Faced with dwindling numbers of recruits, the Pentagon made the canny decision to maximize the fighting effectiveness of troops by encouraging blood lust - the less restrained, the better. For example, when Marine Lt. Ilario Pantano wantonly killed two unarmed prisoners, he was in such a heat that he emptied his pistol, reloaded it, and emptied his pistol a second time. He then left a note on the corpses, "No better friend; no worse enemy."
Pantano was court-martialed for this double homicide because there was
zero justification for it. However, the Marines and their admirers throughout the United States rallied behind this murderer because after all, he was in a killing heat at the time. Pantano's case became a cause celebre, and his acquittal was hailed as the triumph of justice. Pantano retired from the Marine Corps and became something of a celebrity in the area around Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He is now running for Congress on what might be called a blood lust platform.
http://www.pantanoforcongress.com/We don't see the Pentagon memos discussing the decision to encourage blood lust, but we certainly see the
effects. Crimes against civilians - especially homicides - are routinely covered up. The recently-revealed Wikileaks video allows us access to the mentality of the murderer. These guys clearly enjoy what they're doing; in fact the tape shows one trigger-happy gunner pleading for permission to do some more killing.
We are allowing homicide as a deliberate policy. This is the face we show to the world. The Marines at Falluja or at Haditha were not operating in our interest at all. If they accomplish anything, it's to encourage an extreme reaction against a people that allows, even
encourages latter-day My Lai massacres. We're making this choice today when we refuse to prosecute murderers.