thats jus sick man cold hearted americans if sum1 were to do that 2 ther kids and he wud hav 2 watch i wud love 2 no how he wud feel nd id love 2 c hiz facial expresion

* * *
These children are being taught/trained to EXPECT FREE HANDOUTS and these soldiers are being taught/trained to ABUSE POWER WHEN DEALING WITH SOMEONE WEAKER THAN YOU. What human behaviors and moral values are we teaching on either side?
* * *
Interesting observation - NONE OF THESE CHILDREN ARE OVERWEIGHT!
* * *

not a surprise when their commander and chief starts off the war by shooting 100 + smart bombs into Bagdahd neighborhoods to try to assasinate 1 man, without any concern about the hundreds (if not thousands) of innocent people who get killed or maimed in the process.  and so the video of our soldiers teasing kids with a water bottle is a small example of their criminally corrupt & arrogant leaders (bush-chaney) who have back-stabbed america and the rest of the world.  i’m embarrassed to be an american thanks to bush-chaney & company (haliburton, enron, carlisle, enron, etc..).  i beg God and the world to forgive america for what bush-chaney & company have done.  i’m rooting for anybody who is fighting against the bush chaney halliburton war machine.  rich kalbus, idaho, usa

it is totally sick for those who approved their actions..making fun of the children. How do u feel if other people did that to your sons & daughters??  u’ll be happy with that??
u people should be ashamed

In my opinion, All Americans who approved on what is hapenning in Iraq are the Devil of Earth. they are piece of s..t.

and they deserve all the disastors are facing and more. God will revenge

I say the videos of soldiers taking a ride through towns and randomly shooting at people is more cruel, however this is just another addition to the list of assanine things we’re paying for Bush to send young Americans to Iraq for. Gathering from the civil war that the Bush admin refuses to admit to, this aught to be proof enough that they’ve done nothing good for the people of Iraq and everything bad. Average everyday Iraqis claim to have had better lives when Saddam was in power. Sure, they had to be yes men, but according to them, at least they could be outside past 5 o’clock, they could wander through the markets with a sense of comfort, they had electricity…

Thank God Americans are waking up to what’s really going on.

Clarification on my comment # 39138:  I did not mean to imply that all people in the military have low intelligence or are insensitive.  It just seems that from my experience, the military attracts that sort of person.  I went through Air Force officer training in 1979.  I met some nice people.  My flight commander was an AF Academy graduate.  He seemed to think he was God.  He loved drill, but marching was kind of a nemesis for me.  He said to me, “You’re a college graduate, right?” implying that it took intelligence to be able to march well.  What would he say to Stephen Hawking, the quadruplegic astrophysicist who wrote a book about the universe with a stylus held in his teeth?  Of course, there was homophobia.  I am heterosexual, but bigotry offends me.  There was a weekly award for the officer trainee (OT) who had the messiest room or committed some humorous faux pas.  It was called the OT Guru Award.  Someone into transcendental meditation might find this offensive.  It would be like giving a Buddha Award to someone who couldn’t lose weight or the Jewish Award to someone who proposed a cost saving idea.

The soldiers sound like just kids themselves, they have easy access to water, they’re probably not even aware how cruel their actions were.  The idea that these kids don’t have easy access to clean,drinkable water probably didn’t even occur to them.  We really need to get our guys out of there, we are making things worse and not better.

oh comon, their just having a little fun. maybe iraq should get indoor plumbing, then the kids wont have to chase the americans..

This may have seemed heartless to some and may have been over done by the soldiers taking the video.

You know why the kids were chasing the truck because they thought they might get something.  They obviously didn’t feel afraid of the Americans.  They weren’t angry with the Americans.  They knew there was a chance to get something from the them.  The kid ran after the truck, it didn’t hurt him to run after the truck in anyway. 

I’ve been in convoys where soldiers brought candy and treats and other items to throw out to kids as they drove by. 

Take it for what it was.  It is not this horrible video of horrible people tantilizing any kid any where.  It can be unsafe but what isn’t in life and I can only imagine in a war zone.

I guess people have to have been in a situation to understand it. Videos, tv and words don’t really mean a whole lot if you can’t understand the circumstances behind them. 

Oh well what can you say.

To “DISGUSTED” concerning his 11-23-06 response to my comment dated the same.

