"'We're considering all the males in this district V.C., and the people as hostile civilians,' he replied.
"The term 'hostile civilians' was a new one, invented during Operation Cedar Falls for the people in the villages that had been marked for destruction. The question of what to call these villagers was one of many semantic problems that the Army had to solve. At the scene of an evacuation, they usually used the phrase 'hostile civilians,' which hinted that all the villagers at least supported the enemy and thus all deserved to be 'relocated.' But later, at Phu Loi [the relocation camp], the officials in charge reverted to the more familiar term, 'refugees,' which suggested that the villagers were not themselves the enemy, but were 'the people,' fleeing the enemy." (p70).
[To me, this is the kind of obfuscation that good reporting should clear up. Otherwise, no one, no one, not even the actors in the operation, has to face what is going on. This saves the soldiers from facing their humanity at the time, but mostly it keeps the higher-ups who design and push the programs from ever accounting for what they have done.]
"Insurgents" is the one used these days. These are, I feel quite strongly, intentional tactics used by the military to do just what you mention - prevent soldiers from seeing their own humanity and that of their targets, so they don't cave to their own sense of decency. This is the same reason fraternization is considered a grave crime in the military. It's like you said about the "Stand and Deliver" type movies - the heart-tuggers (like "Christmas in the Trenches" and "Belleau Wood") are great entertainment, but you better not be caught in one of them.
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