Word: combatant
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...their credit, modern Western democracies feel shame in combat more profoundly than other countries. We have done terrible things--in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and now, it strongly appears, in Haditha in Iraq. These dark moments--indiscriminately bombarding German civilians in World War II, mowing down Vietnamese peasants at My Lai--do not necessarily diminish the rightness of the cause for which we fight. For Americans, in whom isolationism runs deep, it is perhaps reflexive to feel revulsion and want to withdraw from conflicts and commitments where young Americans can do evil things...
...impulses. When a soldier is fighting guerrillas, he can often feel like a helpless victim. I imagine that must be especially true in Iraq with these roadside bombs. After a while, that's got to bring out a killer instinct in even the best troops. And soldiers in combat get very close to one another. That's one of the saving graces of battle, but it can work against you if the loss of a beloved comrade drives a soldier to go over the edge and seek revenge...
...that noncombatants may never be purposely targeted. Today's Marine is better educated, better trained and better led than ever before. Marines of all ranks are aware of the standards of battlefield conduct. Yet there apparently was a disregard of those standards by a very few. Even in a combat zone, one can commit murder, and Haditha looks like such a case...
DIED. Slim Aarons, 89, photographer of socialites, princes and stars who created for magazines, including LIFE and Town and Country, some of the most iconic images of the 20th century; in Montrose, N.Y. After serving as a combat photographer during World War II, Aarons determined to devote the rest of his career to chronicling, in his words, "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Among the best-known images: Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart laughing conspiratorially in a 1957 photo called The Kings of Hollywood, left, which Smithsonian magazine called the "Mount Rushmore of stardom...
...tours. Pentagon officials say Army units deploy to Iraq for a year and Marines ship out for six months, but units from both services have been known to stay in Iraq longer. Says an Army general: "Are they stressed? Yes. Will it get worse? Yes. Is it affecting their combat ability...