1. “Disgusted” does not have the courage or integrity to reveal his name. I, on the other hand, don’t hide behind pseudonyms. So who is a ‘punk’ and who needs to resort to expletives?

2. He wants me to prove my statement. I can’t because these new items seldom make it to the mainstream media and if they do surface briefly in the semi-mainstream, they seem so quickly to be withdrawn and then ‘classified’ (as 90% 0f the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib photographs are!)

3. But do look at the comment of Sharon Ash (11-22), Paul Dorn (11-21) and Tim (11-22). They seem to know things first hand and seem to support my statement.

Inayat Lalani

unfortunatly all they teach soldiers is how to kill, you wish they would also teach them how to win hearts…

Some simple questions..
Wcant some humans let other humans live peacefully?
Is it so hard to actually be kind to a kid?
Is it so funny so see a child ru desperately for water?
Is this what the war against terrorism and for the peace of mankind is all about???
WHY IS THE WHOLE WORLD BLIND????

Comment # 39232 should get a clue. WE SHOULDN’T BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Stand in their shoes for 1/2 a day.
It is absolutly horrible what those guys did to those children.

absolutely disgusting.

Funny vid : run.. run… lol

Wow - if you reckon thats bad you’ll just die when you find out the bad s**t thats gone on over there.

Was this staged for somebody’s camera to make the US military look bad? Not that far out of an idea. The anti-US groups will do anything to make our troops look heartless. And still the Sunni and Shiite groups kill thousands of their own people.

To Inayat I. Lalani ...

You tell lies that are so transparent, so hateful that one wonders what your purpose is.

Soldiers don’t bayonet children they’ve just given candy to. Go ahead, prove your statement isn’t just more lying bull[expletive deleted].

You’re called out, punk. Own up.

What really sucked was that the kid who ran the farthest didn’t get the water.

The soldiers’ taunting of the kids in this video is unkind, and the behavior of a couple of jerks, but it is not the hideous and criminal behavior most of those who are writing make it out to be. The US invasion of Iraq is a mess, and certain actions taken like Abu Graib and the rape and murder that took place make me ashamed to be an American. The US, however, is trying to punish the guilty, even with life in prison. And the US removed a mass-murdering dictator from Iraq and began, at least, to give a Muslim country its freedom. But the people of Iraq, inspired by many of the kind who are writing comment here, cannot govern themselves. They can only be governed by a dictator like Sadaam. The Sunni and the Shiites are killing each other. That should have been anticipated. Al qaida targets innocent people around the world and now wants Iraq, and so American must stay. American troops don’t belong on the ground in the middle east. It only leads to the kind of trouble we are seeing now, and Bush is a poor leader, but the US has been the greatest force in the world for human rights and free people. The US has defended many nations at its own expense, and dedicated itself to doing so for decades. Europe, middle eastern countries, etc, have stood by and waited. So now the US has made a bad decision, and they complain. Where were these countries when Hitler and the Soviet Union had to be stood up to. They did nothing. Take the US out of history and most people would be suffering under tyrants like Hitler, Mussolini, the Soviets, etc. The US has helped defend and liberate Muslim countries like Afghanistan too, but it obviously never should have gotten into Iraq.
The soliders in the video should be reprimanded, and the Sunnis and Shiites should learn to live together, so that Iraq can have a decent future. That is what the US wants.

NO COMMENTS!!!!!

I’ve been overseas,
Kids always chase after US servicemen.
why do they not fear US Servicemen ?
The kids of all the medeterrian countries do this in hopes of getting treats. Same goes for adults.

War breeds f**kheads.

This is nothing. Earlier in the war, a bunch of ‘coalition’ soldiers staged for the nearby CBS (or was it CNN or Fox?)filming crew, an episode where the GIs distributed candies to the Iraqi children (in Fallujah, I believe it was) and after the crew left (or quit filming), they bayoneted the same children. All American public saw was the nice American boys in uniform showing their innate goodness toward humanity and all the parents (or the ones left alive) got were the corpses of tender-age babies to bury.
So there has been some mellowing of the hatred spawned by the hateful rhetoric of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Sanchez, Geoffrey etc. afterall! Maybe, in fifteen years, the US Military will actualy be sharing Thanksgiving turkey with the kids (Ha! Ha! Ha!)
Inayat Lalani

Heiderose, thank you very much!

