While I don't disagree at all on the broad points you are making there is definitely some nuance there.
I personally believe that the US military is an outlier in terms of it's professionalism, but it's not completely and uniformly professional, there are lots of people coerced in to joining to avoid jail time and what not. Many standards were lowered to increase recruitment during Iraq war. Recruitment targets disadvantaged communities, etc. But I tend to think that there are other forces countering ill-discipline such as training, esprit de corps, "fighting for the guy next to you." I don't know about the disposition of the Russian military but am skeptical of the notion that it's a rag tag bunch of drunks and fuckups :) I guess time will tell.
As for the excessive violence in Iraq. A lot of the excesses came directly from the top. Shock and awe was apparently a fireworks display with no military rationale. It was violence purely for entertainment value and how it would look on TV. It doesn't seem comparable to the Russian approach which, while everything they do is a war crime, they still need to be conscious of all the international scrutiny they face. I don't think they would be able to start levelling neighbourhoods from the air while boasting about how it would terrorize the population without facing severe condemnation from all sides. Shock and awe was condemned by all sides, but the US seemed completely immune to it and carried on regardless. By all accounts, the distrust built up by the acts of terrorism turned Iraqis quickly against the invasion and made the occupation much more costly than it would have been otherwise (of course, other factors contributed hugely, eg. the corruption and incompetence of the CPA, etc.).
While I agree on the race and culture thing, it's also hard to ignore the fact that a large US political movement is committed to wiping out or overpowering roughly half of their own population based on their political beliefs. The events of January 6 should really have opened up peoples eyes to this. We are quite capable of dehumanizing people of the same race. We've been doing it for as far back as the fossil record goes.
I personally believe that the US military is an outlier in terms of it's professionalism, but it's not completely and uniformly professional, there are lots of people coerced in to joining to avoid jail time and what not. Many standards were lowered to increase recruitment during Iraq war. Recruitment targets disadvantaged communities, etc. But I tend to think that there are other forces countering ill-discipline such as training, esprit de corps, "fighting for the guy next to you." I don't know about the disposition of the Russian military but am skeptical of the notion that it's a rag tag bunch of drunks and fuckups :) I guess time will tell.
As for the excessive violence in Iraq. A lot of the excesses came directly from the top. Shock and awe was apparently a fireworks display with no military rationale. It was violence purely for entertainment value and how it would look on TV. It doesn't seem comparable to the Russian approach which, while everything they do is a war crime, they still need to be conscious of all the international scrutiny they face. I don't think they would be able to start levelling neighbourhoods from the air while boasting about how it would terrorize the population without facing severe condemnation from all sides. Shock and awe was condemned by all sides, but the US seemed completely immune to it and carried on regardless. By all accounts, the distrust built up by the acts of terrorism turned Iraqis quickly against the invasion and made the occupation much more costly than it would have been otherwise (of course, other factors contributed hugely, eg. the corruption and incompetence of the CPA, etc.).
While I agree on the race and culture thing, it's also hard to ignore the fact that a large US political movement is committed to wiping out or overpowering roughly half of their own population based on their political beliefs. The events of January 6 should really have opened up peoples eyes to this. We are quite capable of dehumanizing people of the same race. We've been doing it for as far back as the fossil record goes.
Edit: fixed grammar/brainfarts.