How much do you know about Iraq and the US Army??

woodoo

I must admit i knew very little but i have been watching a few youtube videos about it. Have a look at this and watch a few others after it. Its a sick world we live in and the US army are a disgrace, or more accurately the top brass are.

Max Power

Didn't know it snowed that much in Iraq

B.A._Baracus

Here you go op

squod

FionnMcCool87 wrote: »

Didn't know it snowed that much in Iraq

I've been watching some youtube videos about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dae85DK_uu0

donvito99

Very, very, very little OP

woodoo

donvito99 wrote: »

Very, very, very little OP

I was the same and wasn't really interested but i started to watch a few videos. Its monstrous what was going on. Some sick people in the us army. Some of the testimonials are grim.

Pottler

I know that a US attack helicopter pilot considers it funny to shoot up a TV crew, then shoot up their rescuers, then laugh at the APC that attends the scene running over the victims. Which is pretty much all I need to know to know that the US have not covered themselves in glory in Iraq. I'm also thankful I don't live there and have to endure their murderous sh1te..Luckily we gave our natural rescources to Shell, so now Shell have to watch their back. Best case description is delegation of responsibility..

13spanner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQaH3-LK54

Wacker The Attacker

Bad guys

Mr. Rager

You watched a view videos, now suddenly you're an expert and it's ok to generalise the US Army as a whole as "sick"?

B.A._Baracus

Its interesting what that guy says (part 2 video of that guy speaking in front of others)


Being honest, i'm not shocked. All this "rules of engagement" (etc) are total lies. Its A versus B. No rules. Its sad but true.

Pottler

Mr. Rager wrote: »

You watched a view videos, now suddenly you're an expert and it's ok to generalise the US Army as a whole as "sick"?

What's your own point of view? Honestly?

Mr. Rager

Pottler wrote: »

What's your own point of view? Honestly?

Yeah they're sick, I'm just being a cúnt tbh

Witcher

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Being honest, i'm not shocked. All this "rules of engagement" (etc) are total lies. Its A versus B. No rules. Its sad but true. [/SIZE]

That's due to the nature of the war, you can't wait to respond to the first shots because given how the enemy operate..you won't know until it's too late and an IED has gone off, a suicide bomber has blown themselves up or someone hanging out a window with a rifle has shot the man in the jeep's turret...they have to preempt it a lot of the time....not excusing it just commenting on how the rules of engagement can't always be followed given the fact it was a counter-insurgency.

woodoo

The soldiers seem to become brutes out there, maybe the army attracts them or maybe they become brutes during war.

im invisible

Oil, thats about all i know,

B.A._Baracus

Blay wrote: »

That's due to the nature of the war, you can't wait to respond to the first shots because given how the enemy operate..you won't know until it's too late and an IED has gone off, a suicide bomber has blown themselves up or someone hanging out a window with a rifle has shot the man in the jeep's turret...they have to preempt it a lot of the time....not excusing it just commenting on how the rules of engagement can't always be followed given the fact it was a counter-insurgency.

Totally agree.
So when you bring that into play, the "rules of engagement" are just a load of bullshit.

Witcher

woodoo wrote: »

The soldiers seem to become brutes out there, maybe the army attracts them or maybe they become brutes during war.

Seeing your friends being blown to smithereens by IED's and suicide bombers will do that to ya. Plus there's the guys who would do it just for the 'fun' of it.

tdv123

It helped provide Stephen Colbert with some great material for his show.

Killer Wench

I don't know much about Iraq, but I know a bit about the Army, and quite a bit about the US military.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Why did the USA illegally invade Iraq again? Also why don't they pay reparations to Vietnam, they were the losing side afterall. Germany never failed in this regard.

Where To

Got into a cab with a vet last week.

He chats away, 'Oh you're from Ireland, yeah I love the Guinness in Shannon, was there a few times on stopovers, we were doing in tours in . . . . . where the hell was it?. . . . . . Middle?. . . . . . . Britain?. . . . . '

'Iraq?' I says.

'Yeah that's the one buddy'

Says it all really.

Piliger

woodoo wrote: »

I must admit i knew very little but i have been watching a few youtube videos about it. [/YOUTUBE]

Oh yeah ... Youtube. Quality education :rolleyes:

FanadMan

woodoo wrote: »

i have been watching a few youtube videos......