You see, americans does not know how it feels to have an army from another country occupying “their” land. They almost fooled some of us when they faked the 9/11 atrocities and we thought a partial army carried out the attacks. Some of us was on the verge of feeling what you may have felt when you wrote this poem.

Americans can not be inspired to relate to your poem on the same level you were. We can feel sympathy and we can be moved to tears for what happened to you and the the children in this video. Until america is faced with similar mayhem, I’m afraid those privileged among us just won’t get it.

Your poem is confirmation that my actions to boycott that country by leaving was a good decision. Thank you!

This sort of conduct is yet another disgrace for the United States military.  This conduct flies in the face of US policy allegedly to help build a democratic and free society in Iraq.  I am ashamed of the soldiers who taunted these desperate and innocent children in a nation ripped asunder by US policy that was - fabricated on lies - built with bombs - then the nation was reduced to rubble and massacred with over 600,000 corpses since the invasion.  These men should be disciplined and re-trained before being reposted to the red zones of Anwar province.

So this is what people from a civilised “FIRST” world behave like.....mmmmm.....very good morals. I see the education from the parents and the state is doing the kids of the west real good.....NOT !

May Allah (God) have mercy on these children for being cought in the middle of this war.  And may Allah (God) guide those who do wrong.

Heiderose
Thanks for sharing that.

They are sick.

That’s great.  I’d like to hea more about it.

We need some showing their dads and uncles sawing the heads off US contractors! Good propaganda value either way.

How symbolic.

I bet these guys find torturing animals an amusing way to pass the time too.

And I guess they took the video so they could pass it around to show their buddies how FUNNY it was that some poor Iraqi kid was willing to run for blocks and blocks to get a bottle of water.

You can bet that the video has been distributed - not on American stations, though, but in parts of the world where they don’t really need another reason to hate.

Has it not been said that the invasion is what fed the insurgency and extremism, strengthening Al-Qaeda? Was this not said before the invasion? Were we not warned? Now the insurgency has said that they will continue the fight until the banner of Islam flies over the White House. And these are the ones representing us to the insurgents.

Absolutely, utterly appalling.  Why don’t clips like this end up on ABC, CBS and NBC primetime news???

When your job training includes the question “What makes the green grass grow?” and the answer is “Bright red blood, sir.”, you are already headed down the road to insanity.  On that road, you lose respect for yourself and for others.  Please support the formation of a U.S. Department of Peace and Non-violence so we can begin to try, as a nation, to move toward more sane behaviors.

I remember running after US Army convoys as a child in postwar Germany in the hopes of getting a little treat. I even wrote a poem about it years later for an English creative writing course:

First Meeting

A child I was
happy-go-lacking a past,
flying braided hair
--my father’s pride--
and times were hard
--so I was told--
but I did not know it
then.

Dreaming of wealth
meant chicken on Sundays,
a bathroom with tub
and running warm water,
and maybe some candy…
no, one stick of gum
--I never had any--
at least once a month.

The rumble of green-nosed
trucks in the noon-air,
the hungry bite
of quarrelsome tanks,
scattered on Mainstreet
scandalized sparrows,
and Greber’s gray cat
gave up the hunt.

The children’s cry:
“Die Amis kommen!” (the Amerians are coming)
paired hopeful young eyes
impatiently scanning
the gray-gleaming promise
of tremorous road.

In the rising cloud of
dust, noise, exhaust fumes
we danced and chanted,
smiled and waved,
prostituted innocence
for Hershey bars
and Wriggley’s gum,
tomato juice
in 4 oz cans.

Drunken with treasures
greedily gathered
I sauntered home,
maybe thought of God,
But mostly of Mother:
her thin-lipped anger
silenced all welcome
and the strange sweetness
strangled my mouth.

Locked in my room
with a freshly-trimmed pencil
five sheets of paper
and a pain-purpled cheek
“Wir sind nicht Bettler” (we are not beggars)
she wanted it written
one hundred times
--and it better be neat.

Boys will be boys.  Sounded like there might have been a girl’s voice in there too.  No matter.  This is occupation, baby!

