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I saw the footage too. It was well-handled by the American commanding officer. The whole thing was a misunderstanding too. The confrontation occurred several blocks away from the mosque. The local cleric had been under house arrest for several years. He wanted to come out and support the American troops, but was afraid of the Fedayeen, so he asked for an escort by the American troops. The troops started moving toward his home, which was in the direction of the mosque. The crowd mistakenly thought that our soldiers were moving in on the mosque and blocked the way. It got pretty wild. There was even footage of the cleric coming out and speaking to the crowd to try to calm them, but he got drowned out and gave up. Our guys knelt down and pointed their guns at the ground in deference. The crowd calmed and we basically walked away.

It was definitely ugly. Even though the Fox guys had already told us the situation ended peacefully when I was watching it I was thinking they plugged in the wrong footage, I was absolutely convinced a riot was gonna start. I was scared seeing it on TV with tape delay, the fact that everybody in our uniform kept their head screwed on straight is pretty amazing, I think I'd have snapped and started shooting.

Our guys knelt down and pointed their guns at the ground in deference. The crowd calmed and we basically walked away.

Actually, the crowd dynamic was more interesting than that. As the soldiers dropped to one knee, many men in the crowd sat down in a flat-footed squat in the fashion that is common in the Middle and Far East. It was a fascinating reciprocal response in body langauge.

It was a wise impromptu response by the unit that served immediately to defuse most of the hostility. On the other hand, I don't believe it should be adopted as a standard response.