I usually do not get involved in discussions re politics, religion etc., because it generally ends with ill feelings. However, there seems to be ALOT of assumptions here.
Kim, please advise where the following statement was posted as I have yet to read a report of it???
Let's see here: Injured and displaced from their homeland, having lost everything they owned, the family is looking to the courts of that country for redress.
I agree that some of the comments here are mind numbing. "might makes right" WOW, score one for the bullies around the world.
Our soldiers arer there. Lets keep as many of our own safe.
"But let's be honest here, if these weren't Arab but rather Europeans, we wouldn't be reading this kind of disturbing banter on our website. But inasmuch as the victims here are Arabs, we read commentary that has all the humanity and intelligence of what you might find at a Klan rally. "
I disagree Kim. If the Europeans waged war like the suicide bombing Arabs, I believe you would have the same outcry. How many INNOCENT victims have been killed, maimed. orphaned etc. by Arab suicide bombers?? How many more lives will terrorists as these take. Frankly it is the Arab suicide methods of killing the so called "occupying force" and any countryman who stands for democracy which scares any rationale person. Strap on a bomb and blow yourself up in a market killing INNOCENT civilians. Such behavior should not be condoned no matter what country you hail from.
"And, yes, it is the responsibility of these and all soldiers to contemplate the moral rights and wrongs of their actions. Combat does not create nor justify a moral vacuum for the soldiers who must prosecute it."
Kim, this really does not need a response. If it comes down to your life or someone in a hostile country, not following an order to stop, guess what, I'll be alive to go home to my family and not the person driving the vehicle.
I will end this with an anecdote a very wise man told me. It revolved around the controversy of a shooting death. Many lawyers were discussing the merits of the circumstances of the shooting and the outcome. The debate was heated. The pearl of wisdom spoken:
"I'd rather be judged by twelve of my peers than carried by six of my friends." (For those needing a translation, he'd rather be alive and have his actions judged by a jury, than dead and have his casket carried by six friends!)