Marine accused of killing 24 Iraqis in Haditha makes plea deal

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

100. The purpose of that question

was to urge you to consider what a soldier must face--kill another human being. For many soldiers, that consideration was the split second that killed him. I am not Rambozo, it would probably kill me too.

Dehumanizing the enemy--In an effort to pretend that we are civilized, that term is viewed as a negative connotation. "Humanitarian war" is another way we try fool ourselves, when we send our young people off to the battlefield. The arm-chair generals have empathy, sympathy, kindness and care as the bid them farewell.

But when these young people step onto the battlefield of reality, a humanitarian war, is no more.

Dehumanization--I will try to do this without offending anyone--during wars of the not so distant past, we dehumanized, we had Krauts, etc. as our enemies. Dehumanization is a psychological process whereby opponents view each other as less than human. If you don’t see a human being in your rifle's site, you do not hesitate to kill him.

I don't like to pretend--a fake humanitarian civilization is an insult to humanity.