The disturbing footage of the US military in action will be excused by many conservative warmongers in one of two ways (or perhaps both). One, although the incident is unfortunate, collateral damage is inevitable, and this incident should not discredit the greater good that is the war on terror in Iraq. And two, the people killed must have been terrorists, harbored terrorists, or supported terrorists. And if none of these three, then they must know terrorists, have done business with terrorists, or might possibly know or do business with terrorists in the future. Heck, if they live in Iraq they are Muslims and therefore potential terrorists so we might as well fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.
Update: Something just as disturbing is the comment section about this on military.com.
Agreed it will be excused by fake conservatives….. and the new war party liberals will challenge it only with rhetoric. Really, I'm not even sure you had to write "conservative warmonger" in your remark. I think Congressmen would have gotten the point across.
Well, over there/over here excuse is getting stale–we're fighting them here, too; and probably, in outer space soon (I think there could be a report coming out of AEI about terrorists building rocket ships, you know, armed with lasers and so forth).
That's laughable.
The authorities told them that it was a good and honorable act. That is enough for the slavish reactionary authoritarian.
I overheard a GI telling my friend at the CSRA Peace Alliance table last Friday that the Iraqi "terrorists" use kids to attack US troops, therefore US soldiers must kill all the kids that they see in the street in order to protect themselves.
That's the telling thing. What kind of mindless robots vomit forth such drivel but the kind who doesn't mind killing kids.
I hope they do, then everyone will finally see how it is.
this, and now also the murder of 5 civilians at a wedding in afghanistan.
Probably it'll be excused by "real" conservatives, too. There are just a Hell of a lot of Americans who identify with the government. To criticize the govt. is to attack them, they feel. So they defend the indefensible.
if they are lying to us about this, imagine what else they are lying about and covering upbaz
More footage of americans murdering innocent iraqis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP26FCViVC4&fe…
Okay, I get it. You take a bunch of heavily armed eighteen year olds and place them in a hostile environment and shit happens. But what I don't get is where were the officers and ncos who are suppost to be controlling the situation and what I really don't get is all the comments that appeared yesterday on places like yahoo not only justifying the killings but suggesting that we should be doing a lot more of it. We truly have become a nation of monsters.
They were giving the "OK" to shoot.
RE: "We truly have become a nation of monsters." – Giraldi
MY COMMENT: And the U.S.A. has become "The Great Sadist"™!
Welcome to New America, Mr. Giraldi! We the People drank from the poison well of militarism and unfortunately We the People liked the taste. Now we murder, we torture, and we make a good time of it.
And besides, those poor soldiers were probably bored, since the everyday chores of military occupation and mass murder can get stale and boring when you're desensitized to it all and procedural brutality and amoral rules become routine. The troops are just bending the ROEs to have a little fun is all, enjoying a little bit laugh of a laugh to keep their spirits up.
This is the America that the rest of the world sees…as we go sauntering around lecturing everyone else. This is what we have become…a murdering, moral-less society of arrogant racists that slaughter civilians on a daily basis now.
I have read extensively the coverage of this video leak and the commentary on it, and I feel that for the most part a very important point has not received the attention it deserves. The commentators on the incident generally fall into one of two camps: 1) The soldiers involved are murderers and guilty of war crimes, or 2) They did the best they could with the available information, and that tragic mistakes like this occur in insurgency wars in which the enemy looks like the civilian population.
The elephant in the room, as I see it, is this: To the local population, it does not matter. Whether malice or mistake, dead civilians and wounded orphans are dead civilians and wounded orphans, and if it happens too often the local population will hate, fear and fight U.S. occupation. If #1 is the case, then the military command must bring it to the light of day and hold the perpetrators accountable to stop future incidents and gain the trust of the local population. If #2 is the case, then the U.S. military's anti-insurgent campaign simply cannot succeed, like the proverbial bull in the china shop attempting to repair the damage it has caused.
Regardless of which case applies to this particular incident, the military command has repeatedly tried to cover up or distort incidents (e.g. Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, the purported 'honor killings,' this incident), thereby foreclosing the only possibility for the anti-insurgent campaign to succeed.
Glenn Greenwald's take on this is all too correct
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald…
oh how soon the world forgets the Apache helicopters slaughtering Iraqi’s at night, from half a mile away, while the feckless asshole pilots ‘chortled’ and exhultantly cried out anti muslim epithets as they murdered a group of Iraqi men, for no good reason at all, and against the Geneva Convention, continued to murder them when clearly they were all incapacitated and ‘wounded’ and unable to resist.
