Word: soldiers
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...reasons I wrote the Vietnam memoir A Rumor of War was to show how that kind of war can bring out a psychopathic streak in men of otherwise normal behavior and 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...
...historical atrocities, to reexamine the concept of punishment in America, and it is here that he is resentful of the outside world, not just those who may have committed such acts. He was surprised by a passage in America in Vietnam which details how Americans traditionally think a soldier who commits a war crime should be put to death with little regard to the conditions or insight into the soldier himself. But a common murderer is treated more thoughtfully - his background, childhood, education and social circumstances are taken into consideration when looking at what punishment should be meted...
...Former soldier Carlisto "Lito" Afonza thought he was safe as he and his wife huddled in the rocky hills above Dili's outer western suburbs. Cradling their 18-month-old son, they listened anxiously to the almost continuous thunder of gunshots and exploding grenades that echoed around the ridges on April 29. "I had to go up onto the ridge because I was worried the grenades might land on my house," Afonza says...
...more than an hour he waited. Then a soldier emerged on the ridgeline. "He didn't say anything-he just shot a grenade at us," Afonza says. It whistled over the family's heads and dropped over the ridge. "I picked up my son and ran. Then I felt something like a stinging slap on my neck and I fell over and looked down. There was blood on my son. I thought, He's been shot...
...little daughters who were playing in the yard. He gave them some candy. Peering into the house, he saw Thabet's sister making fresh Iraqi bread in the oven. ?Can I have some?? he asked. Thabet says the rules of Arab hospitality obliged him to invite the soldier into the yard and share his bread. As they ate, the two men made small talk - the Marine spoke some broken Arabic, and Thabet has a little English. When Thabet gave him a business card, which says he works for Hamurabi Human Rights, which produced the incriminating videotape, the Marine grew apologetic...