Originally Posted by Willravel

Explain that to the Iraq's that awoke one morning to see "Jesus killed Mohammad" written on the side of an American tank.

Army: "Oh that? Those are just some misguided soldiers and they're being punished."
Iraqis: "What about the system that's enabling these beliefs?"
Army: "You mean Christianity?"
Iraqis: "No, believe in whatever god you want, but what about the crusade mentality?"
Army: "There's not much we can do about that. If we start teaching soldiers to understand and respect the beliefs of the enemy instead of hating some archetypal caricature we create, we're going to undo a lot of the brainwashing that makes them effective killers."
Iraqis: "If an enemy truly needs killing, you shouldn't have to dehumanize them to do so.
Army: "Yeah, but then basically all war would stop."
Iraqis: "Um, yeah."
Army: "..."

That was where I was ultimately going with my point.