&gt; I led a platoon in Iraq, and we did nothing of the sort.<p>I fought in Fallujah; I would be very surprised to hear from the residents that they did not feel terrorized or modify their behavior in response to our activities.  I have no doubt that you don&#x27;t see yourself in that light, but your intents mean very little to those people.<p>Putting too much weight on either perspective, the action&#x27;s originator or recipient, leads to all sorts of silliness (the concept of hate crimes, donglegate, etc).  Try to detach yourself and just consider the facts.