However--and I know this isn't really new or news--read the excerpt below from the extraordinary piece written by David Finkel, the author of
The Good Soldiers in which he describes the events of July 12, 2007 in Baghdad. I'm not saying that the killings were in any way motivated by revenge, but when you read the reaction of one soldier, Jay March, it's not much of a stretch to extrapolate that way of thinking to some of the others. So, it's not just "the other guys" who spiral down the path of endless vengeful murderous intent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040601368_pf.htmlAnd then they flew on to another part of Al-Amin as more and more Bravo Company soldiers arrived, one of whom was Jay March, the soldier who on the battalion's very first day in Iraq had climbed a guard tower, peeked out at all of the trash, and said quietly and nervously, "We ain't ever gonna be able to find an IED in all this ..."
Since then, March had learned how prophetic he was, especially on June 25, when an EFP killed his friend Andre Craig, Jr. Craig's memorial service had been on July 7, and now, five days later, as March saw all of the bodies scattered around, blown open, insides exposed, so gruesome, so grotesque, he felt--as he would later explain--"happy. It was weird. I was just really very happy. I remember feeling so happy. When I heard they were engaging, when I heard there's thirteen KIA, I was just so happy, because Craig had just died, and it felt like, you know, we got 'em."
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