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> I led a platoon in Iraq, and we did nothing of the sort. I fought in Fallujah; I would be very surprised to hear from the residents that they did not feel te

by woodman 11y ago

> I led a platoon in Iraq, and we did nothing of the sort. I fought in Fallujah; I would be very surprised to hear from the residents that they did not feel terrorized or modify their behavior in response to our activities. I have no doubt that you don't see yourself in that light, but your intents mean very little to those people. Putting too much weight on either perspective, the action's originator or recipient, leads to all sorts of silliness (the concept of hate crimes, donglegate, etc). Try to detach yourself and just consider the facts.

stvswn 11y ago
You equate "they felt terrorized" with "terrorism." Terrorism is the deliberate targeting of civilians in order to cause fear for political ends. It's not "civilians being scared" and definitely not "civilians modified their behavior." I have no doubt civilians lived (and sometimes died) through horrible battles. In examining the ethics of violent conflict it absolutely does matter whether civilians were targeted or not. If you saw anyone deliberately harm civilians, or use disproportionate force against an enemy that resulted in needless civilian death, you should report it and hopefully that person goes to jail. I have no doubt some people did terrible things. That's a far, far distance from the general claim that the U.S. was "indiscriminate" or "conducted terrorism."