U.S. Troops Fire on Iraq Protesters Again

[The Mad Monk]

Yes.

[MarkG]

The Value Of Life Ladder
-------------------------------
American Soldier
American Civilian
Everybody else

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Yes.

What do you think of things like Bloody Sunday (1972)?

[MarkG]

He who has the weapon is right - Sun Tzu

[The Mad Monk]

I do not know anything about Bloody Sunday, really.

[The Mad Monk]

Of course, the White House scenario is unlikely as we do have people there trained to identify potentially dangerous people, and snipers to deal with them if the threat proves to be real.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Of course, if they don´t protest there is less chance they are getting shot at.

But protesting is one of the rights People in a Democracy are supposed to have (and I think it wasn´t forbidden by the US-Troops).

What would you say if you have a large demonstration in the USA for example in Front of the White House and there are a couple of Soldiers guarding the White House. Now someone within the crowd fires a shot and, as a result, the Soldiers open fire at the Crowd. The Result are 10-20 dead unarmed civilians and maybe 100 wounded.

Would you, in this case, still say that the Soldiers had done the right thing, because, if they had first tried to discover the gunner within the crowd, they had put their own lives at risk?

In the 1920s that did happen. I think it was Hoover, who order the Army to stop the Veteran of WW I protesting the lost of fringe benefits. They shot several vets before things calm down. Is this the black Sunday someone was talking about, or was it Kent State?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Hoover was the President, MacArthur the chief of staff, and Patton the commander who actually carried out the attacks, which included the use of six tanks. Both MacArthur and Patton decided to conveniently deny there could be any actual veterans there, they were just "communist agitators."

The "bonus marchers" were not in the process of protesting, or doing much else, but they were embarassing in the early depression era, as they were camping and squatting in abandoned houses, abandoned industrial buildings, public parks, etc., all in the nation's capital. A majority of them were there with their families, as they, like millions of others, were homeless and jobless.

Quite a few were killed, and many more seriously injured - injuries were in the hundreds, but the exact number of fatalities is not known, but probably several dozen.

[LoneWolf]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Of course, if they don´t protest there is less chance they are getting shot at.

But protesting is one of the rights People in a Democracy are supposed to have (and I think it wasn´t forbidden by the US-Troops).

What would you say if you have a large demonstration in the USA for example in Front of the White House and there are a couple of Soldiers guarding the White House. Now someone within the crowd fires a shot and, as a result, the Soldiers open fire at the Crowd. The Result are 10-20 dead unarmed civilians and maybe 100 wounded.

Would you, in this case, still say that the Soldiers had done the right thing, because, if they had first tried to discover the gunner within the crowd, they had put their own lives at risk?

Yes again, and can I bring you some more ammo?