Time and again, I see in the press stories that try to equate the actions of murduring thugs with that of our troops fighting them. It's a breath of fresh air to read something like THIS.
It's about time that the Terrorist apologists in the press start to display some sense and show the real disparity in the actions of the Mooselimbs and our soldiers. Our soldiers aren't saints by any stretch of the imagination, especially when engaged in the heat of a battle, but the actions taken by PFC Tschiderer demonstrate that atrocitities are the rare exception rather than the rule; in direct reverse of the enemy we are engaged with.
As Mr. Avlon put it: "Our troops may not be perfect — we are human beings at war, not angels in heaven — but there is no moral equivalence between terrorists who target innocent human life, and the soldiers of the civilized world who try to bind the wounds of those who have just tried to kill them in combat."
Time and again, our troops have taken more causelties than they truly have needed to, because they follow strict ROE designed to protect the innocent as much as possible in a hot war zone. By contrast, the enemy we fight have targeted civilians as the MAIN option...after all, it's a lot safer for them to detonate a bomb among civilians than trying to engage troops in face to face battle.
Posted by Delftsman3 at July 19, 2005 05:25 PM | TrackBack"after all, it's a lot safer for them to detonate a bomb among civilians than trying to engage troops in face to face battle."
While I totally agree that deliberately targeting civilians is cowardly and unjust, they are hardly doing so to protect their own safety. The very term 'suicide bomber' should tell you that.
It's an interesting conclusion you draw (Avlon draws) regarding morality. In reality the actions of PFC Tschiderer do not prove anything about the morality of the troops in general (being just one occurence) but only about the morality of PFC Tschiderer.
Having said that, what an amazing young man! There's no doubt that men like him set a wonderful example for how war should be about resolving a situation, not enjoying killing others. I have no doubt that his example will help to build just the kind of morality you'd want the troops of 'a civilised nation' to have.
Posted by: chosha at July 19, 2005 11:12 PMChosa, Pfc. Tschiderer's actions are indicitive of JUST the type of men that we have in our Armed Services.
Those suicide bombers are just dupes of the "insurgents" for the most part, NOT the insurgents themselves... another example of their cowardice.
They have kidnapped mentally challenged children to use as their carriers; they have used women and children as human shields, they have used Mosques as arms Depots, they have set up high explosives to kill large numbers of their OWN co-religionists, and yet, with all this evidence, those such as you will still try to denigrate OUR men with the (implied)statement that our troops need an example such as PFC T's in order to come to a morality that you may approve of.... PFC T. is just an example of the NORM, not an outlandish exception to the rule.
I am sick to death of those of your ilk that will bend over backwards to excuse the actions of the enemy as "culturally excusable", and all the while take every opportunity to cry "Mea Culpa" over anything our soldiers do that the other side complains about.
War is NOT about "resolving a situation", it's about killing the enemy before he kills you.
That we are attempting to hold to strict ROE to limit the collateral damages and show forbearance towards our enemies in defeat only proves that we are, indeed the civilized side. The only problem I have with that attitude is that it has needlessly cost a number of our soldiers lives.
War is not a civilized pursuit, it is a dirty, brutal endeavor, to be used only as the last resort; but when you do engage in it, the only goal should to be to win as quickly and decisively as possible; and with as uneven a ratio of enemy to friendly forces causelties as possible.
Posted by: delftsman3 at July 21, 2005 04:17 AM