[cyborg]

You got that right. Jitters is no excuse for blowing innocent people away. You signed up for the military, take military lumps. What would these jittery soldiers do in WW2 or a Vietnamese POW tiger cage? Sheesh...

[Terriergal]

OK that's fine, but sitting here in our cushy living rooms and armchair quarterbacking doesn't help their morale NOR give them the tools/education they need to fix/prevent any further incidents. If you're complaining about morale then don't harp and make it worse. I'm betting they're already in serious trouble for it, especially if they did not follow procedure. However if the family was out after curfew, I'm betting they were. And if they really feared being out after curfew I wouldn't be silly enough to speed through the streets trying to get home, I'd either take shelter or just before curfew seek some help FROM the soldiers in getting home. Anything but racing through the streets looking suspicious.

[anymouse]

Apparently the "innocent" Iraqies violated curfew and suffered the consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm sure more than a few civilians in past wars likewise found out the hard way that Martial Law is inflexible when it comes to enforcing curfews.