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Oh Dear.

This has nothing to do with school but I found it SO disturbing that I needed to share it.

The Pentagon did a study - a Pentagon study, not an liberal anti-war study - and found out that 40% of Marines and 55% of Army soldiers would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian. Yuck.

Lest I be accused of not knowing what soldiers go through as they try to help each other, blah blah, this is, in my opinion, the worse part. They also found that "only a third of Marines and roughly half of soldiers said they believed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity." NONCOMBATANTS, people. NOT the people fighting. Only one third of US Marines believe that these human beings who are NOT fighting them should be treated with dignity. (the radio report I heard said it was "treated with dignity or respect.")

We are in big big trouble. There are the people keeping Iraqi civilians safe???

Comments

Anonymous said…
Bronwyn,
I heard the same story on The News Hour driving home this afternoon.
I was disturbed also. I've been thinking about it all day. Incredible.
There was another story on the radio today about soldiers who were caught in an ambush in Bagdad (a while ago) and there were children attacking them as well. And when a soldier was asked how he felt about killing the children he said "It's kill or be killed" I don't know. That disturbed me. Where's the "dying for a good cause"? Now it seems to be only "killiing for a good cause".
Carole
10:14 PM
House Dreams said…
Yes, but remember the pressure on those soldiers.The Army has chosen young men who are desperate, needing a job to make a living and a direction in life.

The Army offers them this "security" and then uses brainwashing techniques to turn them into a killing machines.

Soldiers deserve our respect. They were amazing heroes in WWII.
They need our love and prayers! They are under tremendous, frightening, pressure while still developmentally imature.
8:08 PM
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