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Support which troops?
(Peacemonger-Peacenik-Refusenik: Conscientious Objector)
Plain and simple; troops are not being supported when they come home. As long as they are murdering civilians in Iraq, the worst troops are considered heroes to the religious right and dumbed down Americans for atrocities that are neither religious or right. By comparison, Nazis were supported by the German people even while the German "troops" in World War II were killing Semites just as troops are killing Semites in Iraq and Afghanistan for being Semites. The false reality in Iraq is not lost on returning veterans who come home and one by one kill themselves for their conscious knowledge that they murdered innocent human being, mostly civilians, who never did anything to them. 15,000 troops have committed suicide since the war began. Those troops are supported by the American public but their own consciousness is their judge.
Date: 12/11/2007 4:16:00 AM ( 17 y ago)
When they come home maimed there is very little support for troops but the lip service for combat troops goes on. The jingo, "Support the Troops" eliminates any discussion of disrespecting any "troop" for anything he does while in a uniform but every day in Iraq and Afghanistan, innocent human beings are being butchered by some of those "troops." The abuse is widespread and condoned by the Religious Right but where is the Religious Right when the "troops" claim Conscientious Objector status for just being a Christian or for just having a conscious? Instead of releasing troops who realize that killing is not an option for unarmed civilians, those patriotic who "support the troops" support jailing those who refuse to kill. Killing indiscriminately is a reality every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who have a conscious are those who refuse to fight and they are put in jail and called cowards. The bravest thing a man can do is to be one of the troops who realize that they are in a war for their soul and refuse to kill anyone anymore.
Most troops in Iraq and Afghanistan know they are pawns of the Religious Right and Corporate interests. I support those troops that realize they have been duped into killing other human being and refuse to kill innocents anymore. I support the troops in prison while they await Conscientious Objector status. I do support the troops who return and refuse to participate in wars of aggression. I do support troops who have serious mental health issues(a conscious) and the hundreds of thousands of troops that may become sick from depleted uranium munitions. I do support the 30 or 40 thousand troops who have lost limbs or have serious wounds from an illegal invasion of sovereign nationd.
I do not support troops who mercilessly kill innocent human beings whose only crime is being dark skinned and having a different language. "Support the Troops" is an overused and often abused jingoism that asks people of conscious to look the other way as atrocity after atrocity is committed by "troops;" it takes discernment to know that "Support the Troops" is a propaganda tool used to stifle debate. Which troops do you want me to support?
Forget your faith;
be ready for whatever it takes to win: we face
annihilation unless all citizens get in line."
or
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." JFK
You decide;
US Military Admit Entire Iraq War is an Atrocity
"It was the most obscene thing you've ever seen. Every soldier got
out and opened fire on this kid. Using the biggest weapons we could
find, we ripped him to shreds..."
INTRODUCTION
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."
SOLDIERS ARE MENTALLY ILL
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.
US SOLDIERS BEHAVING WORSE THAN WILD ANIMALS
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.
"It would always be an AK because they have so many of these lying
around," said Joe Hatcher, 26, a scout with the 4th Calvary
Regiment. He revealed the army also planted 9mm handguns and shovels
to make it look like the civilians were shot while digging a hole
for a roadside bomb.
"Every good cop carries a throwaway," Hatcher said of weapons
planted on innocent victims in incidents that occurred while he was
stationed between Tikrit and Samarra, from February 2004 to March
2005. Any survivors were sent to jail for interrogation.
FOLLOWING CORRUPT ORDERS
There were also deaths caused by the reckless behaviour of military
convoys. Sgt Kelly Dougherty of the Colorado National Guard
described a hit-and-run in which a military convoy ran over a 10-
year-old boy and his three donkeys, killing them all. "Judging by
the skid marks, they hardly even slowed down. But, I mean... your
order is that you never stop."
The worst abuses seem to have been during raids on private homes
when soldiers were hunting insurgents. Thousands of such raids have
taken place, usually at dead of night. The veterans point out that
most are futile and serve only to terrify the civilians, while
generating sympathy for the resistance.
Sgt John Bruhns, 29, of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armoured Division,
described a typical raid. "You want to catch them off guard," he
explained. "You want to catch them in their sleep ... You grab the
man of the house. You rip him out of bed in front of his wife. You
put him up against the wall... Then you go into a room and you tear
the room to shreds. You'll ask 'Do you have any weapons? Do you have
any anti-US propaganda?'
WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS
"Normally they'll say no, because that's normally the truth," Sgt
Bruhns said. "So you'll take his sofa cushions and dump them. You'll
open up his closet and you'll throw all the clothes on the floor and
basically leave his house looking like a hurricane just hit it." And
at the end, if the soldiers don't find anything, they depart with
a "Sorry to disturb you. Have a nice evening".
Sgt Dougherty described her squad leader shooting an Iraqi civilian
in the back in 2003. "The mentality of my squad leader was
like, 'Oh, we have to kill them over here so I don't have to kill
them back in Colorado'," she said. "He just seemed to view every
Iraqi as a potential terrorist."
>>>> US SOLDIERS ADMIT CATALOGUE OF ATROCITIES <<<<
'It would always happen. We always got the wrong house...'
"People would make jokes about it, even before we'd go into a raid,
like, 'Oh f***, we're gonna get the wrong house'. Cause it would
always happen. We always got the wrong house."
