My perspective on this is informed by the fact that I have students in my classes who are the same age as these kids--and I've had 3 students who were Iraq veterans, if you can believe it.
My impression of them? They're emotionally a bit raw, have gone through something I can't begin to understand--but they're essentially just kids. The people we're sending over there to do this job (whether you approve of the job or not) are 18-20 year olds whose only training in making moral choices is essentially "do what you're told." I don't know why it should be a surprise that when they're confronted with difficult situations in which they have to make a moral choice, sometimes they make the wrong choice, even if it seems obvious to us.
I'm not saying that any of this justifies what happened. I'm just saying that I feel for the soldiers over there who are in situations each day where they have to make a distinction between a person they have to help and a person they have to kill. The way I see it, that HAS to mess with your mind, especially if you don't have the emotional maturity to handle it. Again, not justifying anything--just pointing out that our position of comfort and safety can make it a little too easy to judge.
I suspect that the "more" to the story Azure is referring to may take the form of something like extreme stress, or sleep deprivation, or a very confusing situation. In addition to investigating the actions of the soldiers, we should be asking questions about who put them in this situation.
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