[strategofr]

"British troops in Iraq "lack the confidence to open fire" because of a "fear of prosecution", says a confidential Ministry of Defence (MoD) report seen by The Sunday Telegraph.

It confirms that soldiers believe that if they shoot dead insurgents they will become embroiled in a "protracted investigation" and if prosecuted will receive "no support from the chain of command"."

One of the greatest achievements of worldwide Russian subversion in our time. Don't think these kind of thoughts are not also on the minds of American soldiers.


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[Spktyr]

There's another aspect, too...

If I was a Brit soldier issued an L85A1 who was unable to obtain another arm, I wouldn't open fire either - because it's foolish to start a firefight with a weapon that you know is going to jam, explode, or just stop working for no apparent reason.

Even H&K can't make the L85 work reliably.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

One of the greatest achievements of worldwide Russian subversion in our time. Don't think these kind of thoughts are not also on the minds of American soldiers.

When I went through basic training in the late 1960's, the drill instructors would tell us, "shoot first, ask questions later." I recall hearing these very words in several WWII war movies.

[sheana]

Don't think these kind of thoughts are not also on the minds of American soldiers

We have already seen that in the prosecutions of some of our soldiers. My hubby (who was special forces Vietnam) has disagreed with this war for a long time. The reason? He says Iraq has turned into a "police action" not a war. Our guys are trained to fight wars not police Iraq while they try to form a government. If we had "fought" a war we would have been gone a long time ago.
I think he's right.

[Marine_Uncle]

I'll only say this. When the British elite Black Watch BN moved up north to FOB Mahmudiyah, they replace US Marines 2/2 whom my nephew was deployed with, who moved from FOB M, to camp MEK (Fallujah). The Black Watch soldiers had to pretty quickly get onboard with cordon and search/patrol operations as the Marines where doing in the AOR. As far as I remember reading during the 2004 period they where in the triangle of death area, they did damn well. They got some!
No shitting around. They had a critical MO. As US Marines congregated in the Fallujah area, town of Karma to the NE some miles preparing for the battle in Fallujah, the Black Watch made themselves proud by holding down their new AOR.
So perhaps it has something to do with a particular command, to some extent. I am not attempting to say this article is in-accurate. But at least some of our cousins across the pond did a bit of "get some", while in a very dangerous area for a couple of months. They did themselves proud.