This literally just occurred to me as I was thinking about it and it makes me sad. And yes, I already know about the heinous shit that went down back then that we already know of, including the use of white phosphorus.
What I mean to say is that I just realized U.S. troops were ordered to do even worse horrific shit to the Iraqi people, including murdering whole families and torturing innocent people and the like. Like the kind of stuff we know Russia has been doing to Ukrainians. Stuff that hasn’t been officially revealed yet. It’s possible our own troops have even raped innocent Iraqis, maybe even children.
I suspect Iraq vets were put under strict orders not to share the fact that they did so or to tell anyone anything they know either, which is why they can never truly recover.
Yeah, I’m not proud to be an American and I don’t think I ever will be, and not just because of Iraq though that is a big reason.
Your linked article says white phosphorous is a conventional weapon and isn’t banned or outlawed. War sucks, but this isn’t really a good argument for such an outrageous thought. Isn’t it easier to think war alone is enough to trigger PTSD? People suffer from PTSD from events significantly less traumatic events than war regularly.