'I didn't think of Iraqis as humans,' says U.S. soldier who raped 14-year-old girl

sorry, but there's absolutely no justification whatsoever. have you seen the photo of him? he's happy about it!!

What about his sentencing? Do you think he should be released because his training may have played a part in this?

they're often trained to see the enemy as inhuman so they're able to follow orders to destroy live humans without thinking twice. i'm not trying to condone his actions at all, just trying to offer an alternative viewpoint to that of him just having the innate nature of a crazy murdering rapist, nor am i attempting to suggest that the training would affect every soldier in the same way, just that a culmination of factors including but not limited to a violent disposition, previous life experience, susceptibility to the methods of training that dehumanise the enemy in the minds of the soldiers and orders and situation at the time all played a factor in what he did.

i used the example of My Lai before because it's a good example of a whole regiment raping and murdering a village. the chances of that whole regiment (in which there were nearly 30) being like that before the training is tiny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre - worth a read

it's one of far too many examples.

Yeah but 3 of the really brave soldiers tried to help the civillians and i suspect others wanted to but were too scared to go against the actions of their superiors so joined in. Have you every considered these people are sadistic evil individuals that joined the army to supply their thirst for blood

well yeah, but he's messed up, he could be looking happy about anything.

i'm not trying to condone what he did, i just think that the people who want his head haven't given it enough thought. i mean, if someone did that to a member of my family, i'd be out to kill him myself but that's why the bereaved don't make the laws, there'd be total bloodshed. nobody is going to listen to that man when he says he wouldn't have done it had he not been through U.S. army training, and that really gets to me, because, mental as he is, i think he's onto something.

i used the example of My Lai before because it's a good example of a whole regiment raping and murdering a village. the chances of that whole regiment (in which there were nearly 30) being like that before the training is tiny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre - worth a read

The American army really is full of nut jobs.

Before being Muslim, they are human. Something ignorant people like you won't be familiar with.

people on this forum would do the same if they were put through the same training.

He raped and killed the family so therefore only the same punishment should be fair! A eye for eye..

come on, are you serious? what else would he be smiling about. any sane person would be distraught after doing something like that, if not atleast ashamed. it can't be put down to army training or every US soldier would be the same, if not a large number from the same training camp, right? i say an eye for an eye and a head for a head. end of.

If that was the case here, I might be more understanding but he did it of his own accord. Not just killing, but raping before killing? Yet he didn't even regard them as humans. There's no excuse. I wouldn't join the army because I would rather not kill another human, or be killed, but that's because in this country we have a choice. If it was by force then, I can accept I'd have to kill if needed. But I can honestly say with my morals I don't see why I'd feel the need to harm the innocent. They're not the one's who decided to put the country in war.

That's the point. He's not sane. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a recognised mental illness. Why is that so hard to understand?

I didn't criticise 'the armed forces' I simply said they should not be immune from criticism and your comment is case in point. Say anything against a soldier(s) and you're done for.

I agree with what you're saying generally about bad apples, but whenever our forces (any western force actually) commits a crime it's potrayed as an 'isolated incident' whereas when anybody else does it, it's in their inherent nature and we're above them or they don't like our way of life blah blah <insert huge generalisation>. Doubel standards.

The world makes me sick sometimes. It really does.

While I don't wish to distract from the point you're making, it's worth pointing out a few things: 30 is not an entire regiment, it might be some of what's left after a lot of hard fighting, but 30 is barely a company [that's really just semantics though], what's really of note is that the incident was stopped by another serviceman. A helicopter pilot [who's name -shamefully- escapes me at the moment] saw what was happening and landed his helicopter right in the middle of it, saving the locals.

For all it's possible to say that these soldiers are cretinous, vile beings, it's worth remembering there are good people out there too. All too many people on this forum forget that...
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Don't worry they're Muslims. They're use to it.

yes i have, i'm sure there are people from all walks of life in the army. i just think that the indoctrination he's gone through as a matter of routine has been completely ignored in this case, and it's going to happen again and again.