“Just like the Alamo.” Yeah, I remember the Alamo. That was when a bunch of illegal immigrents were fighting to “liberate” a big piece of Mexico because Mexico had outlawed slavery and they were afraid they might lose their investment and have to do their own work. In the end, the U.S. Government (J.K. Polk?) supported the idea of illegal settlements in foreign territory and, after illegally annexing the coveted territory, sent troops to Mexico City to explain it to them.
But I don't think the troops who shot the Iraqi civilians are necessarily monsters. After all, they are our neighbors and sons and daughters, people we used to know. It's just that their training carefully removes any inhibition against killing and erases the possibility of assigning value to human life outside their own unit. That training is to make them more effective in battle and to help protect them. The fault, in my opinion, lies with the government and military chain of command who allowed those energized killing units to be used as police.