'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:


'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'

Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq

By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 12 July 2007

It is an axiom of American political life that the actions of the US military are beyond criticism. Democrats and Republicans praise the men and women in uniform at every turn. Apart from the odd bad apple at Abu Ghraib, the US military in Iraq is deemed to be doing a heroic job under trying circumstances.

That perception will take a severe knock today with the publication in The Nation magazine of a series of in-depth interviews with 50 combat veterans of the Iraq war from across the US. In the interviews, veterans have described acts of violence in which US forces have abused or killed Iraqi men, women and children with impunity.

The report steers clear of widely reported atrocities, such as the massacre in Haditha in 2005, but instead unearths a pattern of human rights abuses. "It's not individual atrocity," Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. "It's the fact that the entire war is an atrocity."

A number of the troops have returned home bearing mental and physical scars from fighting a war in an environment in which the insurgents are supported by the population. Many of those interviewed have come to oppose the US military presence in Iraq, joining the groundswell of public opinion across the US that views the war as futile.

This view is echoed in Washington, where increasing numbers of Democrats and Republicans are openly calling for an early withdrawal from Iraq. And the Iraq quagmire has pushed President George Bush's poll ratings to an all-time low.

Journalists and human rights groups have published numerous reports drawing attention to the killing of Iraqi civilians by US forces. The Nation's investigation presents for the first time named military witnesses who back those assertions. Some participated themselves.

Through a combination of gung-ho recklessness and criminal behaviour born of panic, a narrative emerges of an army that frequently commits acts of cold-blooded violence. A number of interviewees revealed that the military will attempt to frame innocent bystanders as insurgents, often after panicked American troops have fired into groups of unarmed Iraqis. The veterans said the troops involved would round up any survivors and accuse them of being in the resistance while planting Kalashnikov AK47 rifles beside corpses to make it appear that they had died in combat. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2758829.ece

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. An occupation army will do these things

the lesson was taought to us at Nam, but we forgot it

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Well - to the majority of the media, a dead American soldier is just - not worth reporting!

What is this war on terra, anyway? What is this Iraq war? This war in Afghanistan? Looks to me that the only thing we are being asked to sacrifice is our sanity for having such a load of bullshit and lies being flung at us from the media and the administration. What a sorry, sad sack of shit.

[Purveyor]

4. Hell, I have a hard time reporting stats on this very forum.

Margaret Griffis does a great service reporting daily stats, with linking sources, but because it originates from an 'antiwar' forum, these threads I've posted are deleted from this forum.

Just today, the thread that would have been posted "Wednesday: 142 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 42 Iraqis Wounded" wasn't posted here due to forum censorship.

Please don't think that reporting on US casualites is limited to just MSM...

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Thanks for your efforts. My badly made point was that it seems

as though except for those select people that seem to think and care (like we here at DU), no ones seems to care, and that makes me deeply ashamed and saddened.

[illinoisprogressive]

3. It just slashes my heart when I see this. Iraqis are human beings deserving better

[Mojorabbit]

6. The psyches of these young soldiers

and of the Iraqis will be damaged for years to come. Ending the war won't end the suffering.

[vanramp]

7. Shock n awe

Oh' and continuing it will I suppose LOL... Hey only about a
million innocent folk have been murdered, these aren't even
HOF numbers in the context of true empires (Tho' Vietnam and
Japan do pad the stats)..George still has time to invade and
'liberate' Iran... I'm thinkin' Uncle Sam may yet win the
Silver medal or maybe the gold when it comes to mass murder..

[Mojorabbit]

8. No continuing it won't. We should have been out of there

a long time ago. my brother in law is still damaged from vietnam and cannot talk about what it was that happened to him. Lifelong damage is what war gives these young people. It is criminal to do that to anyone's body and soul.