This is appaling and disgusting -where is the proof that these bloody soldiers are doing ‘work’. If this is what they are getting paid for - then one could only imagine what they do behind the screen. Its no wonder there has been reports of females being raped, sons and husbands being locked away and its all thanks to these imature - undeveloped (IN MIND AND BODY) young idiots who need to go back to school.
This should be a message for everyone that these soldiers are doing absolutely NOTHING! They are nin no way protecting our freedom -how can that be when they are abusing anothers. Two wrongs dont make a right.

maybe the kids threw rocks at the soldiers and you all didn’t see that part..  I’ve been there and some of those people hate us and all you get is trouble every time you go out

The video is sick, and what’s also sick is to read the comments attached to the video on the YouTube site. It’s about 50-50 between people who find the soldiers’ behaviour appalling and those who think it’s humourous, and curse at the posters who object to it. There are SO MANY twisted, rotting souls in the U.S. Glad I’m outta there.

this is crazy may Allah make those sleazy soldiers pay for doing this. really the American soldiers are very heartless beasts and they’ll pay for this in this world remember what goes around comes around. May ALLAH(S.W.T) MAKE THE IRAQI BROTHERS AND SISTERS STRONG.

The video is horrible, but your written commentary, “a pack of children,” is also shocking.
Animals run in packs, not children.  You could have said a gang of children, a bunch of children, a group of children, but a pack...No

I haven’t seen such a pigs like US military, i dont think the Al queda does anything like this pigs did.  The US military is a lustfull pigs who want to satisfy their desires by raping the women and even children were not spared, only when they occupied iraq we came to know the truth about US army, only god knows what they did for so many years.  Now they want to attack Iran with the pretext of nuclear arsenal, whereas they turn a blind eye to israel who is the real threat to the world peace, how come iran or iraq are a threat to America when there arsenal can never reach the US, all this is a game of a dirty country who always occupied other lands just to plunder the wealth. Imagine the palestanians are suffering at the oppressors and now their time is coming to an end, as they lost to hezbollah in lebanon and acheived nothing except the devastation to the innocent civilians, even America will come down, when the british colonisers came down i was not in the world, now iam alive to see the devastation of America and Israel and the supporters of these countries

Again, I don’t blame these soldiers as appalling as their behavior was. It all would never have happened if Bush had not lied, faked evidence and taken us into an unnecessary, immoral, vile and criminal war on the innocent Iraqi. What the soldiers did is what soldiers always do in war going back to before the dawn of history, but it was Bush’s choice to take us to war. Bush is the one who is most guilty.

When that Iraqi kid straps on a semtex-filled backpack takes out a hundred or more of his “foreign aggressors” then those worthless chicken-shit american soldiers might sing a different tune.  Probably not, but we can always hope.  And I hope it happens tomorrow.

These idiots should be subject to courts martial.

This video confirms what I’ve said on my blog and elsewhere: The biggest group of armed killers, rapists, thieves, torturers, and abusers in Iraq is not Al Quaeda, “insurgents”, or the various militias. The biggest gang of killers is the U.S. Military. The U.S. is doing NOTHING positive in Iraq. It’s time to withdraw now.

This makes you want to cry.  You don’t treat people this way..just for a laugh!

I’ve been in the military, and take my word for it, the military DOES NOT want people who think.  If you think, you start to question what the hell you’re doing.  The military just wants you to buy in to mindless slogans like winning the hearts and minds, stopping the spread of communism, protecting our freedom, etc., etc.  Whether it’s taunting Iraqi children with a bottle of water or dropping bombs on Hanoi, the enemy is regarded as less than human, and justified as being exterminated like vermin.

Typical of teenagers without adult supervision. Hmm, so is the entire conduct of the invasion and occupation. Try finding a grownup when you need one.

You’re right; appalling.

In the USA, we refer to this as “douche bag, frat-boy behavior.” Poor little kid.  He ran like Forrest Gump after that convoy.  Maybe he wanted the water, maybe he thought the vehicle was cool, or maybe… ah, who knows.  This does give me one good idea that I’m gonna pitch to Fox television:  Reality TV, in Iraq!  We’ll use these guys with the water bottle and say they’re from Lamda Lamda Guy, we’ll find some female soldier who wants to be a country music star, a married couple serving together (got to keep the family values onscreen),
and a peace-loving hippie soldier who they regularly rip on for comic relief.  Sound good?  It will no doubt be as funny as watching some kid, who probably used to have a home and clean running water, run like hell after these troglodyte, jerk-offs in the truck.