Consequences for stealing wood in Iraq (video clip)

[FactsOfLife]

Those iraqis would shoot at and run over in a tank your car and all the cars you cared about in an instant given the chance!

Shhhhhhhh, you'll upset them talking like that...

[Jack & Coke]

What's with all this "us" vs. "they"?

What does conservatism vs. liberalism have to do with whether or not this act of destruction was "correct"?

Some of you guys get so caught up with your myopic views of Dem vs Rep, that you miss the whole issue regarding what is the right thing to do (ethics and morals).

[FactsOfLife]

What's with all this "us" vs. "they"?

What does conservatism vs. liberalism have to do with whether or not this act of destruction was "correct"?

Some of you guys get so caught up with your myopic views of Dem vs Rep, that you miss the whole issue regarding what is the right thing to do (ethics and morals).

Horsecrap.

First, it has YET to be established that this was an actual event or staged.

Second, it damned well does have to do with the liberals IMMEDIATELY condemning this outright.

So much for them supposedly having the open minds...

[Kai]

Horsecrap.

First, it has YET to be established that this was an actual event or staged.

Second, it damned well does have to do with the liberals IMMEDIATELY condemning this outright.

So much for them supposedly having the open minds...

So it's okay to wholeheartedly support it without all the facts, but not to condemn it?

We don't "know" any more than what the video shows us, but many people have backed the actions regardless... Which is disgusting.

At this point, it doesn't really matter whether or not it was real. Enough people have shown enough support for the video to spawn a debate, either way.

[Jack & Coke]

FOL



Let's try to focus on the video... and not your political agenda.

Given that ANY video can be staged, just for argument sake of this thread, let's try to assume that what this video was not staged, and was infact, filmed as is.

If this is the case, do you think the soldiers "did the right thing" in shooting that dude's car like a suffering horse, and crushing it like he was back home at a good ol' monster truck show?

Are soldiers on the video a "police" force? ...or just well armmed vigilanties with hall passes to dish out any judgement and punishment they deem entertaining?

If the purpose was to prevent the people from using the car, why not just confiscate the keys or pop a tire or two?

[SpecialBlend2786]

Yeah I can see how stacking up some naked Iraqi terrorists could compare with rocketing a car full of civilian contractors putting your country back together. Then dragging their burned bodies through the streets while hacking on them, then hanging them from a bridge while dancing around like you were at some party.

Yeah I can see the similarities there.

I could if I was a BRAIN DEAD EFFING LIBERAL.

But I guess since some of the contractors might have ties to Haliburton that makes it ok.

I'm not justifying anything that the Iraqi's are doing or have done. I guess you think that everything that we do overthere is alright, regardless.

And stacking up some naked Iraqi terrorists wasn't the only thing that was done. That was just ONE of the pictures reliesed.

[Rooster]

Well while we are making up stories to go with the video, has anyone considered the possiblity that this wasn't the first time this guy was caught stealing?

I don't really care whether he was or wasn't. He's a thief, if I would have caught him stealing on horseback, I would have killed his horse.

[Smitty2k1]

If your so poor that you cant afford food to feed your family, is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread?

This could be the same thing, and if they are a police force, arrest them, dont destroy the most expensive thing they own besides POSSIBLY a house.

Oh and if the wood is so friggin important, why the hell did they keep it on the car when they ran it over with a tank.

"Yeah well, its wrong that you stole that wood, so we are going to destory the wood, and your car"

This is pretty sick if its true.

[devildog]

look, you guys have to put yourselves in those soldiers shoes. everytime you you go down a street, any of the civilians looking at you could be people trying to kill you, strapped with c4 or an rpg or something. if i see people stealing from me while im out there, im gonna consider them the enemy. he is lucky he messed with the army and all they did was crush his car. garenteed if i was there, i would have shot him dead.

better kill him before he kills me. if you havent experienced it, dont comment on it.

p.s.

this is of course considering that this wasnt staged, which is a huge possiblility also (it can get boring out there)

[devildog]

p.s.

i just watched the video again, and in the begining the commentator says "when we arived, there was STILL looting going on." obviously, there was stealing going on before they arived, and who know what they were stealing.

like i said before, you cant really make a judgement unless you know the entire story.

[Thordic]

I have a couple of comments.

First off, to anyone defending the abuse of prisoners, you're wrong. Looking at the pictures, those soldiers just had issues, I'd rather they shot them or beat them up than do what they did.

In any case.

This video, assuming its legit, is the type of thing I would expect to see. Is it right? Maybe not. But when you are at war, and your friends are getting killed, the population is trying to bomb you, and they are dragging your friends corpses through the street, you aren't the same man you were when you left the states.

Is it an unfortunate effect of war that soldiers become hardened, callous, etc? Yes, of course it is. I don't think many soldiers who went through combat would say its an enjoyable experience getting shot at or watching their friends die. But it happens.

Should the army just turn a blind eye to events like this? I don't think thats a good idea either. Neither do the soldiers deserve to be court-martialed. Doing it in front of a video camera was dumb, granted. But while the event seems harsh and vindictive to civilians, thats all you are is a civilian. You aren't over there. This is the sort of action that doesn't suprise me at all.

Have you guys ever watched Patton? In the movie, a donkey-cart holds up Patton's advance over a bridge. Patton walks up to where his soldiers are trying to push the donkey down the bridge, and Patton simply pulls out his sidearm and shoots the donkey. The poor farmer is devastated as the soldiers push the carcass off the bridge.

This is war, no matter what you want to call it. Sh*t happens that civilians just aren't prepared to deal with. You go over there, and we'll see what you think after a few weeks.

I think the Iraqi prisoner issue is fairly clean-cut. Those soldiers had some serious problems, that was something anyone could look at and say "This is wrong".

This issue though is one I truly believe you cannot judge unless you are or have been a combat soldier.

I also do think it was a harsher punishment than perhaps the thieves deserved, but too bad. I don't feel sorry for them, harsh punishment or not. Life is full of harsh punishments. Remember when one of our citizens was caned in the phillipines? Harsh, yes, but most people didn't feel sorry for him because he was acting like an idiot. Well, these people were stealing in front of US Soldiers. I have trouble feeling sorry for them.

Ok, thats about all my rambling for now.