h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I spent two weeks doing fake 'army' stuff for american wannabes, only the exciting part is I learn to clean all the regular old guns they keep around israeli army bases, mostly just the m16.

I'd also agree to the 'mostly harmful' bit.

'mostly harmful' is a very good description.

The M16 was designed to be a light, simple and easily maintained combat weapon and was relatively sucessful in these areas. It's selection came hand in hand with that of 5.56mm cartridges over 7.62mm Nato Standard rounds.
The smaller lighter round was chosen by the US military for 2 predominant reasons.
1. The obvious weight saving and increased numerical carrying capacity.
2. The 5.56 round was considered to cause significantly higher casualty / fatality rates than the 7.62. It was considered that the time and resources consumed by the opponent while caring for the seriously wounded would prove a significant advantage to US troops in any conflict. (It takes much more to care for an injured man than a dead one.)

Having just written this, it occurs to me again how often I'm sadly suprised by humanity's inhumanity.

The Geneva conventions actually has limitations about this, and forbids the use of ammunition of such a low caliber. This sadly failed to make M16 use less common.

Well, the US is a separate entitiy from the Geneva Convention. . .and alwasy will be (thank god)