[Skunk]

Originally posted by Black Baron: It is a very problematic situation in the best case, and must be viewed with caution. In all history of warfare there were too few wars with usage of powerfull suicide bombers. Israel as strange as it sounds has more experience with this kind of warfare. It is very easy to criticize. When you ask yourself- what the heck am i supposed to do then? you realise that there are not easy solutions nor harmless regarding the civilians.

Originally posted by Black Baron: Skunk-you failed to refer to my argument that the soldiers coud not possibly know who the demonstrators were.

I *have* been there in that same situation on several occasions - but acting under very different (and very clear) rules of engagement.

What are you supposed to do when you are unsure about the target? WITHDRAW and perform a reconnaissance to establish the exact target, then use APPROPRIATE force. A tank shell is NOT appropriate when large numbers of non-combatents are assembled.

In time you are going to be serving in those areas yourself (if I remember correctly from your posts). When you come back, we can discuss this on a more equal level and compare notes.

I served in Northern Ireland as best as I could with as much humanity as I could muster - but then, I had strict orders to follow - orders that would have seen me court-martialed and charged with MURDER had I done the same as that tank crew. Despite that, I was disillusioned by the end of my tour of duty - convinced that it was right for troops to be there, and unconvinced by the way things worked in practice.

This bloke serves up the same kind of experiences (although his are worse) that caused me to resign my commission. He has more courage than me - I won't repeat all of the things that I saw - I'm a little too ashamed (if I'm really honest about it) that I never formally complained about the same kind of abuses (even if they were on a much lesser scale).