LAT: In the Eye of the Soldier (soldiers make gory music videos in Iraq)

[DeepModem Mom]

In the Eye of the Soldier
Armed with digital cameras, GIs in Iraq shoot battle footage and edit it into music videos packed with death and destruction.

By Louise Roug, Times Staff Writer


....video cameras are lightweight and digital technology has cut out the need for processing. Having captured a firefight on video, a soldier can create a movie and distribute it via e-mail, uncensored by the military. With editing software such as Avid and access to Internet connections on military bases here, U.S. soldiers are creating fast-paced, MTV-style music videos using images from actual firefights and killings....

***

The result: an abundance of photographs and video footage depicting mutilation, death and destruction that soldiers collect and trade like baseball cards....

***

(Pfc. Chase McCollough) was surprised that his favorite video was disturbing to his loved ones back in Texas....

***

Brandi McCullough, then his fiancee and now his wife...was shocked by images of "body parts missing, bombs going off and people getting shot....I didn't realize there was that much" violence....

***

McCullough said his father, a naval reserve captain, had told him, " 'You know, this isn't normal.'...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-videos14mar14,0,2298678.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[mike_c]

1. these people are going to be back in America some day....

I wonder how they'll get their thrills then? Playing Nintendo will seem pretty tame.

[LynnTheDem]

15. Exactly.

All the Nazis weren't "born bad"; they were placed in situations that lost them their humanity.

Our soldiers are forced into a very bad situation where they've lost/are losing their humanity.

They won't magically regain it once they're back home.

[fortyfeetunder]

2. My fear: will they duplicate it here

once they find out that * is gutting their bennies, SS is about to be trashed, bankruptcy is going to be harder when they fall on hard times, and their jobs have been outsourced abroad....

[autorank]

3. Iraq is Hell on earth. This is inevitable. Shame on Bush and his voters!

Total shame on them. They did this, they are the ultimate evil. Active subversion of America is evil (e.g., Bush, etc.) and subversion through ignorance is not much better. This is just outrageous. I wondered how long it would be until this came out after looking at that web page called 'Under Mars' or what ever. We shouldn't have gone in and once we did, we should have left in 90 days. This is so sad .

[SoCalDem]

7. They're making Al Qqeda recruiting Videoa.. That's treason

Can you imagine that these are NOT being shown to every young Arab person in the Middle East.. "See what barbarians American Are??"..:grr:

[autorank]

23. It is just awful. This shows what poor control the officers have.

After the prison videos, the should have (1) cleaned house and stopped that and (2) stopped home made videos. I can't believe that this is happening without someone higher up knowing about it. For xrist sake, this is the military, how about an order to stop bad activities and inflammatory videos. They could start by shutting down that Under Mars site. The more I think about this, the worse it sounds for command and control. Col. Hackworth on his web site has been extremely harsh on the officer corps, where the standards are set and the control starts. Guess he's right again!!!!! You make a very good point.

[daleo]

4. Speaking of copyright violations...

Something tells me that Iraqis weren't asked for permission to use their images, as they were being shot and blown up.

[tomreedtoon]

5. A pause here for a little reality.

First of all, I dislike the implication in one of the posts saying that everyone who goes to Iraq will return to America as a psycho killer. I lived through that major-league lie during the Vietnam War, and to see another generation of people tarred with the same brush - because they were unlucky or decieved and wound up in the military - is disgusting. It's the equivalent of being called a Taliban supporter because you protested the war.

Second, to borrow another phrase from the Vietnam War, these videos are "bringing the war home." Either people will finally understand exactly what this war involves, and how it is brutality, or they will support and enjoy this brutality more fully. Either way, it will be a truer measure of what the American people really are than any pundits or bloggers can talk about.

And maybe, if there is a market for this gruesomeness, maybe some of you will go beyond simply making cynical comments, and try to communicate with some of your political enemies. Maybe that will stop some of this crap about "seceding from the Red States" and make these blowhards work to reform and restore this entire country.

[SoCalDem]

8. Viet Nam was DIFFERENT..

The internet makes it possible for the whole world to see "what you have done".. Viet Nam was the stone age compared to the communication system we have now.. Back then a soldier might send some films to his family or some audio tapes, but it stayed with that family..Now it's uploaded to the web, and once OUT..it can never be "taken back"//

[Daphne08]

12. We saw war every night on the network news.

It was not as graphic (as described on these videos) but we did see it. We saw it, we read about it and we heard about it from returning soldiers. The violence eventually turned public opinion against the war (and I'm sure that's why we don't see it on TV anymore).

This is the first I've heard of these homemade videos, and I don't like it either. It seems dreadful to me especially since most of these soldiers are so young.

Yes, I also feel certain this will create even more anti-American sentiment in the world, and I fear that our children and grandchildren will be left to deal with another mess created by this administration.

[SoCalDem]

13. WE saw it on TV, but now EVERYONE has access to TV and internet

even the poorest people on the globe have access to tv..There is no way to keep this kind of bad PR under wraps.. Aljazeera is probably showing these "videos" 24/7

[annabanana]

16. In the absence of mainstream coverage... this kind of film is

inevitable. As horrific as the circumstances of their "filming" are, their release into the general American consciousness will have the same effect as the network coverage of Vietnam in the '60's and '70's.

