I think there is poor leadership (as evident in previous actions of the soldiers in Iraq) which imo doesn't help with the morale and the soldiers need to be replaced or some R&R.
Or do you think the soldiers were justified to kill the father and three children, leaving a pregnant widow and a teenage daughter.
posted on August 10, 2003 10:02:34 PM new
I think it's very sad, but very much a part of war. This sort of happening is just like it was when we accidently shot at our Canadian allies. An accident...not intentional.
But in this city Iraqi civilians still die needlessly almost every day at the hands of nervous, trigger-happy American soldiers.
Yes, and when you're being shot at day in day out that would tend to make the best soldier quick to respond. They'll have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives. But I sure don't blame them for doing what it takes over there to stay alive.
Clarksville....did you serve in Vietnam? Or have you ever been in the service?
posted on August 11, 2003 07:53:23 AM new Family shot dead by panicking US troops
Firing blindly during a power cut, soldiers kill a father and three children in their car
By Justin Huggler in Baghdad
10 August 2003
The abd al-Kerim family didn't have a chance. American soldiers opened fire on their car with no warning and at close quarters. They killed the father and three of the children, one of them only eight years old. Now only the mother, Anwar, and a 13-year-old daughter are alive to tell how the bullets tore through the windscreen and how they screamed for the Americans to stop.
"We never did anything to the Americans and they just killed us," the heavily pregnant Ms abd al-Kerim said. "We were calling out to them 'Stop, stop, we are a family', but they kept on shooting."
The story of how Adel abd al-Kerim and three of his children were killed emerged yesterday, exactly 100 days after President George Bush declared the war in Iraq was over. In Washington yesterday, Mr Bush declared in a radio address: "Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people ... All Americans can be proud of what our military and provisional authorities have achieved in Iraq."
When asked about the shootings, Lt. Col. Guy Shields, coalition military spokesman, said: "Our checkpoints are usually marked and our soldiers are trained and disciplined. I will check on that. That is serious."
"Confronted by daily guerrilla attacks that have claimed 56 American lives since May 1, U.S. troops are on edge. Iraqis complain that many innocent people have died at surprise U.S. checkpoints thrown up on dark streets shortly before the curfew. Drivers hurrying home say they don't see the soldiers or hear their orders to stop."
posted on August 11, 2003 01:36:05 PM new
If you want to blame someone, blame the Iraqi resistance and their sympathizers who are putting our troops on edge.
Also, it's probably not too smart to be driving around Iraq after dark.
posted on August 11, 2003 03:43:39 PM new
But I don't hear any evidence to the contrary from the neo-cons here. All they can seem to do is throw insults, but have no facts to back it up. They have nothing left but their hate, do they. Pitiful beings.....
posted on August 11, 2003 06:47:29 PM new
It was a tragedy, but one that could of been avoided if the people would turn over the guerillas to the coalition troops.
These young men and women cannot take a chance on letting them get close enough to blow themselves up...
posted on August 12, 2003 06:04:48 AM new
desquirrel
In case you were to ignorant to notice (and apparently you were) proof was submitted in the way of news reports. You on the other hand submitted NOTHING and said it was made up.
posted on August 12, 2003 06:36:09 AM new
It may be necessary to change the curfew to restrict travel after dark.
Iraqi freedom is just another piece of fiction.
The US military keeps no tally of Iraqi civilian casualties, but according to iraqbodycount.org, a watchdog group that compiles figures from press reports, the civilian toll in Iraq is 6,000 to 7,000.
posted on August 12, 2003 10:22:35 AM new
Ok some do have a good point about people doing stupid things that would cause the soldiers action. Or maybe it was a frame-up to make the soldiers look bad. Or the NCO and Officer leadership need to start doing their job of taking care of the lower ranking troops' morale?
Yeah, they don't know who is friend or foe and do need to make split second decisions, either them or me mentality which I understand.
The Iraqi civilians do need to understand that they need to use good sense. When I was a kid, I was taught not to be putting my hands into my pockets so that the store clerks didn't think I was stealing. So similar behavior that would cause people to think a person a shoplifter would understandable cause consequences.
Such as these and other Iraqi civilians, don't do things that would cause the soldiers to think you are a foe or you will have consequences. Sometimes, in this case deadly.
However, I am not forgetting the soldiers' morale situation. The leadership need to keep that intact. It doesn't really matter, if the end result of a soldier or more, to "lose it" to be Iraqi civilians or a fellow soldier.
