And there will be more days like this that make both of us angry, but it is a price that our nation must, at times, pay. Prayers must go out to their families, but before the terrorist viper is trod unto the earth, there will be more of our dead. Why didn't those soldiers use their sidearms? Did they have them? I'm not sure that they did. This is a classic Colonel Jeff Cooper situation, and I believe that the soldiers in question allowed themselves to be caught off guard. I have the suspicion that these deaths were avoidable. I would imagine that any subscriber to the BANG list would tell you that this may have been a case of poor situational awareness.
As to the Iraqis taking objects from our dead? Why should anyone be surprised? I am reminded of Peter O'Toole's famous line from Lawrence of Arabia. He was speaking to Omar Sharif, who played the Hashemite sheik. He maintained that if the Arabs failed to unite, they would remain "a little people, a silly people: greedy, barbarous, and cruel."
The Arab will remain as thus in either event. No veneer of civilization can change the nomadic, raiding nature of that culture.
Be Seeing You,
Chris