Are our ROE fundementally any different to that of the US army ? as if not then these muppets who were throwing rocks and home made explosives at British troops are damn lucky they didn't end up with a 5.56 round through their head. If our Rules of Engagement are in any way similar to that of the US army then they would have been perfectly within their rights to shoot them. Would that have been better than a bit of a beating ?
The ideas pranced about by some in here are ridiculous, obviously they were poor innocent people minding their business when suddenly some evil british soldiers plucked them off the streets and administered a beating, umm ******** they were attacking the soldiers. As for some of the crying "oohh but it makes us as bad as them" no if we were as bad as them we would have paraded them around on tv and then videoed our soldiers cutting thier heads off, not given them a bit of a slapping.
The News of the world will have blood on their hands for this, all for the sake of selling a few more copies of their trashy paper, why not give the info to the MoD and then publish the story when those involved have been punished. Ahh because that would sell less papers, and the blood of our soldiers is not worth a few newspapers. I hope that the little **** who sold the footage to the NOTW has been on the recieving end of one hell of a kicking, doing something that will no doubt kill other British servicemen for money, what a shining beacon of humanity.
I would be interested to seewhat ordinary Iraqis think of this, as considering that these people who were beaten up are the ones making their lives hell, i'm not sure how bothered they would actually be, i bet a good few would think that it wasn't enough. These Insurgents are not all fighting an ideological war, especially in the south. They are Criminals, nothing more nothing less, organised gangs of armed criminals, preying on the fact that especially at this time there was no law and order, so they are not poor people fighting an evil invading force, they are criminals fighting the only thing close to a police force in Iraq at the time.
