artbrooks, I have been told by veterans that incidents like My Lai are not as uncommon as we are led to believe, in all wars.

I have also read reports from veterans of Iraq that sometimes soldiers will decide they want to shoot somebody just walking along the road, and they'll do it, and then put a shovel in the dead person's hands and say that person was digging a hole for an IED. I read from more than one veteran that this is done.

And we know for a fact that contractors employed by the US government in countries like Iraq are not only targeting civilians, some of them have even stated as a part of their mission the objective of killing as many Muslims as possible, and they make no distinction between men, women, or children, or combatants and non-combatants. They're killing for Christ. You may choose to separate those kinds of killings from those committed by the military, but it is all being done on behalf of the US government, and in our names. So you are trying to create a false distinction between the "terrorists" and us.