Re: Soldier acquitted of manslaughter, but convicted of assault for ordering two Iraqis to be thrown into river for violating curfew. My problem is not necessarily with this particular conviction - if the soldier was operating under general orders which prohibited this kind of act and violated the orders, so be it. My problem is how we got to the point of having those kinds of orders (restrictions) in effect in the first place. THIS IS A WAR ZONE. WE ARE THE OCCUPYING ARMY, TRYING TO GET CONTROL OF THE POPULACE AND PUT DOWN A LINGERING INSURGENCY. WE HAVE PUT A CURFEW IN EFFECT. BACK WHEN WE STILL UNDERSTOOD WHAT THE TERM "WAR" MEANS, WE'D HAVE JUST SHOT THE SOB'S ON SITE FOR VIOLATING THE CURFEW. PERIOD. Now, though, we charge a senior infantry NCO with 14 years experience with manslaughter for being "too rough" with curfew violators (gee, think maybe just a few of them are likely to be part of the insurgency??? - they've got to be laughing their asses off as they use the cover of darkness to operate in flagrant violation of the curfew). THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DEFEAT AN INSURGENCY OR PUT DOWN A REVOLT - IT REQUIRES A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN "PLEASE, PLEASE BEHAVE" TO DEFEAT.![]()
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...diers_drowning




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