During WWII Allied soldiers were taught how to smash jawbones while gouging eyes, crush windpipes and snap necks, and generally apply deadly force to the weakest, most vulnerable parts of the human anatomy in order to kill or disable the enemy quickly and efficiently. Current American military unarmed combat is heavily influenced by the popularity of mixed martial-arts and puts great emphasis on grappling with/controlling the enemy. Not a single neck-snapping technique is taught. Some current members of the military think that this is teaching our soldiers to die rather than kill the enemy, and that it would be better if our soldiers were taught to straight up kill the enemy rather than try to wrestle him to the ground while wearing 70+ pounds of gear. [more inside]
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey on May 10, 2010 - 121 comments

One Night in Afghanistan
THE PRESIDENT: at a time when too many American institutions have let us down, when too many institutions have put short-term gain in front of a commitment to duty and a commitment to what's right... all of you want to build -- and that is something essential about America. [Al Qaeda and the violent extremists have] got no respect for human life. You see dignity in every human being. That's part of what we value as Americans. They want to drive races and regions and religions apart. You want to bring people together and see the world move forward together. [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Apr 4, 2010 - 36 comments

In other news, let's all welcome the newest nation on our little planet, the Islamic Republic of Qaim. Newly created by the Iraqi faction of Al-Qaeda on the Iraqi side of the Iraqi-Syrian border, they're executing "collaborators" and at least one "prostitute". Their nearest neighbor's security forces -- the US Marines -- say they haven't heard anything about it.
posted by raaka on Sep 6, 2005 - 13 comments

"They were acting like bin Laden was hiding behind every door. That just wasn’t the way to be acting with civilians." According to this Newsweek article, some members of U.S. Special Forces seem to think the military's recent operations to track down Al Qaeda went a bit awry.
posted by moonbiter on Sep 30, 2002 - 13 comments

The Al-Qaeda manual on "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants," including especially instructions on how to infiltrate "godless areas" and not stand out. There's also an "assassinations" section with instructions on how to kill with a knife.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Sep 21, 2001 - 8 comments