U.S. troops in Iraq were told to shoot anyone who looked suspicious or made them feel uncomfortable

I was just listening to the radio and there was a former marine who had served a 4 year tour in Iraq giving an account of his experiences there.

He said that his commanding officers gave them instruction to shoot anyone who looked suspicious or made them feel uncomfortable, and not to worry about being prosecuted for it, that they would cover for them (meaning those higher up would provide falsified information to investigators). Basically they were sent into a civilian zone and given license to kill.

War is a very terrible and messy affair. People don't realize a lot of the law & order that's normal during peacetime effectively gets thrown out the window.

 

I have always felt that sending our soldiers into harms way with ROE that places them at a disadvantage and increases their likelihood of being hurt or killed is folly. Our soldiers deserve better.

 

For almost eight years Obama's ROE favored the enemy and caused American troops to bleed and die in the name of political correctness.

 

Translation: our soldiers should murder civilians if they get a little scared.

 

Innocent civilians deserve better than soldiers.

 

Is no one going to point out the BS here where this marine served a "4 year tour" in Iraq?

 

I disagree. I value an American soldier's life above non-Americans. If a situation is so touchy that we must tie the hands of our soldiers with detrimental ROE, perhaps our soldiers should not have been there in the first place.

 

No way around it. You break it, you bought it. If we are going to tear down a country’s government and destabilize it, then we have an obligation to make it right and that means protecting their civilians from threats.

The ROE should balance force protection with protecting innocent lives, which the official ROE in Iraq did well, although unit commanders like those described in the OP seemed to wanted to go out of their way to aid insurgent recruiting.

 

Well on behalf of my fellow non-Americans; screw you too!

 

I am okay with that. Do you hold the same value for everyone across the globe?

 

I seriously need to state this fact!?

Yes, a person’s nationality does not automatically grant their life any more or less value than anyone else’s.

 

Seriously. Nobody going to address the fact that this "marine" was deployed to Iraq for 4 years?

 

Does not automatically, but certainly may. Do you value your children's or mother's lives higher than you value mine?

 

I figured it meant 4 years total not 4 years all at once.

 

If you want to lose the fight, by all means, fire at will. If you want to keep your sanity, and have a chance at winning the conflict, respect the civilians, and their right to survive the conflict.

 

I didn't say we did. Well, not most of the time anyway. I was echoing the post I quoted. So relax dude, you aren't the only generation that fought a war.

And by the way: "Which is what the ROE does....". It's more than ROE, it's common sense, following an inner compass, morality, etc.

 

Points taken. I was trying to point out the same thing in a different way.

 

The lives of U.S. soldiers are more important than the lives of any foreign civilians.

 

People think that's a horrible breach of conduct, but its standard procedure for cops in the USA. So much concern over the actions of troops in a combat zone, so little concern over cops in the homeland.

Maybe the combat zone is in the USA, and maybe the enemy of the govt isn't foreigners?

 

Translation is that you have enemies in the Middle East that don't conform to the Geneba Convention stating that combatants will wear a uniform that distinguishes them from a civilian population. The tactics of these foreign aggressors is what gets civilians killed, not too mention using women and children as human shields. So don't blame US service members for being paranoid.