What makes the American military unique is that murder, genocide, etc are not our strategy, tactic, or policy. In the rare instances where an American purposely murders or harms an enemy or civilian, he/she is charged and tried, while the rest of the military and the American public are disgusted. American Soldiers as murderers is a popular, but wrong, image and legacy of Vietnam, created to end the war and disparage the troops. Bad things happen, war is hell, but we hold are troops to a standard.

My Soldiers experienced IEDs and ambushes in Iraq, but did not rage out at civilians. They reacted to the attacks with battle drills and courage, and continued their mission. There were no shooting sprees, even after injury or a truck destroyed. The one mission where they actually saw the insurgents, they returned accurate and controlled fire at the individuals shooting at them, not wild bursts regardless of the surroundings.

I can't speak for others, and I am sure accidents have happened, but if any unit had a policy of shoot 'em all, they would quickly be found out, and they would fail in their mission. Soldiers who make an honest mistake need the support and counseling to ensure they don't blame themselves and live with an un-necessary inner burden.

Though not beloved by all, I am quite certain a statue of a US Soldier in Iraq (or elsewhere) would not earn a nickname similar to the often referred Eastern European Soviet Soldier statue "The Unknown Rapist." Americans are different.

Off the soapbox.