by James Glaser
November 22, 2005

It has been reported that 2,092 American troops have been killed in Iraq so far in this war, but in all reality, many more have lost the life they had. Every Soldier or Marine, who has either accidentally or purposely killed an Iraqi civilian, will live with that for the rest of his or her life, and it will cost them and their loved ones. Guilt makes you pay a terrible price.

For some of these American troops, it will take time for the guilt to start sinking in, while for others, it starts as soon as they see the exploded bloody body of the child they have killed.

Even today there are American veterans from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, seeking help from the Veteran's Administration, because they can no longer cope with the guilt they have been carrying for all these years. The sights, sounds, and the blood stay vivid in a veteran's mind, and without help and understanding, many live with those images on a daily bases until they die.

Yesterday, troops from the U.S. Army's 3rd Division opened fire on a minivan north of Baghdad and killed either three or five innocent civilians depending on whose report you believe. Either way, the 3rd Division confirmed that innocent civilians, including children, were killed and wounded.

Major Steve Warren, a spokesman for US Forces said, "This is a tragedy." One of the survivors told a Reuters correspondent, "We felt the bullets hitting the car from behind and from the front, Heads were blown off. One child had his hand shot off."

Now this is not an isolated case, nor are incidents like this something new in Iraq. Killing innocent civilians happens in every war. When the troops from the 3rd Division, who shot these innocent Iraqis got to see what they had done, the horror and images of what happened to the inside of that van, were etched in each soldier's mind. Each of them will handle this accident/crime in their own way, but each of them will have to live with the memory and do something with it.

Not every shooting is as bad as this one. This one not only had the images of those that died, but also wounded women and children screaming, and the blood of those still living pumping out of their bodies. So, some of our troops would have had to administer first aid, and that adds a whole new indelible dimension to the memory.

Incidents like this are happening all over Iraq, because our troops are being hit with suicide "car bombs." Iraqi insurgents are driving cars loaded with explosives into American convoys, our troops are on edge, and not taking any chances. Because of that, any civilian vehicle that comes too close to an American unit is asking for trouble.

Every day, American troops have to make split second decisions about defending themselves, and the more American troops killed and wounded, the more innocent Iraqis will be killed too. But there is a price to pay for this type of security for our troops. Every time an innocent civilian is killed, every American involved in that killing will have to pay a life-time of guilt. Oh, many can blow it off for a while, and a few will be able to rationalize that it is just part of war, but sometime, after you lose the support of those who were with you, those images, sounds, and that red blood will come back and get you.