The next time someone goes on about all the good work the U.S. army is doing in Iraq, show them this:



Those Iraqi children are like dogs to those U.S. soldiers.

I'm sure the excuse for this would be 'bad apples', stressed soldiers, boredom, they didn't mean anything, etc. etc. That might all be true - but the Occupation isn't an evil plot. It's domination, a power imbalance. The Americans have everything, the Iraqis have nothing, such that even a water bottle becomes a tool of oppression.

I don't think all U.S. soldiers are evil - though there are, undoubtedly, psychopaths and white supremacists in uniform who would fit that bill. The point is, it doesn't matter how friendly or vindictive the troops are; in an occupation, civilians are going to be taunted, arrested and worse simply through the daily exercise of power.