James Ashcroft
Auteur van Making a Killing: The Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq
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Werken van James Ashcroft
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- male
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 3
- Leden
- 65
- Populariteit
- #261,994
- Waardering
- 4.1
- Besprekingen
- 2
- ISBNs
- 8
A couple of people have criticised the book for being critical of the US army. They are probably referring to passages like the following:
“Unlike the Brits mounting occupation and peacekeeping duties, the US troops in Iraq, especially Baghdad in late 2003 and through 2004, were the same guys who fought their way in. The poor sods in the 3rd Infantry Division had a combat mindset not in any sense conducive to peacekeeping. As for their anti-ambush drills, they had to be seen to be believed. Every weapon in the convoy unloaded in a 360 degree arc into anything that moved… dogs, donkeys, taxis, children, buses, private contractors, you name it, it got some. They would be leaving this country without making a single friend. A pity, because, as I was to learn, the Iraqis are the friendliest Arabs in the world.
"The highest scoring killer of private security contractors up until then was, of course, the United States Army, seconded by the terrorists, but only when catching stray terrorist fire because they were driving along in traffic mingled with a US patrol.”
But at the same time he takes the opportunity at various moments to praise the US army as well, insisting that for every time they shot up a neighbourhood, there were many more times when they resisted the temptation to do so which tended to get lost in all the bad news because "'American Soldier Doesn't Shoot Mosque' doesn't make a good headline" and "I now had the utmost respect for all of them." Still, sometimes this praise seems almost like a disclaimer inserted to the narrative as a precursor to relating some incident that may not go down too well with those who may get upset with unflattering portrayals of the US military. For example, the headline comments are part of a segment that shows up just before he relates a conversation with some American officers in which he trashes their rather simplistic views about why they are in Iraq and then offers his own thoughts on the matter (Hint: nothing to do with WMD or Al-Qaeda).… (meer)