How many people died at Abu Ghraib? Zero. My Lai has nothing to do with these current conflicts. If we want to get into the entire history of every military, no military will be left untouched by scandal. Gitmo? You mean where prisoners get three fucking squares and throw piss and shit cocktails at American soldiers who cannot do so much as gesture back at them?
You're right, we should put Gitmo terrorists in with the general population of a Super Max for them to stand trial in a US court system.
They won't live the night.
Your entire worldview is all about guilt. We have to feel guilty for all the terrible shit humans do to each other. Guilt is an emotion with no value in a war. Do you know how many people would have died if we hadn't dropped the bombs? Japan was so militaristic (and indeed, imperialist) at the time their first wave sneak attack used kamikazes. Japanese pilots were locked into their airplanes, their goal was to attack and when you couldn't attack anymore to sacrifice your plane and your life. Countless people would have died in a land invasion of Japan.
I never claimed to be a champion of human rights, you are the one attempting to claim that mantle with your emotional moralism. Here's what guarantees human rights: an open democratic society with free and fair elections. Which the Iraqis now have after we deposed their former ruler under the assumption he was a threat to any nation within range of the nuclear weapons that global intelligence thought he was seeking. What happens inbetween is always ugly, just like the United States' Civil War was ugly.
I'm the ignorant fuck? As I recall, there were no Americans on the Iraqi ballots. America is on its way out of Iraq. They want to handle their own affairs and we're currently trying to ease out of there as the Iraqi police and army assume more and more responsibility. We've shifted from a combat role to a supervisory/mentor role, and soon we'll be shifting out of that. I know that doesn't jive with your narrative, but it's the reality on the ground.
Do you even understand the purpose of air support? Air support exists so that a potential terrorist with an RPG can't blow up a convoy heading in that direction, because the airplane neutralizes that threat. An apache helicopter is not looking out for it's own ass in a counterinsurgency, it's looking out for ground resources in the vicinity.
Whether or not they deserved death is irrelevant. It happened. It might have been a terrible, cruel mistake. Or we might have nailed an Al-Quaeda bigshot responsible for subway bombings in three nations. Here's a reason they died: wandering around with unmarked vehicles in a war zone characterized by an opponent that uses child soldiers, guerrilla tactics, and fights in civilian clothing. It's a pretty shitty reason to die if you're a hapless innocent, but it's a reason nonetheless.
That's a pretty big difference. It's the difference between fighting for a nation and vigilantism at best, terrorism at worst.
I'm glad you brought up Haditha. Where 12 marines got wrongly accused by a sitting (now deceased) US Representative of murdering in cold blood with no evidence whatsoever. All of whom were acquitted. That doesn't matter though, because thanks to the late Congressman Murtha, Al-Quaeda got a huge PR boost.
This is what I was alluding to earlier. You operate based on the seriousness of the charge. The US military is guilty before proven innocent with you. I thought you had a problem with that, but I guess when it's the right target...Al-Quaeda said:
The difference between Muslim terrorists and most of the other terrorists in the world is that most other terrorist groups are provincial. They have specific political goals for their own nation or their own desired but ultimately limited piece of property. These terrorists have the caliphate as a geopolitical goal which includes, among other things, making Islam the reigning political and religious force in the world. They operate with global goals and attack civilizations everywhere.
Which all is what Islam should be, but isn't what these extremists have perverted it into. Unfortunately their fellow Muslim travelers are either fatwa'd into silence, or if a death threat and excommunication isn't good enough, beheading and suicide bombs will do the trick. I do have Muslim friends on Smogon. They are all bright and work hard to please their parents, akthough they do have a sneaky streak. The Saudi I met in college was more interested in Super Smash Bros. and some kind of smoked weed in a bag than establishing the caliphate. But their Islam is being perverted by these people and unfortunately until there is internal pressure on that fanatical branch, the only way to limit their influence is to stop their plots and kill their leaders.
Don't accuse the US Military of Mass Murder when you know it isn't true, then. Don't pull this empathy bullshit on me; I'm neither dull nor cold, I simply have a firm grasp on reality, and the reality is that terrible things like this happen in a conflict zone. All you can do is what I first suggested, which is mourn for the families and move on.
If only you would apply that sense of empathy you proclaim to have with the United States Soldier, Marine, Sailor, and Airman.