THIS is the face of Amerika. And the folks at CIA happily and gleefully love this, because as much as I would like to believe that WIKILEAKS was a legitimate group of civilians leaking this, the CIA has a long history of intentionally using such propaganda to enflame a target audience such as in this case, MUSLIMS, so that their hopes would be that it would stir more violence and killing, and further justify their murderous DRONE STRIKES that they do. So this video, though it may be legitimate, may, in fact be one more ‘tool’ as you will, in their attempt to foment much more hate and discontent in the MUSLIM world, so that their ilk can point to the resultant outcome of that and say; “see, we told you that MUSLIMS ARE BAD PEOPLE”..
I would wager that this happened not only in 2003 and 2007, but that it happens EVERY DAY.
I remember that one very well. Quite disgusting. But I'm certain there are far more incidents out there than have ever seen the light of day. They need to just to shock the vidiots awake.
What would conservatives say about the story on US Forces Admiting to Killing Two Pregnant Afghan Women. Why nothing on here about that?
…kill ALL OF THEM, let GAWD sort em all out, that’s what CONNEDservitudes would say…
http://www.youtube.com/v/pYbpgNRLppk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00
murdering farmers for sport
how KEWL :)
http://www.youtube.com/v/OFtJMZEthP0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00
if they’re not blowing you to bits with 20 or 30mm cannon fire, they’re watching you with their multi million dollar spy platform, while you try to get a little peace, as John Lennon would put it, with your lady. NOTE: this is not porno, this is U.S. ARMY VOYEURISM at TAXPAYERS EXPENSE!!!
Welcome to the same thing we have in Amerika, Iraqi’s….brought to you by Uncle Sammy, or how does one say Samuel in yiddish???
Paul Craig Roberts, in an article he wrote 5/5/2004, foresaw the events described above perfectly. He tried to warn the American people about an "evil spirit" that would "bring a police state at home and death and destruction abroad." He further wrote; ""It is an imperialistic spirit whose arrogant moral purpose justifies mowing down whatever is seen to stand it its way. Those most imbued with this spirit are trapped firmly within it. If Iraqis resist military imposition of US values, then they must be "thugs and outlaws" deserving to be exterminated for standing in the way of America’s virtue and superior morality."" Go here to read Mr. Roberts article: http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts44.html Please, Mr. Roberts, don't stop writing. America needs your truth and wisdom now more than ever.
Americans were told that the "terrorist attack" of 9/11 justified the invasion of Iraq. The invasion of Iraq, of course, led to subject war crime of this article and many other war crimes in Iraq such as; Abu Ghraib and the assault on Fallujah that used chemical weapons. But what if the events of 9/11, as we have been led to believe, were not entirely the truth? What if there is very powerful evidence that proves that airplane impact could not possibly have caused the total destruction of the three buildings that came crashing down that fateful day? Has there been a coverup? Go here for the evidence: http://www.ae911truth.org/ Also, why did Paul Craig Roberts quit writing? Paul Craig Roberts says that he was trying to reveal the truth about 9/11 but was censored by the MSM, Antiwar and other websites. Go here for his interview on Russia Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDNLDXQdlBQ&feature=f... If millions of Americans knew the real truth concerning the events of 9/11, the wars and the war crimes would stop.
Forget "conservative warmongers," NPR ran a piece on this incident this morning, the gist of which was: "Yeah, it was unfortunate, but, you know, this kinda thing happens in the fog of war. And, oh, by the way, they found guns on these people, too."
NPR… "Nationalist Poodle Reporters"
Yeah, and the irony is that the warmongers view NPR as a hotbed of limp-wristed, anti-war liberalism. What a joke.
the chickens will come home….
The chickens come home to roost every time those "brave fighting men" come back from deployment: spousal abuse increases, to the point that wives and girlfriends are killed, child abuse increases, and who knows how many more mass murderers are eventually let loose. Talk to any social worker in a community that hosts a military base.
Hmmm…so is this how the surge 'worked?'
The neocons and theocrats have infiltrated the libertarians. Noticed how Republicans made fun of libertarians (and liberals) for YEARS. Now all of a sudden the Republican “brand name†is a cancer so they all of a sudden are now libertarians? It’s bullshit and we are being fooled!
The same neocons who dissed Ron Paul every chance they had are joining libertarian ranks. They are against everything we are for! They believe in nation building and expanding our empire, they believe in discriminating against anyone who isn’t exactly like them (athiests, gays), they are for the war on drugs, I could go on and on!
It is the official policy from top to bottom,not the other way around.they attcked Aljzirra offices,and killed reporters many times and simply claim it was a mistake or blamed on "few bad apples".It is delibrate same with AbuGhraib.
Gates assails Internet group over attack video
The U.S. military said an investigation shortly after the incident found U.S. forces were unaware of the presence of news staff and thought they were engaging armed insurgents, mistaking a camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
"We take these things seriously," Gates said, in reference to civilian casualties.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100413/pl_nm/us_iraq…
How many times we heard the same denials, reasons given, explainations ,excueses,and justifications before.
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