Reply #21: I don't draw my conclusions from this single video. I'm saying it's symptomatic.

[Dover]

I'm not judging these soldiers.
Their behavior is symptomatic of the types of behaviors (not just PTSD) that come from the warped reality of war in general and now Iraq in particular. I don't think my saying that undermines anyone. And of course there are plenty of soldiers (the majority) who don't participate in this kind of behavior. But they are exposed to this and many more horrendous behaviors every day and ARE affected. They have to make life and death and 'moral' decisions in a vacuum of immorality everyday with varying degrees of success and it takes it's toll in some way.

There are numerous examples, many of which we'll never see on video. These pictures, like those from Abu Graihb, the retaliatory slayings of citizens that have recently made the news, etc. are a very small keyhole glance into a much larger reality. We WILL experience them more directly (privately and as a nation) as our soldiers return, and I hope you and others can find it in your hearts to allow their altered reality to be shared and healed without judgement or the necessity of carrying your beloved ideas about what the military is or is not.