War is ugly, War is unfair, and War is a horrible finality of two or more sides coming to an impassible disagreement. There is no such thing as a "Fair fight", unfortunately. The execution of the fight is what decides who is honorable, and who is not. Our convoy was once hit by an IED (a few trucks behind mine), fortunately it was so weak it barely dented the door on the truck it hit. As I said, going into Iraq was a mistake; we should have concentrated our forces in Afghanistan (an operation which Germany has and is participating in) and finished the job there, where the real culprits are.
I cannot condemn the ones who create IED's, raids or ambushes; that is all they have at their disposal, they do not possess technologically advanced, precision guided methods of killing. They no longer possess a viable conventional force either; initially we were supposed to leave the regular Iraqi Army alone, and go straight for the Republican Guard. Instead the Regular Iraq Army was disbanded; that was a HUGE mistake, as they were supposed to take over control of Iraq's security much quicker than they are today. Now we were left with a large group of unemployed former soldiers, who's anger continued to grow daily (how would you feel if America was being occupied?).
Lilgamz cannot possibly fathom the frustration shown by both sides, as he/she is safe within stable borders; able to speak his/her mind because we
allow it. What have you done to deserve your freedoms? Is it because you were born here? Unfortunately, today, that is enough. Son instead of venting his/her frustration constructively, he/she makes this "Game". I agree, ButterFingers; whether this game is about Iraq or not is irrelevant; you made a game with the sole purpose of killing innocent women and children. That is a disgrace to humanity at large.
As far as killing Males, Females and Children; if they are pointing a weapon at you, they are
combatants...period. I've seen early teenagers (couldn't be much older than 13 or 14) wielding AK-47's with precision. Do you think Iraqi males are the only ones capable of anger towards the United States? At least Iraqis can tell the difference between the Ameerican People, and the American Government; if you start talking to them about America, they'll talk about Baseball and Coca-Cola, if you talk about our Government they'll all start spitting on the ground and cursing. I wish we could make the same distinction over here.
Quote: "BTW. Nice anti-patriot stance keith - legend.
"
I'm not quite sure what you're saying; are you calling me unpatriotic?
I, along with about 20 other soldiers in my unit, was involuntarily extended there; which means I hadn't "volunteered" to remain there. But I did my job the same as if I had volunteered, I had soldiers to take care of; and my brother was out there with me (sometimes in the same truck). My best friend (and my best man) was out there with his sister and his father, all in the same area. All you have is each other, and the occassional scraps of mail that came every month or so (if you were lucky). When we were there there wasn't any functional internet, or a functional mail service (we didn't start getting letterrs until 2 months in).
I used to interact with the local Iraqis as much as possible. I ate at their restaraunts (and paid too much for their food...gladly), talked with the kids, and gave out any and all food that I had when on convoy. I admire the resourcefullness of the Iraqi people as a whole.
A large portion of the anger I see there today (which is all the news will show us) is because we are still there, and I cannot blame them for feeling that way...nobody likes to be invaded. I also will not excuse (if they are found guilty by a court and not by the media's portrayal of events) the actions of a
few servicemembers; but I will not excuse the abuse for all men and women in uniform that I have seen here.
I don't see you making a video game about the horrors that continue in Africa; or about the slaughter of Iraqis by Saddam's Guards after being ambushed (check the last thing he was on trial for)....why is that?
Why don't you make a game about the slaughter at Habjala? That's where Saddam used Nerve agents to kill off an entire village; a village comprised of a Kurdish population. Yes, we gave him the know-how of creating such agents; but we didn't give him the will to use it. He destroyed hundreds of other villages like Habjala, but with conventional means. For a long time before those events, the Kurds were doing quite well as farmers on their own, including exporting of their produce to other countries (at a profit). In an attempt to make the Kurds reliant on the Central Iraqi Government, Saddam ordered them to accept the Central Government's subsidies. When they refused, he began to "cleanse" the Northern Part of Iraq.
After doing this, he mined the farmer's fields, so that should they return ...they would suffer. Northern and Eastern Iraq are heavily mined (The North for the Kurds, and the East for Iran), some of these mines are made with wood and as such are undetectable.
But, Lilgamez, you can go on believing what you want; just know that your ability to have opinions are paid for everyday, by real men and women.
-Keith