"Killing people is like squashing an ant:" former US soldier

[tocqueville]

37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former US soldier accused of raping and murdering an Iraqi girl compared killing people in Iraq to "squashing an ant," in an interview with a reporter about a month before the attack.
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"I came over here because I wanted to kill people," he quoted Green as saying. "The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be.

"I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience," Green was quoted as saying. "And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.'

"I shot a guy who wouldn't stop when we were out at a traffic checkpoint and it was like nothing," Green was quoted as saying. "Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant.

"I mean, you kill somebody and it's like, 'All right, let's go get some pizza.'"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060730/ts_alt_afp/iraqusmilitaryprobe

[Eric J in MN]

1. I hate those suprrise checkpoints. They're murder.

There should be Stop signs in Arabic on well-lit roads wherever people are supposed to stop.

[LuckyLib]

2. For every nutjob like Green, there are hundreds of soldiers

who will return damaged forever by what they saw and did in Iraq. They won't be able to get away from their own part in such carnage. It's a life sentence.

[Monkeyman]

3. One out of Four VA claims PTSD

With working with the returning troops trying to help fight for their rights. The number is more like One out of Two. Green is a drop in the bucket of those taken in that should of never been in the service.

[Bucky]

8. I'm pretty sure this accused soldier is damaged too

True, he was probably damaged goods when he signed up. But you expect that in an army. That's why you have officers and sergeants--to control the ones who can't handle having a gun and not abusing the power it gives them. I'm not saying he isn't 100% guilty, but I do think the guilt has to run a little further up the chain of command before you can say you really fixed the problem.

[Monkeyman]

10. Chain of Command is broke

[Jazzgirl]

11. Don't think that Green isn't damaged.

Anybody who has that attitude is definitely damaged goods. Pretty scary.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. "See, this war is different from all the ones that our fathers and ...

grandfathers fought. Those wars were for something. This war is for nothing," Green reportedly said.

[Monkeyman]

5. So was Nam

[niyad]

6. this person sounds like a candidate for the "mindwipe" of an episode of

"babylon 5" and then put to use somewhere. how did someone that damaged ever make it into the military? how was he not ever noticed before?

[lonestarnot]

7. That is why I for one am torn in having much sympathy for them.

I would wager that the majority who have enlisted after the war began are just like him.

[Bucky]

9. I'll take that wager. I've met lots of kids who signed up for the military

As a teacher I've seen dozens of young men go thru the tough decision to serve their country in a time of vanity wars. None of them were like this creep. The smart ones were scared and maybe a little charged up by the testosteronish glamour of carryng a weapon and facing danger. But not a one of them looked forward to killing. They're honorable, naive, courageous, necessary, and decent. A couple have come back a little fucked up and they all have come back saddened by what they see.

This guy isn't a real soldier--he was a tumor in service fatigues.

[lonestarnot]

12. Nope. May I point out an error in your thinking.

No one who has enlisted to fight in Iraq has in truth gone there to "serve their country." They may have been brainwashed to believe that by being a member of a stupid family or some other influence. But the truth of the matter is that they have gone there to serve a bushitler and for no other fucking purpose. Plain and simple!

[SPKrazy]

21. What A Bunch Of Horeshit!

they are serving their country

maybe they aren't serving it in the way you or I would like, but they are serving our country.

like it or not, that is a fact!

[Monkeyman]

13. Thanks for that

people are starting to treat them like they treated us from Nam. When Chain of Command breaks down we need to leave and fix our military.We should of never been there in the first place

[lonestarnot]

14. Yes leave and fix it!

[w8liftinglady]

15. I'll never forget when my son called me from Fallujah in 2004

at 0100.."mommy,there's some bad shit going down here".I'll never forget the shell of a man that came back.I lost part of my son in that godforsaken war.Who knows what the Army made a mechanic do in fallujah.the guy in this article obviously has some issues.Don't lump all these guys in one pile-they -for the most part-started out thinking they were doing the right thing.

[Virginia Dare]

22. I'm so sorry for the hell you and your son have gone through

w8liftinglady....my thoughts are with you
:cry:

[NNN0LHI]

16. Is this the same guy the military put back into our civilian population?

Because if he is there is something really wrong with our military.

Don

[Virginia Dare]

20. Yes, the military claimed he had personality issues....

:freak:

[SmokingJacket]

17. Can we not let this guy back in?

I mean, if killing a person is like killing an ant, do we want him walking the streets?

Or does he mean that killing an ARAB person is like killing an ant?

[greguganus]

18. Why does thid guy remind me of McVeigh? Scary. n/t

[StellaBlue]

24. August 1, 1966.

[Virginia Dare]

19. There's probably at least 100 more just like..

him still over there.

:scared:

[StellaBlue]

23. This reminds me of a documentary I saw on TV in England about three years

ago about how 98% of combat soldiers avoid killing, according to studies done by the US Army during and after the Korean War. Apparently, most soldiers would either misfire, shoot their weapons into the air/ground, or freeze in combat. 1% shot to kill in a heroic sense, driven by a duty to defend their fellow soldiers or their "cause:, and 1% were sociopaths who lusted for killing, whatever the circumstances.

I've tried to find a link, and can't. But, anyway, it was fascinating.

[Raine]

25. Sad

he truly has no soul and is more robot than human being has crossed the great divide on what separates us from machines. :-( Then again if he went over for the killing was he ever really a human being. :-(