When brought face to face with the pornography of war, the American people will reject it, and reject the war that made the filming possible.

[tomreedtoon]

33. About broadcast journalism...

I work in TV. In the 1970's, the news director at my station decided to run "controversial" footage - a toilet overflowing with feces, the Challenger blowing up, things like that - to get ratings. It got ratings for a while, but it also got the station a reputation for being irresponsible.

There used to be standards about what was appropriate in news footage. Right now, about the only thing holding TV news in check is fear of lawsuits, but at least there are limits.

Home video has even fewer limits than the porn industry, which has the minimal requirements that someone buy the stuff. Without having seen these atrocity videos, and with my sincere hope that I never do, I know they will lack any kind of shaping context. It was bad enough to see a friend of mine, who did service in Desert Storm, posing in a still photo with a burned corpse in a truck.

My point is that even the most "opportunistic" and "biased" TV reporter and photog will NOT shoot some things, except in cartoonish TV show plots.

[MADem]

9. Well said, great points

I agree with your assessment WRT the troops. These kids are victims, fodder, fungible, expendable....just as much as anyone who is wrapped up in this little chess game played by greedy fatcat DC suits who never had to slog through the mud a day in their lives. They joined to defend the Constitution, not make policy. They are instruments of the civilians who control the military.

And I hope more Americans get to see these awful videos. They need to know that their government ain't creating Audie Murphys over there, and what better way to drive the point home to the TV generation than with videos.

I can't say that I agree with communicating with political enemies, beyond telling them, loudly and often, that this war is a huge error, and that, if they represent you, that you will not vote for them and will actively, aggressively, and unceasingly work to defeat them. The GOP drove this march to war, they fanned the flames, they called anyone who dissented a traitor, and they constructed and fomented a climate of fear and loathing.

The only communication they deserve is a pink slip in their last pay envelope. IMHO!

[LynnTheDem]

17. When you are placed in situations where you lose your humanity,

you do not magically regain your humanity once home.

Have you not paid attention to the record numbers of soldier suicides of troops back home from Iraq? The rapes? Murders? Child-molestations? Armed robberies? Spouse beatings? Drugs and DUIs?

Committed by US troops back from Iraq.

You simply cannot do what so many of our troops are doing in Iraq, then come home and be what you once were. It's not the fault of the troops, most of them, but it's a fact of war.

War creates a lot of unfeeling inhumane people. And once home, they're still unfeeling inhumane people.

Come live on base for a week or two; you'll change your mind damned fast that no "psycho killers" are being created in Iraq.

[tomreedtoon]

32. Lynn, are you blaming soldiers for fighting?

My father was in the military. I know what military men go through. And I do understand that war is a traumatic, terrible thing which scars everyone involved with it.

What I'm complaining about is the attitude that anyone who goes to war should be blamed for it. The reason that "First Blood" was the only half-decent movie Sylvester Stallone ever made was that realization. (And yes, Stallone dodged the draft and all the rest of that. So what?)

John Rambo turned into a monster (and he stayed that way) because he returned to an America that blamed HIM for Vietnam. That anger is visceral and real among the Viet vets I've dealt with over the years.

The reason many Vietnam vets turned conservative, and spewed loathing of Democrats and liberal causes, was that damned lie that they were all psycho killers. It was really easy for people of my generation to play New Left Rebels and throw slurs at the poor, broke guy in khaki who couldn't find a job. It was very pleasurable for a lot of them. Of course, they're paying for it now with the Bush presidency and all it has wrought.

My mechanic had a bumper sticker that expressed a lot of this. "Defeating John Kerry would be like the Vietnam homecoming parade we never got." He really believes this. And you want to do the same thing to the current generation of soldiers? Not only is that not very smart, it's not very kind.

[LynnTheDem]

34. Read my post. No I'm not blaming the soldiers, including my husband.

I think it's quite obvious in my post that I'm blaming those who put our troops into a brutal situation.

I live on a US military base; I KNOW what many of our troops have become.

[jayfish]

35. Another ...

"why do you hate <insert sacred cow here>?" smack-down. Well done!

Jay

[LynnTheDem]

37. It's so sad, this fatal flaw of black-white think;

-They hate Saddam so they will love us.

No, they hate both.

-Support our troops in everything they say & do or you don't support our troops.

No, they are individuals.

Some are evil. Most are good. ALL are being dehumanized. Some of those dehumanized soldiers will come home and carry on with the atrocities. Some will simply kill themselves. Most will learn to adapt, to hide the rage.

NONE are coming home the same person.

SUPPORTING the troops means NEVER EVER placing them into brutal dehumanizing situations for anything less than DIRE LAST RESORT EMERGENCY, and realizing that human beings, soldiers or not, cannot kill people and remain the same person they once were.

[LynnTheDem]

38. By the way, you are MISINFORMED about the left having blamed the

troops in Vietnam. Do you still believe the "spitting" lies too?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

29. It's nice to see a little reality step in, Tom

Good points.

