http://youtube.com/watch?v=b1JxOeHLGGk

They sound like kids who two years ago were giving wedgies, indian sunburns, and swishies in the locker room!
:-X


That video was obviously a plant from moveon.org designed to denigrate the image of the freedom fighters over there protecting the American way of life and bringing democracy to the oppressed peoples of the world!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/elefant.gif

Oops, I wasn't supposed to see that.  Our troops are there to help.  What's really bad, is that's a mild occurrence. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/tank.gif

I opened the link, saw the title and closed it immediately!

Just so you know - not every single soldier is a pompous ass like those depicted!

I opened the link, saw the title and closed it immediately!

Just so you know - not every single soldier is a pompous ass like those depicted!


My cousin just returned from Iraq. (She's a wife with two kids)  Has told me there are two kinds of soldiers that go to Iraq.  The ones that go over there to help, and the ones who makes those who are trying to help look bad.  My cousin happens to be in the first category.

My cousin just returned from Iraq. (She's a wife with two kids)  Has told me there are two kinds of soldiers that go to Iraq.  The ones that go over there to help, and the ones who makes those who are trying to help look bad.  My cousin happens to be in the first category.

and my husband belongs in the first category too! 8)

When you've got 150 thousand soldiers occupying Iraq, you're going to have all kinds over there.  When a rich country controls a poor country to exploit its resources, it's called "empire."  There is a built-in hostility between the occupiers and the occupied and vice versa.  The astute observations George Orwell made as a 20-year-old police officer in Burma apply to Iraq ("Shooting an Elephant").  In an army of occupation, even those who start out as humane are vulnerable to descent into sadism.  How are the Iraqi kids in that video going to feel about U.S. soldiers in five years? 

You can't lump every soldier into the sadistic f*cks category though. Sure, you're gonna have the idiots (like these guys), but you also have people like this guy:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o283/Nerdprincess1980/soldier.jpg

This is Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, comforting a young Iraqi girl. The girl and her family had been attacked by insurgents, resulting in the deaths of her mother and father, and most of her siblings. Apparently the young girl had a tough time of it (with a sh*tload of gunshot wounds, who wouldn't?), and she would only calm down when this guy held her.

When you've got 150 thousand soldiers occupying Iraq, you're going to have all kinds over there.  When a rich country controls a poor country to exploit its resources, it's called "empire."  There is a built-in hostility between the occupiers and the occupied and vice versa.  The astute observations George Orwell made as a 20-year-old police officer in Burma apply to Iraq ("Shooting an Elephant").  In an army of occupation, even those who start out as humane are vulnerable to descent into sadism.  How are the Iraqi kids in that video going to feel about U.S. soldiers in five years? 


Here's something to think about.  The degree of PTSD found in Personnel coming back from Iraq is worse than those of Vietnam vets.  One has to wonder just how these soldiers are being trained.  One may assume that part of the sadistic treatment of the Iraqi people is because of their training or lack of.

You can't lump every soldier into the sadistic f*cks category though. Sure, you're gonna have the idiots (like these guys), but you also have people like this guy:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o283/Nerdprincess1980/soldier.jpg

This is Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, comforting a young Iraqi girl. The girl and her family had been attacked by insurgents, resulting in the deaths of her mother and father, and most of her siblings. Apparently the young girl had a tough time of it (with a sh*tload of gunshot wounds, who wouldn't?), and she would only calm down when this guy held her.



My Cousin had a two year old Iraqi boy die in her arms.  I don't think we're trying to lump people into that category.  But, if you want to win a war and appease a nation you must deal with these kinds of atrocities.  If it goes un- dealt with the matter becomes worse.

My Cousin had a two year old Iraqi boy die in her arms.  I don't think we're trying to lump people into that category.  But, if you want to win a war and appease a nation you must deal with these kinds of atrocities.  If it goes un- dealt with the matter becomes worse.


I wasn't saying you shouldn't let it go unchecked. I just know that a lot of people out there in the world are going to see that video and think that all U.S. soldiers are a bunch of buttpirates.

Am I the only one who will admit to laughing.

Goddamn I hate having dial-up.

Broadband isn't that expensive.

Goddamn I hate having dial-up.


To summarize: Soldiers in a truck holding out a water bottle full of clean water to a bunch of Iraqi children while driving really fast. They're laughing as they videotape the kids running after the truck.

To summarize: Soldiers in a truck holding out a water bottle full of clean water to a bunch of Iraqi children while driving really fast. They're laughing as they videotape the kids running after the truck.


It's funny. That one kid ran for ages.. and then they dropped the water for him.. and some other kid just came and grabbed it! CLASSIC! I fully support the war as long as I continue to get great videos like that.

Broadband isn't that expensive.


It is here!


To summarize: Soldiers in a truck holding out a water bottle full of clean water to a bunch of Iraqi children while driving really fast. They're laughing as they videotape the kids running after the truck.


Thats terrible. >:(

Am I the only one who will admit to laughing.

If there was something comical or ironic about it---no matter how sick---I would laugh.  I have a perverse sense of humor.  All that video shows is dumb kids being mean.  I've laughed at sick stuff on ogrish.com, even when my conscience told me I shouldn't.  The gag those soldiers were pulling has no traction.  It's a non-starter. 

My point is, whether you post a video of American soldiers taunting Iraqi children or a picture of a sergeant embracing a wounded Iraqi child, it doesn't change anything.  What we are doing over there is atrocious.  The problem is not the men and women on the ground.  If you're in the military, you have to do what you're told.  The problem is the corporate robber barons and the politicians they own.

I opened the link, saw the title and closed it immediately!

Just so you know - not every single soldier is a pompous ass like those depicted!
yeah, hopefully people would have complex reactions to this rather than use it as a political bludgeon for whatever side they see themselves on in the iraq debate. it's interesting to me how ready so many people are to pigeonhole US soldiers -- either they're all selfles heroes or they're all selfish killers. of course they're human beings like the rest of us and of course some are over there doing wonderful things, whereas other people are just violent-natured. the nature of the job will attract both extremes so i think heroes and sociopaths are probably both overrepresented in the military, as compared to everyday life. but basically it boils down to, they're a varied group, just like anyone else.