Quote:
Originally posted by Sparhawk
"average american solider is a gung-ho 19 year old with no combat experience shooting everything that gets in his way, british troops or otherwise."
What in God's name has brought you to that conclusion? These boys are not extras from 'Apocalypse Now,' they are highly trained warriors, both in combat and in the Laws of Armed Conflict. They do not intentionally kill civilians or friendlies*, and saying otherwise is an insult, pure and simple.
I'll let others address the rest of your post...
*must make allowance for the occasional, statistically inevitable whackjob
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taking a pass on stevie667's inflamatory post. you're not making any case with that kind of talk, man. breathe.
but, sparhawk, the men and women who are stationed presently in iraq are not all highly trained warriors in either combat or the laws of armed conflict (whatever those might be), a great deal of the occupying force are national guard units who are completely unprepared for what is going on and whose tours of duty have been extended way too long. last word i got from baghdad (this week) was that new weekend warriors rotating in from stateside not only didn't know that they should load their weapons when they went on patrol, they had a hard time actually doing it.
they are not boys, they are men and women. the average age of the soldier in baghdad is late 20s. most noncoms are in their 30s. these are fathers and mothers who have jobs back in the states and signed up for the extra money guard duty offered.
the state governors were in dc this past week, as commanders in chief of their respective guards, they are starting to get a bit miffed about how their resources are being abused.
also, during the fight to take iraq, friendly fire killed more troops than did enemy fire. u.s. troops began racking up casualties from enemy action after the shipboard declaration of "mission accomplished."