Our nation’s record for treatment of “enemies” is notable and commendable for its bloodlessness.

In the notorious heydays of atrocity by the likes of Nazi Germany, the Stalinist Soviet Union and Japanese military forces in the 1930s and early 1940s, there was a grisly parody on the popular tune “Wake the Town and Tell the People.”

American forces familiar with the death camps, the Malmedy massacre, the gulags and such horrible events as the Bataan Death March and the Rape of Nanking amended that to: “Wake the Town and Kill the People.” How often that happened to countless innocents before and during World War II.

That, praise the heavens, is not standard procedure for United States forces. To be sure, we have had our My Lai massacres and the killings at Wounded Knee. But far more often, Americans are not bent on taking territory and obliterating every living thing.

Consider the current war effort in Iraq. Have American, British and Australian troops taken over territory and engaged in bloodbaths? Many members of our forces, young and old, are amazed at how contained Iraqis, so familiar with the violence of Saddam Hussein, have been found cowering and expecting to be slaughtered.

Example: In Baghdad the other day, Gunnery Sgt. Craig Lawrence, 41, a Marine platoon leader, sat in the gun turret of his armored vehicle as a crowd milled around him. He laughed, he said, as one looter took a bottle of Scotch whisky and presented it to the American.

“I’ve been training for 20 years,” he said with a surprised laugh. “But we never trained for this.” Foreign as it might seem to a warrior, that is often our demeanor.

There have been glitches, such as the U.S. soldier who erroneously installed an American flag over the face of a Saddam statue about to be toppled. That doubtless was a surge of enthusiasm and elation, something akin to college basketball champions cutting down nets. Whoever was in charge quickly amended the situation and an Iraqi flag wrapped the statue like a scarf as it fell.

Americans, and any of the coalition forces, do not want to give the image of conquerors intent on taking over. They want people to realize they are doing their jobs on behalf of freedom and that they have no visions of imperialism. They want to come home as soon as they can.

By and large, American forces throughout history have been much more compassionate than many of their foreign counterparts. Our history does not include taking over towns and dispatching everyone who might be opposed. We take prisoners, we give people opportunities to surrender and then quite often we do much to help their recovery.

We have our critics, at home and abroad, and a number of their complaints and criticisms are valid and should be pondered. But the elated crowds that met coalition forces in Baghdad and other Iraq communities speak volumes.

The road ahead will be bumpy and it could be longer than we would like. There will be more deaths of troops and innocents and that is a horrible thing to accept. Yet Americans can take great pride in the fact their nation has a record for humane treatment of people in militarily targeted territories.