Maybe it's just me but I think Siun is being a little hard on the Marines.
Yes, it's important that the Marines act honorably and take steps to reduce civilian casualties but I think that's missing the broader point. As I've said many times the U.S. Marine Corps shouldn't even be in Iraq in the first place. At least not since the initial hostilities ended.
The Marines exist as a branch of the U.S. armed forces for reason only: to destroy the armies of our enemies. Brutally, and without mercy. They are very, very good at fulfilling that charter. Probably the best organization in the world when it comes to that.
When it comes to things outside of that charter such as peacekeeping and police work the Marines are wholly out of their element. It's like trying to use an axe to slice a loaf of bread. It's not only the wrong tool for the job it's the wrong family of tools.
It's another aspect of the attempts by the administration to hide the true costs of the war and prosecute it on the cheap that they've put branches of our armed services into situations they aren't equipped nor trained for. The deaths that've occured to Iraq civilians are as much the responsibility of the civilians who made these decisions as they are the individual Marines who did the killing. You don't leave your baby with a pit-bull then complain when it gets mauled. The same formula works here.
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