Once again the U.S. military has put it's worst foot forward. And the reason it keeps happening is becoming clearer with each incident. These are a few of the reasons I see for our militaries continuing failure to treat the citizens of Iraq as people:
1. As United States citizens, many soldiers already believe deep down that they are better than any one who is not from the United States
2. Our countries leadership, with its belief that it is our God given duty to protect the world from itself, strengthen that belief.
3. The agreements that were made with Iraq that exempts U.S. military from Iraq law gives an impression that US soldiers are above the law.
These are not the only factors, perhaps not even major factors, but the fact is that 4 soldiers are believed to have raped a fourteen year old girl and killed her and her family. A fifth soldier was either aware of the crime or a witness and didn't report it. These men should be handed over to the Iraqi government and made to face whatever punishment Islamic law requires. Yes, I said Islamic law, not Iraq law. I'm sure that the government we put in place has much nicer, more humane punishments than the law of Islam. And I do not believe that such horrific crime deserves humane punishment. It deserves punishment as violent and sadistic as the crime itself.
The situation in Iraq has become so bad that a doctor whose estimate of the girls age differed from that of the official report would not give his name for fear of reprisal from the military. We are supposed to be there helping the people. Somewhere someone has made terrible mistakes, and we are becoming as bad as the fiend we removed.
Remaining in Iraq is no longer a matter of only being there until the government is ready to control the country. It is now a matter of getting out before we make it impossible for them to.
If you haven't heard this story, here is a link:
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