[goMac]

"" I came over here because I wanted to kill people."

Over a mess-tent dinner of turkey cutlets, the bony-faced 21-year-old private from West Texas looked right at me as he talked about killing Iraqis with casual indifference. It was February, and we were at his small patrol base about 20 miles south of Baghdad. "The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be. I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience. And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.' "

He shrugged.

"I shot a guy who wouldn't stop when we were out at a traffic checkpoint and it was like nothing," he went on. "Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant. I mean, you kill somebody and it's like 'All right, let's go get some pizza.' ""

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072801492.html

Sad to see what is becoming of US troops.

[Y3a]

Our militarys' job it to kill people and destroy things. You want compassion watch Dr. Phil.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by Y3a

Our militarys' job it to kill the right people and destroy the right things. You want compassion watch Dr. Phil.

Fixed

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Y3a

Our militarys' job it to kill people and destroy things. You want compassion watch Dr. Phil.

So would it be all right if my Marine buddy decided to gut you?

In seriousness, though, a lot of these people were kind of psychotic before they went over there. Odds are this is one of them.

[greenG4]

Hmm. So a US troop is out of touch. Your title read like all of us were.

[dcmacdaddy]

Why don't you post the full article? I read it this morning and what it talks about is the author's reaction to finding out the soldier who gave him this quote turned out to be the same solider charged with leading the rape and killing of the Iraqi girl and her family.

If you posted the whole article others would be able to see that the piece is both a commentary on a) what making war can do to otherwise stable people b) how one's perceptions of an experience/interaction--in this case, the author's--can be radically altered c) the utter hell some of our troops are going through in Iraq due to lack of support troops and equipment.

One thing this article is NOT about is how one soldier can/should be seen as representative of all soldiers. Try not to extrapolate a statement about the actions of the whole based on the actions of a small, individual, part of the whole.
(Gosh I hate terrible logic.)

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

Why don't you post the full article? I read it this morning and what it talks about is the author's reaction to finding out the soldier who gave him this quote turned out to be the same solider charged with leading the rape and killing of the Iraqi girl and her family.

Wow, yeah that does put it into some context. (He did post a link to the full article, BTW.)

[abbaZaba]

that snippet from the article reminds me of the movie Jarhead.

and why is it so surprising that war desensitizes soldiers? I thought that was a fairly obvious side effect.

[Dale Sorel]

Originally Posted by Y3a

Our militarys' job it to kill people and destroy things. You want compassion watch Dr. Phil.

Ditto™