Whenever concerns are expressed over civilian casualties inflicted in Israeli military operations, the country's generals and political leaders are quick to insist that theirs is the "world's most moral army." That claim was challenged by human rights observers over Israel's recent offensive in Gaza, although such criticism is reflexively dismissed by Israel as driven by pro-Palestinian bias. But when the allegations of abuses come from Israeli soldiers involved in the fighting, they can't be as easily dismissed.
Six Israeli soldiers made their claims in an address last month to cadets of the Yitzhak Rabin military academy, of which they are graduates. Among other claims, the soldiers alleged that an Israeli sniper had shot a woman and her two children who walked in the wrong direction after being ordered out of their home by Israeli troops. In a second incident, a sniper supposedly killed an unarmed elderly woman who posed no apparent threat to Israeli troops. And the soldiers ascribed these incidents to overly permissive rules of engagement. END
These cowardly acts are not confined to the Israeli military. For every cowardly Israeli sniper there are ten in the US military. You give a coward a gun, train them how to shoot it, and they will find a reason to do so. A scumbag who accepts a sniper position has an almost overwhelming desire to test his or her skills since they shoot from cover and at a distance. It is extremely easy to be brave from a distance. It's a cowardly job and no one is more dangerous than a coward.
When I was at Ft. Bragg, there was a guy who just couldn't let a day go by that he didn't start bragging about his many kills. One morning I decided to find out just how good or bad the jerk was. I didn't have to wait long for him to walk into my trap--when he shut his mouth long enough to catch a breath of air, I said, "I think you're a lying punk, a coward, and I'm going to prove it or die trying." I handed him a brand new Buck #110 knife just like the one I carry. I like knives because you have to get close enough to smell a guy's breath to cut him up or be cut up. As I suspected, this sniper was only brave when he was hiding and his intended victim was 200 yards away.
Florence, Alabama writer,
Bobby W. Miller
