I support the troops.....with certain qualifiers

[mopaul]

when u.s. soldiers begin to behave like nazis, and treat the captured like concentration camp prisoners, sorry, i can't support those particular troops. those who fire on children, and burn mothers, under orders, something that i could not do, i cannot support.

an american soldier should be a special soldier. he should be educated and taught common human decency. and he knows when he's committing an atrocity or not. i support THOSE troops.

when i see dead babies and humiliated p.o.w.'s and young men laughing as they shoot on the unarmed, i can't blindly support our troops.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Nor can I, mopaul.

Those photos from Abu Ghraib showed not an ounce of human dignity. I am waiting for Kerry to speak out forcefully on this.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The people who committed those atrocities

lost their status as American soldiers, imho. They became dehumanized monsters.

[goddess40]

3. I agree

What these men and women did is disgusting, the lowest form of humanbeing. A retired Airforce Judge Advocate was on NPR today and said they could get a max of 1 year per charge of mistreating a prisoner, that is way to light. There is a max of 5 years for the sex charges. Supervisors aren't open to criminal charges/court martial just sanctions which could end their military careers.
As a disabled correctional officer if I had done any of this to even one inmate I'd have faced much more time then these low lifes will.

[dand]

4. Brilliant post mopaul

There is a spot in the hottest part of hell for torturers and sadists, the female soldier mocking the naked prisoners made my blood boil.

[mike_c]

5. ok..., now step back and look at their wider role in Iraq....

"when u.s. soldiers begin to behave like nazis...."

You mean like when they invade another country without provocation on trumped up charges, e.g. Poland 1939 and Iraq 2003?

"those who fire on children, and burn mothers, under orders"

SOP from day one. Use overwhelming force. Remember "Shock and awe?" How about all those innocent civilians murdered at check points for the crime of driving on their own roads?

"an american soldier should be a special soldier. he should be educated and taught common human decency. and he knows when he's committing an atrocity or not. i support THOSE troops."

The invasion of Iraq was itself an atrocity-- based upon lies, illegal under international law and U.S. treaties, and permitted by an ethically dubious resolution in which Congress abdicated its responsibility to declare war. From the very beginning, the foreign troops in Iraq (U.S. and otherwise) have been acting as thugs and enforcers for a corrupt administration's foreign policy based upon greed, power lust, and hatred.

They're all war criminals, by definition, because they are participants in a criminal endeavor. I'll support them when they lay down their weapons and turn themselves in. Preferrably at The Hague.

[mopaul]

6. they may JUST lay down their weapons when they realize...

how they've been fucked by good ol uncle sam