"I don't like to stand next to an American"
Yesterday was a high school reunion. I met people I haven't seen in 10 years. My best friend from middle school which I have barely seen from that time made a career in the army. He served in Bosnia among other places.
He made a comment about his experience from peace keeping operations in Bosnia, that I think goes a long way towards explaining the mess America got itself into in Iraq. Where ever there is a peace keeping operation he said he preferred not to stand next to an American. I asked why. "Because American are the ones who usually get hated and those who hate Americans are bad at aiming", was the reply I got. So I asked "why do they hate Americans?" American soldiers walk down the street in full armor, sunglasses, their guns ready and then ask at the end of the street "Why doesn't anybody talk to me?"
This is actually not the first time I heard such comments. Other friends of mine have served in Kosovo with soldiers of different nationalities. And as in Bosnia the American soldiers were the ones sticking out. They were the ones scaring the local population walking around in full military gear with their guns ready, while other soldiers walked around in light uniforms with no guns and tried to interact with the local population. Every time the story is the same: American soldiers have no understanding of other peoples culture. And they don't even seem to try. But everybody agrees that the American military is a formidable fighting force.
I read many letters from American soldiers in one of Michael Moores book "Will they ever trust us again?". As an example of what some of the soldiers say. A soldier named Jacob A. Brooks wrote:
Needless to say after reading some of these letters to more by American soldiers it dawned on my why American occupations go so wrong. The soldiers are trained to be killing machines and be full of hate. Understanding your surroundings and other cultures is pushed to the bottom of the priority list. The result is predictable. An army that can destroy any opponent in no time but is incapable of winning the hearts and minds of the people in the country occupied.
This is indeed a sad development. The American GI used to be the hero. The easy going soldier that handed out candy to the kids. During WWII American soldiers were known as the best liked ones by the local people. And it showed. The WWII occupations were big successes.
So what happened. Where did they go wrong? Perhaps they were a victim of their own success. Studies from WWII showed that the majority failed to kill the enemy when face to face. They simple couldn't pull the trigger. This is supposed to be something hardwired into most species, an aversion against killing your own species. Up to the Gulf war the military has improved this statistic dramatically. By extensive physiologic training (brainwashing?) and demonizing of the enemy they have manage to make the majority willing to kill the enemy face to face. This is unprecedented in modern history.
Perhaps in the course of this "success" they lost the soldiers capacity to show compassion for the enemy. By that I mean that while it might not be necessary to show compassion for enemy soldiers it should be necessary to show compassion for civilians who are of the same race or nationality as the enemy soldiers. But such distinctions might easily be too complicated for the army to sell. It is much easier to depict all Iraqis as non-human, rather than just Iraqis soldiers.
Or perhaps the problem is that the American political leadership, especially the neocons never thought America would need to act as occupants. That overthrowing the regimes you don't like would be enough. That the people would take care of the rest themselves.
He made a comment about his experience from peace keeping operations in Bosnia, that I think goes a long way towards explaining the mess America got itself into in Iraq. Where ever there is a peace keeping operation he said he preferred not to stand next to an American. I asked why. "Because American are the ones who usually get hated and those who hate Americans are bad at aiming", was the reply I got. So I asked "why do they hate Americans?" American soldiers walk down the street in full armor, sunglasses, their guns ready and then ask at the end of the street "Why doesn't anybody talk to me?"
This is actually not the first time I heard such comments. Other friends of mine have served in Kosovo with soldiers of different nationalities. And as in Bosnia the American soldiers were the ones sticking out. They were the ones scaring the local population walking around in full military gear with their guns ready, while other soldiers walked around in light uniforms with no guns and tried to interact with the local population. Every time the story is the same: American soldiers have no understanding of other peoples culture. And they don't even seem to try. But everybody agrees that the American military is a formidable fighting force.
I read many letters from American soldiers in one of Michael Moores book "Will they ever trust us again?". As an example of what some of the soldiers say. A soldier named Jacob A. Brooks wrote:
I went to tech school during the beginning parts of the war in Iraq. While there I was involved in such activities as protesting anything French related and screaming "Bush... Bush.. Bush" at the top of my lungs. Most of this was led by my instructors. They'd gather us together and give us the famous "F... this and F... that speeches. They led us in making fun of the French by calling them cowards and other nonsense. Throughout it all we kept on hanging from Bush's left nut.
Needless to say after reading some of these letters to more by American soldiers it dawned on my why American occupations go so wrong. The soldiers are trained to be killing machines and be full of hate. Understanding your surroundings and other cultures is pushed to the bottom of the priority list. The result is predictable. An army that can destroy any opponent in no time but is incapable of winning the hearts and minds of the people in the country occupied.
This is indeed a sad development. The American GI used to be the hero. The easy going soldier that handed out candy to the kids. During WWII American soldiers were known as the best liked ones by the local people. And it showed. The WWII occupations were big successes.
So what happened. Where did they go wrong? Perhaps they were a victim of their own success. Studies from WWII showed that the majority failed to kill the enemy when face to face. They simple couldn't pull the trigger. This is supposed to be something hardwired into most species, an aversion against killing your own species. Up to the Gulf war the military has improved this statistic dramatically. By extensive physiologic training (brainwashing?) and demonizing of the enemy they have manage to make the majority willing to kill the enemy face to face. This is unprecedented in modern history.
Perhaps in the course of this "success" they lost the soldiers capacity to show compassion for the enemy. By that I mean that while it might not be necessary to show compassion for enemy soldiers it should be necessary to show compassion for civilians who are of the same race or nationality as the enemy soldiers. But such distinctions might easily be too complicated for the army to sell. It is much easier to depict all Iraqis as non-human, rather than just Iraqis soldiers.
Or perhaps the problem is that the American political leadership, especially the neocons never thought America would need to act as occupants. That overthrowing the regimes you don't like would be enough. That the people would take care of the rest themselves.
posted by Adam Smith at 10:56
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