[LynnTheDem]

39. You want reality? Come live on Ft Hood military base for awhile.

Come see the REAL REALITY of what bush has turned so many of our soldiers into.

[Blue_Tires]

6. good to know they think it's a freakin' game over there

[DRoseDARs]

10. Oh, give them a break...they're just letting off a little steam...

...It's all just harmless frat prank-esque fun.



These poor kids will come home ... wrong. I just hope their friends and families can help them heal. Lord knows the Bush Administration won't lift a finger or cut a check in that regard. Cut pay or benefits, maybe, but God forbid they should plan for the aftermath of their decisions and actions. :mad:

[LibertyorDeath]

11. Very scary stuff

"To us, it's no different than watching a movie."

and I really enjoyed this comment from shit for brains

"I didn't realize there was that much violence"

Maybe her husband will make a "movie" starring her when he gets back to reality.

[dbt]

14. I predict a resurgence of interest in The Doors.

"The End" will make some truly memorable videos.

:scared:

[annabanana]

18. kick for the cube rats..................n/t

[chlamor]

19. GIs Shoot Battle Footage Edit It Into Music Videos

COLUMN ONE
Extreme Cinema Verite
GIs shoot Iraq battle footage and edit it into music videos filled with death and destruction. And they display their work as entertainment.


BAQUBAH, Iraq — When Pfc. Chase McCollough went home on leave in November, he brought a movie made by fellow soldiers in Iraq. On his first night back at his parents' house in Texas, he showed the video to his fiancee, family and friends.

This is what they saw: a handful of American soldiers filmed through the green haze of night-vision goggles. Radio communication between two soldiers crackles in the background before it's drowned out by a heavy-metal soundtrack.

"Don't need your forgiveness," the song by the band Dope begins as images unfurl: armed soldiers posing in front of Bradley fighting vehicles, two women covered in black abayas walking along a dusty road, a blue-domed mosque, a poster of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. Then, to the fast, hard beat of the music — "Die, don't need your resistance. Die, don't need your prayers" — charred, decapitated and bloody corpses fill the screen.

"It's like a trophy, something to keep," McCullough, 20, said back at his cramped living quarters at Camp Warhorse near Baqubah. "I was there. I did this."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-videos14mar14,0,2298678.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Zerex71]

40. Exposed nipples at a football game are a national crime

but this isn't?

What's wrong with our country?

[Rose Siding]

20. jag officer's worried about personal infringement in a battle zone?

snip>
On the bases where Benson and McCullough live, the Army regularly searches soldiers' quarters for drugs, alcohol and pornography as part of what it calls health and safety inspections. But searching personal laptops would infringe on soldiers' privacy, said Capt. Douglas Moore, a judge advocate general officer with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Warhorse. Besides, if this brand of filmmaking breaks rules, they're of a different kind.

"It's in poor taste," Moore said, "kind of sick."
.......................

Girly pix are out but the sadistic dehumanization of Iraqis is protected? That's messed up.

[K8-EEE]

21. But....but...I thought they were mostly passing out candy...

and fixing up schools? That's what I saw on the news at least...

[autorank]

24. ...to cheering Iraqis waiving American flags and throwing flowers!

[K8-EEE]

25. And Saying "Thank You Bush!"

That's mainly what's going on there, right? Liberation and gratitude. Surely the situations on all these videos reflect only a few bad apples and dead terrorists!

[autorank]

28. Without a doubt. These are straight from "hate-America" Hollywood.

Some major studio FX operation. Can't be a result of our Napoleonic liberation.

[K8-EEE]

36. No Doubt Michael Moore Is Behind These LIES

....making the liberation look bad!

[Straight Shooter]

22. These soldiers need a healthier way of channeling their emotions.

I'm reminded of surgeons who make jokes in the OR, so they can distance themselves from the gravity of the situation. It's quite jarring to hear them when they do that.

I'm willing to give the kids some leeway here. I remember my brother, when he returned from Vietnam, had a very macabre sense of humor (and a brand-new drinking problem). It was his way of processing what he had seen. I think it's the technology, the realism of capturing the gore, that makes it more frightening.

Of course, there are those who think it's just really really cool. I hope I never meet them and I hope they can find treatment, if they can even recognize they need treatment.

We may well see some extraordinary artists and authors emerge from their experiences in this war. But it isn't worth it. It's never worth it.

[cyberpj]

26. "It's no more graphic than 'Saving Private Ryan,' "

he said. "To us, it's no different than watching a movie."

And on goes the devaluation of human lives that don't agree with you.

[jayfish]

27. "I Didn't Realize There Was That Much" Violence"

Gotta love the American media. ...NOT. But hey they just reported that their own coverage is a-ok. Does anyone know when we are going to execute Jacko or Scott Peterson? When will they castrate Kobe Bryant? When is the next plague of shark attacks coming? Will we ever find out how comfortable Martha's tether is? Stupid is as stupid watches.

Jay

[CottonBear]

30. Miss Brandi is a stupid sheeple.

I bet she always watches Faux News and never reads newspapers.

[Name removed]

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