US troops' anguish: Killing outmatched foes

For example, Iraqis repeatedly attempted to block roads using vehicles buttressed with loose sand. US forces either blew up the vehicles or drove around them. "They're getting ... spanked again and it seems like they haven't learned anything," says Capt. Kathy Cage, a signals officer with the 3rd Infantry.

As the 3rd Infantry quickly advanced north along the Euphrates and west toward the capital, some soldiers began to describe the battles as almost disturbingly unfair.

"At the Karbala Gap the Iraqis put up a good fight, but to no avail because we had the firepower. It was way too easy," says Staff Sgt. Ira Mack, who serves at the headquarters of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team. US commanders had expected heavier fighting and the possible use of Iraqi chemical weapons as the 3rd Infantry traversed the narrow gap, a stretch of land between the Euphrates River and the Razzaza Lake.

Earlier, in a battle to isolate Najaf, US commanders called for airstrikes partly out of an aversion to mowing down Iraqis with direct fire.

"There were waves and waves of people coming at them, with AK-47s, out of this factory, and they were killing everyone," says Lieutenant Colonel Radcliffe. "The commander called and said, 'This is not right. This is insane. Let's hit the factory with close air support and take them out all at once.'"

For some soldiers, trauma is already sinking in. "For lack of a better word, I feel almost guilty about the massacre," says one soldier privately. "We wasted a lot of people. It makes you wonder how many were innocent. It takes away some of the pride. We won, but at what cost?"

Adding to the potential for post-war trauma, some officers suggest, is the fact that many of the 3rd Infantry Division's troops are barely 20 years old.

"The average soldier now is 19 to 21 years old," says Sergeant Mack. "You have 21-year-old sergeants. They're not experienced enough to maintain control over themselves or their soldiers in the heat of the battle. They're just two years off the streets. We have WIAs [Wounded In Action] wearing Purple Hearts who are 20 years old."

As the longest-deployed Army division in the region and the one that provided the bulk of the Army's combat power, the 3rd Infantry Division is not likely to serve as an occupying force in Iraq. Instead, it should be one of the first arriving home.

But before that, officers stress, the soldiers must have time to decompress. "The reality is, we've got a bunch of steely-eyed killers that have destroyed all the enemy forces they've come into contact with," worries Radcliffe. "The switch is on right now, and you can't just turn it off."

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