For those of us with longer memories, it is difficult to forget what happened in "My Lai"(1968).
The atrocities carried out by a few, tarnished the name of the US army, not helped by the apparent whitewash during the investigation into this incident, and the subsequent pardon for Lt. Calley, by Nixon.
All concerned in the Iraq conflict would do well to remember the words of General MacArthur, during the Second World War.
"The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and the unarmed."