Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

This book, by Chris Hedges and Leila AL Arian, tell the stories of Iraq civilians through the eyes of several US soldiers who served there. It is D-pressing. I talks of the general disrespectful and discriminatory attitude toward Iraqis but also more serious acts against them. (I know not ALL soldiers are like this by the way - there are many honorable men and women serving over there.)

You all should read it (it's a quick read); here are a few memorable excerpts.

1. This excerpt speaks to the fact there was No SUNNI SHII divide, which it is my life's quest to prove to people. (See my post 'There is no Sunni Shii Divide" from last year.)
"We weren't providing what was needed,' said Captain Powers, who deployed to Iraq over two months after the invasion. "Let me put it this way. If you were in Washington and basically everyone had an AK 47, and no one had picked up sewage and waste in six months, people would get pretty upset and start having a resistance. That's really what we saw there." (p. 97)

2. We might have out coloring books and pencils at the schools during the day, " Specialist Middleton said. "But that night we were arresting their older brothers and killing their dads. So it just seemed kind of pointless." (p. 98)

3. "You go on missions and people launch RPGS at you, and you see where they come from, and you go to the house, and you ask people int he house 'Where's the guy on the roof that was hooting the RPG at us?' And they're like 'No Ali Baba, no bad guy, you know, no boom boom explosions....So it just gets frustrating...So there becomes a rift and the soldiers stop trusting the Iraqi people and start hating them, and you generally get to the point where if you have to kill someone, have have to almost dehumanize the enemy...and a lot of times it's too much power for like an eighteen year old kids straight out of high school put in a fearful war situation to be able to handle and compute, materially process..." (p. 102-103)

4. Specialist Englehart said the line between insurgents and civilians in Iraq became indistinguishable. "...It was a lot easier by having that black and white attitude toward them [Iraqis] like they're with us or against us." (p. 103)

As I said in my post below on the post article on Iraq Civilians and Forever War and Brother at War - I don't blame soldiers for their behavior toward Iraqis. (In most all cases.) I know there are good soldiers and bad soldiers, just like there are insurgents and non insurgents in Iraq. I know war is a totally different environment. I really mostly blame the policy makers for putting them in this impossible unmanageable situation totally unprepared with few resources.