US: Vets Break Silence on War Crimes

[go west young man]

Source: Inter Press Service

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 28 (IPS) - U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are planning to descend on Washington from Mar. 13-16 to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in those countries.

"The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous it is for reporters to cover it," said Liam Madden, a former Marine and member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. "That's left a lot of misconceptions in the minds of the American public about what the true nature of military occupation looks like."

Iraq Veterans Against the War argues that well-publicised incidents of U.S. brutality like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha are not the isolated incidents perpetrated by "a few bad apples", as many politicians and military leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the group says, of "an increasingly bloody occupation".

"The problem that we face in Iraq is that policymakers in leadership have set a precedent of lawlessness where we don't abide by the rule of law, we don't respect international treaties, so when that atmosphere exists it lends itself to criminal activity," argues former U.S. Army Sergeant Logan Laituri, who served a tour in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 before being discharged as a conscientious objector.


Read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41398

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The problems in Iraq are now unlike the future presidential election. I wish DU'ers would get their eye back on the ball instead of chasing the next election morsel Chris Matthews and the others toss em.

[Frustratedlady]

1. Speaking of which...whatever happened to the CNN reporter...

I can't think of his name, but the one who was in the midst of the mess in Baghdad? Was he let go? Arrrrrrrrgh! Memory goes to pot and....

[Delphinus]

2. Michael Ware? n/t

[Frustratedlady]

3. Bingo! Thank you!

So, what happened to him?

[go west young man]

4. Link to Michael Wares current wherabouts.

http://www.mickware.info/NewsInfo/2008News/2008News.php

He's still out there reporting. The Drudge Report, John McCains people and the Pentagon tried to put pressure on CNN to shut him down last year after his report on Snipers killing US soldiers in Iraq. Saying he was giving propaganda to the enemy. Then McCain claimed Michael heckled him at a press conference. CNN put him on their International programming more often than their American propaganda fest.

[Frustratedlady]

6. Thank you!

I can hardly wait for a long campaign with John McCain. Not! His whining far outweighs all the other candidates combined. I think he is a snake.

[ptolle]

10. temper, temper

If, as you say, one can steel themselves against all the whining and sniveling likely to emanate from the mcinane campaign I think one can reasonably predict that at some point he'll quite likely commit political seppuku with his own temper and tongue.It's just a matter of waiting for it.I don't think the guy has either the intellect or the temperament for a long campaign or for the office he's seeking and that fact will be made abundantly clear the longer the campaign runs.I'm kinda surprised he hasn't really stepped on it yet.

[leftchick]

5. god how true....

<snip>

"The majority of the American people are very dissatisfied with the Iraq war now and would be happy to get out of it. But Americans are bred deep into their psyches to think of America as a good country and, I think, much harder than just the hurdle of getting troops out of Iraq is to get Americans to realise the terrible things we do in the name of the United States."

[IsItJustMe]

7. Seems like people like the glitter and not the hard truths, I am with you on that.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Gonna be one hell of an Election, with Iraq and NAFTA in the fore

.
.
.

MAYBE, just maybe, the electorate can get their politicians to stop their war-like and aggressive policies against the rest of the World.

From the posted article, a significant passage:

"In one of the most famous antiwar speeches of the era, Kerry concluded: "Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be -- and these are his words -- 'the first president to lose a war'. We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
__________________________________________________________________________

[Doctor_J]

9. Futher proof that the soldiers do NOT want the GOP to win the

election this November. They're risking their lives by crossing Big Media and the Bush Crime Family to reveal this stuff.

[Oilwellian]

11. Trailer of Winter Soldier here

http://ivaw.org/index.php

Are they testifying to Congress? That wasn't made clear in the article. Thanks for posting.

[karynnj]

12. I haven't heard if they are

but in a really stunning irony, if the hearing is before the SFRC sub-committee on the Near East and South Asia, it would be a very strange experience for the Chair of the committee - likely the only one in all of Congress who could identify completely with what these people are going through.

[YvonneCa]

14. ...

...:7 For those here who don't know this, the committee chair is Senator John Kerry.

[annm4peace]

18. They are not able to Testify to Congress

Congress won't listen. Not even Dems have invited them.
***

** Get the word out. Donate some money so they can buy ads. Check out their website and see if there is a chapter in your area. We have raised enough money in Twin Cities of MN so that all 9 IVAW that want to go can. When they get back they will tell their story to those who want to hear it. That will be another fund raiser. One couple had a group of 15 at their house as a fundraiser.

A peace group donated to the local IVAW 1000.00. They just had a fundraiser today at local cafe in St.Paul after a peace march.

*** They have sent press releases to all local media, but only one progressive paper has picked it up.

** Please kick and post to other websites. Michael Moore's website has been great in posting stories of other IVAW who are speaking out. It is happening all over this country and the media is censoring it. www.michaelmoore.com

[Hugabear]

13. I seem to remember getting lambasted here in DU for suggesting war crimes were rampant

Yet here we have vets willing to testify that these atrocities are not isolated incidents. It's Vietnam all over again.

[YvonneCa]

15. That is what is so sad...

...about Iraq. But, given the threat of nuclear proliferation, the consequences are more serious.

[pop goes the weasel]

20. of couse they're rampant

War is itself a crime. Everything about war would, in peace, be considered an enormous crime. The term "war crime" is a special pleading, arguing that among the crimes of war, some acts are acceptable and others not. But in a climate of crime, atrocities will occur that even in war will be seen by most as unjustified and abusive of the morally permissive nature of war. This is why war should ever be only a last resort against aggression. Whoever starts a war is a criminal.

[gratuitous]

16. War crimes?

Oh, say it isn't so! Not our star-spangled, freckle-faced men and women in uniform. We don't torture, we don't commit war crimes, we don't break treaties, and on and on. Our fightin' men and women are immune from atrocities committed by every other armed force on the planet since history has been recorded.

[Tom Joad]

17. this is very important K&R

[Senator]

19. Maybe They Can Move Madame Squeaker...

...to put Our National Soul back on the table.

Impeachment is our ONLY moral, patriotic option.

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