I've been watching a few youtube videos too. But most of them are people getting freaked out in lifts or funny pets running into things

enfant terrible

Piliger wrote: »

Oh yeah ... Youtube. Quality education :rolleyes:

Ya I saw a video about the Nazi reaching the Moon before Neil Armstrong and now I'm a believer.

Killer Wench

FanadMan wrote: »

I've been watching a few youtube videos too. But most of them are people getting freaked out in lifts or funny pets running into things

I've been going through this strange twerk video phase. They're hypnotic.

Charlie19

All I know is that USA is here $ and Iraq is









here

Why cant they get along?

FanadMan

Killer Wench wrote: »

I've been going through this strange twerk video phase. They're hypnotic.

Urrgh! Think would rather watch US/Iraq conspiracy vids

Killer Wench

FanadMan wrote: »

Urrgh! Think would rather watch US/Iraq conspiracy vids

Coward!

Manic Moran

I would be rather concerned about drawing conclusions of commonality from a search. Whilst certainly there were instances of questionable behaviour, that does not imply that they were necessarily common. Might I suggest a truly random sample? There are going to be people you know or have access to who have first-hand experience of what went on in Iraq, from their perspective. Perhaps you should sample and poll them for their thoughts, experiences, and so on. Since you already know them, there is no chance of any bias coming into your sample from searching terminology, or trending results.

By way of such random sample, I offer the photographs ( http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/pictures.htm ) and videos ( http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/videos.htm ) that I took in Iraq 2004-2005. I am also more than happy to answer any direct questions you may have within the limits of my knowledge. If you're really interested, I can probably post up my diary for the year, which I updated as and when I could get to a computer, usually every three days or so.

Examples include...

Interrogating locals http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/chai1.JPG
Soldier telling kids not to report US soldiers abusing their families, or else http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/wiltseykids.JPG
Reaction to a wedding (Video) http://data.primeportal.net/videos/nlm/wedding.MOV
Panic at being surrounded in close proximity by locals http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/kidsfollow.jpg
Driving through the city with no regard for other road users (Video) http://data.primeportal.net/videos/nlm/Mosuldrv.MOV
Running over children with a tank http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/tankkids.JPG
Iraqi attempt to poison us http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/teatank3.JPG
Raiding a house following discovery of an AK-47 on the ground http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/socialcall.jpg
Iraqis chasing our tank away http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/popular.JPG
Young girl faces down a tank. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/usaftank3.JPG
Angry kids giving us the finger. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/mosulfam.JPG
Stealing what little food the Iraqis had from them. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/groceries.JPG
Shooting up the local market http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/market1.JPG
Tieing up Iraqi man. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/bandaid.JPG
Physical assault on an Iraqi http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/Morrowkid2.JPG
Another attempt at poisoning. This time we tried to poison them back. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/localmre.JPG
Iraqis rush our trucks. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/popular1.jpg

Or, you could ignore the sources closest to you....

NTM

MadsL

Where To wrote: »

Got into a cab with a vet last week.

He chats away, 'Oh you're from Ireland, yeah I love the Guinness in Shannon, was there a few times on stopovers, we were doing in tours in . . . . . where the hell was it?. . . . . . Middle?. . . . . . . Britain?. . . . . '

'Iraq?' I says.

'Yeah that's the one buddy'

Says it all really.

Says what exactly? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causing Amnesia or you thought he was an idiot?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Do these boneheads who joined the army out of school get the GI Bill after their service has ended? Like John Kerry said you either get your act together and go to college or join the army and take a chance. Where does the officer class come into this? Surely America has true military men out there and not only the childish clowns who join on ignorant xenophobic grounds.

Killer Wench

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Do these boneheads who joined the army out of school get the GI Bill after their service has ended? Like John Kerry said you either get your act together and go to college or join the army and take a chance. Where does the officer class come into this? Surely America has true military men out there and not only the childish clowns who join on ignorant xenophobic grounds.

There are service academies (The Naval Academy, West Point) , Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and Officer Candidate (or Training) School for those seeking commissions as officers. Sometimes, people enlist and then are selected for officer training.

