This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 17 Jul 2007, by Larry Keiler.
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17 Jul 07
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The campaign against a mostly invisible enemy, many veterans said, has given rise to a culture of fear and even hatred among U.S. forces, many of whom, losing ground and beleaguered, have, in effect, declared war on all Iraqis.
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indiscriminate killing of civilians was carried out by a minority within their ranks. But most also agreed that such killings rarely spark investigations and almost never incur punishment.
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Speeding American convoys and patrols, manned by troops who are terrified of becoming targets, have become another consistent source of civilian casualties.
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"cordon and search" operations. Twenty-four vets who participated in the raids described them as a relentless reality of the occupation. Generally on little evidence, Iraqis were rousted in the night, their homes turned upside down, the family patriarchs humiliated and sometimes arrested.
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Soldiers and Marines who carried out hundreds of such raids said they rarely turned up anything of consequence — a small piece of wire or a detonating cord might be considered a major find. The troops also told me that many members of their units viewed Iraqis as little better than animals. "Hajji," an Arabic term for those who've made the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, has become the slur of choice for U.S. troops. The troops regularly denigrate "hajji food" and "hajji homes" and throw around terms like "camel jockey." Two veterans reported seeing the corpses of dead Iraqis grotesquely abused by American troops.
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"This badge is a great honor," Mejía said, "but going out of one's way to engage in combat, just to get a badge, is something few service members would accept. Yet once in Iraq, that is precisely what many soldiers believed our commanders to be doing."
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