Winter Soldier: Review of Major Sections

Name Instructor Course Date Book Critique - Winter Soldier Aaron Glantz published the book Winter Soldier, Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations in the year 2008. The book explains the views of several US veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan civilians, and active duty soldiers regarding the war between the US and Iraq and Afghanistan. The war between the US and Afghanistan started after the 9/11 attack that resulted into the deaths of several people. Al Qaeda collaborated with Taliban in the war against the US and they based in Afghanistan. The group was started to strengthen the fight between Muslims and the Soviet Union. However, the war between the US and Iraq started when Saddam Hussein who Iraq president by then was accused of making destructive weapons and selling them to terrorists. Glantz wrote the book to show the views of various US veterans regarding the war that occurred between their country and Iraq and Afghanistan to prove whether it was for a true course. The historical issues that the author addresses in the book include the fight between Muslims and the Soviet Union and the war between the US and other countries that manufacture destructive weapons and harbor terrorists. The book contributes to the field of veteran affairs in that it explains why the soldiers still demand compensations from the government that it promised them and their dependants after the war. Also, the book expounds that the current war is likely to occur as a result of the action of some leaders who intend to pursue their own interests. For instance, Bush declared war on Hussein without any prove of the accusations and commanded soldiers to go to the war without questioning. Therefore, the work tries to explain what the infantry actually did in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war based on the accounts made by various soldiers in the book and their lives after the war. Review of Major Sections Rules of Engagement The veterans who were deployed to the wars describe that the rules of engagement were loosely enforced, contradictory, and kept on changing as well as restrictive as soldiers were not allowed to question them. However, as the number of casualties increased, the rules were made more lenient because the soldiers were becoming angry of watching their friends blown up and killed (Glantz 12). The servicemen and women were taught the rules during training. Contrarily, the rules that were given to them when they were deployed were different and more specific. The rules dictated what they were permitted to do and what they were not allowed to engage in (Glantz 13). In some circumstances, the marine shot innocent civilians knowingly and the cases were never reported (Glantz 19). The soldiers were unable to identify the Iraqis army that decided to live the normal life of civilians after their troops were defeated. The Iraqis wore civilian cloths and lived in the same apartments with the innocent public with their families. Hence, the soldiers killed some civilians knowingly in the process of hunting the Iraqis down. Racism The military started ‘’Equal Opportunity’’ program which washed away discrimination and inequality among the soldiers. The soldiers were taken to mandatory classes where every unit was assigned an EO ...