Daily Kos

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  •  Civilians have the greater responsiblity (none / 1)

    I agree with this.  Soldiers involved in combat operations have less access to information about what is going on than do civilians.  Soldiers are enveloped in the fog of war and typically do not have complete situational awareness even of the proximate battle actions in which they participate, much less the distal consequences of the orders they are asked to follow.

    War places the soldier in an extreme demand environment.  Those who have experienced such an environment can appreciate why soldiers must place a high degree of trust in their chain of command and in the rules of engagement communicated to them by that command.

    This is why, in a democratic nation, it is the civilians who have the ultimate responsibility for  the rules of engagement and the orders conveyed to soldiers by their chain of command.  

    Homeland: as in Bantustan, or as in home of the brave and land of the free?

    by homeland observer on Thu Nov 10, 2005 at 01:31:37 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    •  When supporting the troops means supporting (none / 0)

      ourselves. I agree with parent. It is civilians, and American civilians that gotta raise a wholly holy stink here. We gotta promise the assholes in charge that they'll see these pictures so many times that they'll begin to see them in their sleep.

      If we care about our cause, we better not be threatening war crimes trials on the low level troops on the ground... at least not with the facts we have now. War as one of many options is a crime in and of itself. Blaming the troops first, for these atrocities, is to miss the point entirely. It will be neighbor on neighbot around here, if you think you're going to threaten a war crime trial on your neighbor's kid for being a soldier.

      Focus on the top, where the indirective direction originates!

      by kazoo of the north on Thu Nov 10, 2005 at 07:53:14 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

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