8

that video was posted too youtube by several sources. Here is a link to the index listing them because your link is broken.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=iraq+kids+water&search=Search

By the way, that one kid sure could run, too bad he got ripped off at the end.

Answer 9

Because those soldiers that the video showed were animals and common criminals with the position of war hero. Whatever reasons were important enough to show ´HATE´ towards another race, it was wrong. And that just lowers the opinions of common Americans for the rest of the world.

Answer 10

Ever been to Iraq? those little ones come as much as squaddies begging for food, the 2nd their bellies are finished they start cussing you out-calling you a infedel and throwing rocks at American squaddies and American Humvees happening the line. they're bastards. I wouldnt spit on their tounges.

Answer 11

I can't open the link so I can't speak to it but I can tell you that our patrols carry water, candy, and other things for the kids when we go out.

They all have to facination with pens and pencils. The kids in my AO really love us.

It's sad if someone else is treating them poorly.