Sergeant Jesus Bocanegra, 25, of Weslaco, Texas 4th Infantry
Division. In Tikrit on year-long tour that began in March 2003
"I had to go tell this woman that her husband was actually dead. We
gave her money, we gave her, like, 10 crates of water, we gave the
kids, I remember, maybe it was soccer balls and toys. We just didn't
really know what else to do."
Lieutenant Jonathan Morgenstein, 35, of Arlington, Virginia, Marine
Corps civil affairs unit. In Ramadi from August 2004 to March 2005
"We were approaching this one house... and we're approaching, and
they had a family dog. And it was barking ferociously, cause it's
doing its job. And my squad leader, just out of nowhere, just shoots
it... So I see this dog - I'm a huge animal lover... this dog has,
like, these eyes on it and he's running around spraying blood all
over the place. And like, you know, what the hell is going on? The
family is sitting right there, with three little children and a mom
and a dad, horrified. And I'm at a loss for words."
Specialist Philip Chrystal, 23, of Reno, 3rd Battalion, 116th
Cavalry Brigade. In Kirkuk and Hawija on 11-month tour beginning
November 2004
"I'll tell you the point where I really turned... [there was] this
little, you know, pudgy little two-year-old child with the cute
little pudgy legs and she has a bullet through her leg... An IED
[improvised explosive device] went off, the gun-happy soldiers just
started shooting anywhere and the baby got hit. And this baby looked
at me... like asking me why. You know, 'Why do I have a bullet in my
leg?'... I was just like, 'This is, this is it. This is ridiculous'."
Specialist Michael Harmon, 24, of Brooklyn, 167th Armour Regiment,
4th Infantry Division. In Al-Rashidiya on 13-month tour beginning in
April 2003
"I open a bag and I'm trying to get bandages out and the guys in the
guard tower are yelling at me, 'Get that f*** haji out of here,'...
our doctor rolls up in an ambulance and from 30 to 40 meters away
looks out and says, shakes his head and says, 'You know, he looks
fine, he's gonna be all right,' and walks back... kind of like, 'Get
your ass over here and drive me back up to the clinic'. So I'm
standing there, and the whole time both this doctor and the guards
are yelling at me, you know, to get rid of this guy."
Specialist Patrick Resta, 29, from Philadelphia, 252nd Armour, 1st
Infantry Division. In Jalula for nine months beginning March 2004
'Every person opened fire on this kid, using the biggest weapons we
could find...'
"Here's some guy, some 14-year-old kid with an AK47, decides he's
going to start shooting at this convoy. It was the most obscene
thing you've ever seen. Every soldier got out and opened fire on
this kid. Using the biggest weapons we could find, we ripped him to
shreds..."
Sergeant Patrick Campbell, 29, of Camarillo, California, 256th
Infantry Brigade. In Abu Gharth for 11 months beginning November 2004
"Cover your own butt was the first rule of engagement. Someone could
look at me the wrong way and I could claim my safety was in threat."
Lieutenant Brady Van Engelen, 26, of Washington DC, 1st Armoured
Division. Eight-month tour of Baghdad beginning Sept 2003
"I guess while I was there, the general attitude was, 'A dead Iraqi
is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'... [Only when we
got home] in... meeting other veterans, it seems like the guilt
really takes place, takes root, then."
Specialist Jeff Englehart, 26, of Grand Junction, Colorado, 3rd
Brigade, 1st Infantry. In Baquba for a year beginning February 2004
"[The photo] was very graphic... They open the body bags of these
prisoners that were shot in the head and [one soldier has] got a
spoon. He's reaching in to scoop out some of his brain, looking at
the camera and smiling."
Specialist Aidan Delgado, 25, of Sarasota, Florida, 320th Military
Police Company. Deployed to Talil air base for one year beginning
April 2003
"The car was approaching what was in my opinion a very poorly marked
checkpoint... and probably didn't even see the soldiers... The guys
got spooked and decided it was a possible threat, so they shot up
the car. And they [the bodies] literally sat in the car for the next
three days while we drove by them.
Sergeant Dustin Flatt, 33, of Denver, 18th Infantry Brigade, 1st
Infantry Division. One-year from February 2004
"The frustration that resulted from our inability to get back at
those who were attacking us led to tactics that seemed designed
simply to punish the local population..."
Sergeant Camilo Mejía, 31, from Miami, National Guardsman, 1-124
Infantry Battalion, 53rd Infantry Brigade. Six-month tour beginning
April 2003
"I just remember thinking, 'I just brought terror to someone under
the American flag'."
Sergeant Timothy John Westphal, 31, of Denver, 18th Infantry
Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. In Tikrit on year-long tour
beginning February 2004
"A lot of guys really supported that whole concept that if they
don't speak English and they have darker skin, they're not as human
as us, so we can do what we want."
Specialist Josh Middleton, 23, of New York City, 2nd Battalion, 82nd
Airborne Division. Four-month tour in Baghdad and Mosul beginning
December 2004
"I felt like there was this enormous reduction in my compassion for
people. The only thing that wound up mattering is myself and the
guys that I was with, and everybody else be damned."
Sergeant Ben Flanders, 28, National Guardsman from Concord, New
Hampshire, 172nd Mountain Infantry. In Balad for 11 months beginning
March 2004
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