Seaneh

Manic Moran wrote: »

I would be rather concerned about drawing conclusions of commonality from a search. Whilst certainly there were instances of questionable behaviour, that does not imply that they were necessarily common. Might I suggest a truly random sample? There are going to be people you know or have access to who have first-hand experience of what went on in Iraq, from their perspective. Perhaps you should sample and poll them for their thoughts, experiences, and so on. Since you already know them, there is no chance of any bias coming into your sample from searching terminology, or trending results.

By way of such random sample, I offer the photographs ( http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/pictures.htm ) and videos ( http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/videos.htm ) that I took in Iraq 2004-2005. I am also more than happy to answer any direct questions you may have within the limits of my knowledge. If you're really interested, I can probably post up my diary for the year, which I updated as and when I could get to a computer, usually every three days or so.

Examples include...

Interrogating locals http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/chai1.JPG
Soldier telling kids not to report US soldiers abusing their families, or else http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/wiltseykids.JPG
Reaction to a wedding (Video) http://data.primeportal.net/videos/nlm/wedding.MOV
Panic at being surrounded in close proximity by locals http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/kidsfollow.jpg
Driving through the city with no regard for other road users (Video) http://data.primeportal.net/videos/nlm/Mosuldrv.MOV
Running over children with a tank http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/tankkids.JPG
Iraqi attempt to poison us http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/teatank3.JPG
Raiding a house following discovery of an AK-47 on the ground http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/socialcall.jpg
Iraqis chasing our tank away http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/popular.JPG
Young girl faces down a tank. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/usaftank3.JPG
Angry kids giving us the finger. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/mosulfam.JPG
Stealing what little food the Iraqis had from them. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/groceries.JPG
Shooting up the local market http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/market1.JPG
Tieing up Iraqi man. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/bandaid.JPG
Physical assault on an Iraqi http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/Morrowkid2.JPG
Another attempt at poisoning. This time we tried to poison them back. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/localmre.JPG
Iraqis rush our trucks. http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/popular1.jpg

Or, you could ignore the sources closest to you....

NTM

Or beyond all that you could look at the over 1 million dead civilians caused by a bogus war, and institutional human rights abuses which have been reposted by several NGO's, hundreds of former service men and media sources and draw your own conclusions.


But hey, that's just another option.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Killer Wench wrote: »

There are service academies (The Naval Academy, West Point) , Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and Officer Candidate (or Training) School for those seeking commissions as officers. Sometimes, people enlist and then are selected for officer training.

I would never take away from the the likes of West Point or the Naval Academy in Maryland. I'm talking about the sign up clients, the young minds easily lead by propaganda, tearaways who join the army for all the wrong reasons. They don't deserve respect, they're cannon fodder and they're too ignorant to realise it.

Grayson

Seaneh wrote: »

Or beyond all that you could look at the over 1 million dead civilians caused by a bogus war, and institutional human rights abuses which have been reposted by several NGO's, hundreds of former service men and media sources and draw your own conclusions.


But hey, that's just another option.

And the wikileaks iraq war dump covered thousands of abused. I don't think that included abu gharib.

I actually have genuine respect for soldiers. But I could compare them to priests and the catholic church. Most priests are genuine people who help others. Some abuse children. Most don't and it's a very small percentage that do. But some do. And the church covers it up. I believe the church as an institution is corrupt and cares more about itself than it does about the abused children. And i believe the US army is the same. It's an institution the enables others to commit abuses, doesn't care as long as they don't get caught and covers it up when they do.

Killer Wench

So is this special love reserved only for the Army or does it extend to the other 4 branches of the United States Military?

Grayson

Killer Wench wrote: »

So is this special love reserved only for the Army or does it extend to the other 4 branches of the United States Military?

Airforce, navy, marines and ??? The PJ's?

Edit: Ahh, the coast guard. I don't think anyone except colombian drug runners dislike the coast guard.

billybudd

I know this, not to join one and not plan a holiday in the other.

Killer Wench

Grayson wrote: »

Airforce, navy, marines and ??? The PJ's?

Edit: Ahh, the coast guard. I don't think anyone except colombian drug runners dislike the coast guard.

Maybe icebergs and whale hunters.

CruelCoin

Hang on a second...

"rummages in cardboard box"

Nope, can't find a single ****.

