The reality is that these things happen in war. That's why responsible leaders exhaust all possible avenues before they engage in war. I can't imagine being a soldier in Iraq knowing that any car heading your way could be the one that kills you or your buddy next to you and I can't imagine being an Iraqi civilian knowing that at any time some twenty year old American with an M16 could kill you and your family because he's scared out of his mind. Don't forget the important thing though, you're either with us or with the terrorists. It's really not possible to hate the US occupation forces and hate the terrorists because that would require more dimensions to this issue than Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and company could possibly wrap their brains around.
Most estimates place the foreign elements of the insurgency at roughly 6%. Your definition of "many" is almost as gross an overstatement as the assumption that Iraq was a threat to U.S. national security. The fundamental flaw of you and those of your ilk is viewing the entire region as one homogeneous entity without differing ethnicities, religious factions, and political histories.
Had the war been sold as a way to remove a brutal dictator as opposed to one that was to rid Iraq of WMDs, you might have a point. Saddam was definitely a brutal dictator, but this was supposed to be a front in the War on Terror.
again, im not doubting that they arent careful, but after cases such as abu gharib, i am skeptical of what media portrays and what the truth is. Yes there are tons of Americans losing their lives, but there are still MORE civillians being killed. universally? since when is firing of shots universally known as stop... in my culture it means, speed the hell up or drop down on the floor.... in other words, get the F out of there... you calmly call an innocent family whose fault was none as idiots? good one ace. and yes i do find it easier ot blame the troops. they are the ones with the damn guns, protective gear, and a ****load of training... o and how can you forget, they are the ones that KILLED innocents..
It appears as if their protective gear is defective because I have not heard or seen a report where the gear has been able to stop an explosion. Back to the drawing board I guess.
Now the liberals are emboldened to the point where they are comfortable attacking the TROOPS themselves. This is sad, and a new low. Just think if all of us supported the troops, how powerful of a message it would send our troops. Instead you have liberals attacking the very troops who are protecting this great nation. Really makes you wonder if they are appreciative of the troops' efforts... Threads like this indicate the answer to that question is no. Attacking the troops, I wish I were surprised that this is happening. Liberals, will you spit on the troops when they come home, like you did after Vietnam?
No, I didn't then and I wouldn't think of it now, which you know very well. I might spit on you, were you in range, Trader_J. Hey, I'm a guy in my mid-50's, who's had back surgery... think you could handle me? You throw the slander around pretty easily from behind that monitor. Weenie. Keep D&D Civil.
T_J, don't worry about me, but what would you say to the victims of shooting accidents like this and how do you win their hearts and minds?
And for all we know they shot warning shots into the air, and shouted the correct words in arabic for them to stop. Like you said, there are variables. We don't know what happened there. Hell, I'd shoot too if the car wouldn't stop coming right at me after all the warnings. I would probably try to disable the car and not the passengers, but we don't really know what happened there. WIth all the truck/car bombings going on there how in the hell would you not try to stop the vehicle with lethal force if it keeps coming right at you. I don't understand that.
By acknowleding the good while apologizing for the bad. Which is something some people on both sides could learn from. I'm not saying this to be mean or to make anyone feel less patriotic or less American because it easily applies to both sides of the political aisle: How can you expect to be thought of as supporting the troops while never posting a positive thread about them? I understand it's necessary to know what's going wrong over there but at the same time posting nothing but bad is ignoring the good things that happen. Surely you can admit that SOME good has come out of the war just as T_J and bigtexxx can surely admit that SOME areas of the war haven't turned out the way they were planned.