Pottler

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I would never take away from the the likes of West Point or the Naval Academy in Maryland. I'm talking about the sign up clients, the young minds easily lead by propaganda, tearaways who join the army for all the wrong reasons. They don't deserve respect, they're cannon fodder and they're too ignorant to realise it.

Go away out of that. The officers set the standards, and they don't let plebs fly attack helicopters either. You can't blame the "common orders" that you are somehow creating.

KyussBishop

If you limit peoples experience solely to people in the military who have been in Iraq, they are definitely going to get a biased sample, because naturally a vast majority of them are supportive of the war there.
A far more unbiased sample, would be reputable journalists covering the war, and the Iraqi people (it's their country after all), rather than the military force that invaded them (kind of ridiculous to suggest they'd be unbiased).

I've read a fair bit about Iraq over the years, but in bits and pieces, so I don't recall everything; some highlights though:
- For most of the war, US troops and private contractors have been immune from Iraqi law, able to (literally at times) get away with murder
- Even before the war with Iraq, the country had been under sanctions largely pushed by the US, that killed between 100,000-500,000 children
- At least 100,000 civilians died in the war
- Oh and of course, an easy one to forget...the war was illegal, legitimized using deliberately faked evidence. So basically a war of aggression, which is considered (after WWII) one of the most principally evil acts a country can undertake.
- The war in Iraq has cost around $800 billion so far, but this is a very conservative estimate, and the cost of all the wars may run up to somewhere around $3.5 to $4 trillion

Doubtlessly loads more worth mentioning (particularly surrounding human rights abuses, rendition, and all that), but this is just what comes to me offhand.

Pottler

woodoo wrote: »

The soldiers seem to become brutes out there, maybe the army attracts them or maybe they become brutes during war.

Going back in the dawns of time, i did my basic training in wales. On our first go with crappy old sten guns(which were a glorified antique rapid fire pistol) some of the lads were getting seriously aroused. The general attitude was "imagine how many people i can kill with this yoke".

About 20% were genuine psychos you would not turn your back on. 50% were dead sound and 30% were just regular everyday dumb cnuts. I pity the people who have to play with the 20% on a daily basis and I worry about the 30% who got let out in public with anything more deadly than a plastic scissors.:)I made sure never to stand in front of them, basically.

I regarded guns as a heavy pain in the hole I had to carry around with me and clean, and that would be unused 99.9999% of the time.

UCDVet

Let's just be grateful the US is busy bringing 'freedom' to brown people and not Ireland.

Individually American's are decent enough. As a whole? Something isn't right with them.

ProfanityURL

Speaking to Americans I always introduce the topic carefully in order to judge how they feel about it before I say anything. Some of them can get really defensive about their soldiers "fighting for freedom", especially since lots of people have children over there so they don't want to face the reality that they are placing themselves in danger for no good reasons.

I also find it funny how American's cite the importance of "protecting America's interests abroad". They're basically saying yeah it's honourable for our soldiers to go abroad and kill women and children in order to secure America's energy and economic demands. An American I spoke to told me that one of the problems is that many people convicted of crimes over there are offered to join the army as an alternative to prison, so you end up with a load of violent criminals being trained to kill and handing them automatic weapons.

Tom_Cruise

Joining the US army is pretty bad career choice for most. What good comes out of it in the end?

Witcher

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

Joining the US army is pretty bad career choice for most. What good comes out of it in the end?

A chance to go to college...it's a lot more expensive there and for many the GI bill is the only way.

Shryke

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

Joining the US army is pretty bad career choice for most. What good comes out of it in the end?

That's why most soldiers are recruited from disadvantaged areas, which somewhat lowers the quality of soldier. Lack of knowledge/eduction and all that.

Where To

MadsL wrote: »

Says

what exactly? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causing Amnesia or you thought he was an idiot?

Neither, it says that he didn't particularly remember where he was touring but he particularly remembered where he got a good pint.

UCDVet

Shryke wrote: »

That's why most soldiers are recruited from disadvantaged areas, which somewhat lowers the quality of soldier. Lack of knowledge/eduction and all that.

From what I've read, that's not true.

http://www.heritage.org/static/reportimages/360142B8859DD8EDA9D80F008077F3B5.gif