WikiLeaks and their defenders have been under fire for “not supporting the troops,” by releasing the video now titled “Collateral Murder.”
The video shows American snipers killing Iraqis on the ground, including children and journalists. The Pentagon and others have charged the the video is “out of context.”
How about this for context:
Two soldiers from Bravo Company 2-16, the company depicted in the video, have written an open letter of apology to the Iraqis who were injured or lost loved ones during the attack (they say that this sort of thing is a regular occurrence in this war).
Here is the text of the letter:
AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE
From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military
Peace be with you.
To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the “Collateral Murder†Wikileaks video:
We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses.
We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions.
There is no bringing back all that was lost. What we seek is to learn from our mistakes and do everything we can to tell others of our experiences and how the people of the United States need to realize what have done and are doing to you and the people of your country. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.
We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature of how U.S.-led wars are carried out in this region.
We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and carried out in the name of “god and country”. The soldier in video said that your husband shouldn’t have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us.
More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.
Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation’s leaders no longer represent us. Our secretary of defense may say the U.S. won’t lose its reputation over this, but we stand and say that our reputation’s importance pales in comparison to our common humanity.
With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.
Solemnly and Sincerely,
Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army
Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army
The soldiers are asking Americans to co-sign the letter on this website.
What about the lying sacks of shit that sent these soldiers there?? 535 members of the ISRAELI OWNED CONGRESS and SENATE who sent them there?? No acts of contrition from those assholes yet, nor will there ever be.
But someday, there’ll be hemp neckties for them, after of course, speedy trials by Iraqi’s who were fortunate enough to survive their banal, cynical slaughter for profit.
Someday, they’ll hang for what they’ve done.
",,,under fire for not supporting the troops…"
The only way to support the troops is to bring them home. All of them. From everywhere.
Bring the troops home and redeploy them to secure our borders!
Yeah, um, from all the invading troops!! Like those um Germans and um Soviets and um Federalis and um heavily armed Canucks! We gotta protect our borders! Our borders are under attack!
Why can't everybody just chill out? Yes we need to keep a standing army in case we *are* attacked… but can't we at least _wait_ until we are attacked before deploying them? It's like the politicians are sitting around saying, "Well we'd hate to let all this manpower go to waste… You know what we should *do*? We should send them somewhere to kill some people! Yeah that's a great idea! Maybe we could even profit from it!"
PS — our borders of course need protecting, but… isn't that what the Coast Guard is for?
As small as this gesture is, it's far more than I ever expected. It's a relief to know that our troops haven't been completely purged of their humanity.
I agree. This was a start.
Ever see this? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/84529…
This is the first time I've seen it. Wow, great story; thank you for the link!
What a contrast these troops are compared to the politicians who sent them there and the shills in the media who cheered on the carnage.
I mean can you ever imagine George Bush or Thomas Friedman writing such a letter??? How many Friedman units would that take?
Ahaha these scumbags are suddenly apologizing now, why didn't they apologize when this incident happened? I don't have any sympathy for any soldier. Any mindless douche who decides to sign up for war doesn't have my respect.
It's the same kind of instant "lack of respect" that works for the other side. What people do when surrounded by economic necessity to join the armed forces, and with peer pressure and authority pressure, and a wish to protect their buddies no matter what the reasons for the fight, and especially at a malleable young age, can hardly be entirely their own fault, and has to be the fault of the society that creates the situation. That a few of them can see outside the box is simply amazing. We can be grateful for that insight that transcends, but to expect it of everyone is unrealistic. Thus we must also have compassion for the individuals caught up in the fog of war, as well as for their victims in turn. The real insanity is to apply the standards of open war to a neighborhood level, when what is appropriate is a policing action, and political reconciliation.
Compassion for those who enlist willingly for unjust wars? Well you sir are kinder than I am. Of course politicians are to blame, however these are grown men and women should have brains of their own. The military men and women should be held responsible without solely blaming politicians.That's where the nurture debate comes in. Take a bullied kid for example who grows up to be a bully himself. Who do I have compassion for? For the child in him who once was bullied who unfortunately will grow up to be a bully, not the bully he has become.
There is no draft Austin.
Yeah, it took the release of the video to prompt the letter. I salute the efforts of Wikileaks and al-Jazerra.
For the record I am a former US Army Officer who opposes both of these useless wars for Israel. However, your comments are repulsive. I sincerely hope you get the Nick berg treatment the next time (first time?) you leave the safety of your keyboard and encounter some "real world" friendly Islamics you wish to break bread with. So Let me get this straight–2 idiot reporters deceide to accompany armed insurgents who seek out and take aim at US Soldiers and im supposed to feel bad that they were blown to shit by our boys? Perhaps if they thought about their idiocy they wouldnt be pushing up daisies right now. Perhaps all of you armchair moralists should re-watch "breaker morant" which is a nice morailty tale for those of you who wish to apply comfortable, civilian classroom morals to individuals in harms' way who have seen countless numbers of their friends killed or maimed by the "heroic" resistance fighters you imagine this filth to be. Our troops are governed by the constant emotions of blood, anger, fear, and death. I care not a whim for the shit-eating reporters who wish to bring them ill. fuck them and fuck you.
So what you're saying is, although this is an unjustified war and an illegal occupation, it's THEIR fault for fighting back.
Well, maybe Iraqis have the same "fuck you" attitude towards the soldiers after seeing "countless numbers of their friends killed or maimed" by an invading army.
Would you have the same attitude about the deaths of embedded American reporters, because they were stupid enough to be in the presence of US soldiers who are – whether you like it or not – legitimate targets? The same reporters who cheered on the war and refer to Iraqi civilian deaths as "collateral damage".
The Iraqis didn't do this to you, didn't send you there, didn't kill your friends or mess you up. Your government took advantage of your willingness to fight for your country and decided you were expendable. Just remember that.
"Your comment must be approved by the site admins before it will appear publicly."
I can live with the censorship., But if you censor me at least have the courage to email me identifying yourself and giving the reasons for censorship. Don't be anonymous. It's cowardly and prevents me from "confronting my accusers", challenging you to justify your action.
One of the Iraqi's may have had an RPG, range approx 1200 feet. Muzzle velocity of 30mm chain gun projo about 2600 fps. From time the Apache chain gun stats firing its about 2 seconds
before rounds land amongst the people in the street. So the Apache was engaging from what 3/4s to a miles away. Not much danger from an RPG. Sure an RPG downed a blackhawk in Somilia, but the Apache is designed to engage soviet MBTs accompanied by Soviet triple A. If an RPG can bring one down at a mile range, then the defense contractors lied and overcharged up for the Apaches.
Nothing in these wars makes sense, a couple of weeks ago our Special Forces decided that some vans were carrying insurgents and helicopter gunships killed something like 27 of 42 CIVILIANS on the vans. Six months previous a mix of Afghan soldiers and USMC grunts made contact with "insurgents", and came under heavy fiire. Gunships had been promised to be on station in 5 minutes, too 80. Tube artillery would not fire support as they were worried about killing civilians. Women and children under fire from our troops were bringing their fighters ammo. I'd shoot anyone bringing ammo to someone shooting at me. However if the shooters can get their wives and kids to bring them ammo under fire, we are fighting on the WRONG side. Basically we be the Brits in 1776 and the iraqi's the same as the Patriots we decended from, think of the colonists standing off the Brits at Concord bridge. Excuse me you must not have yet descended from the trees.
Ho Chi Minh's forces rescued downed American fliers and got them to safety in China. The Vichy French turned downed American fliers over the the Japs who executed them. If we'd have had a brain, we would have recognized Vietnam as an independent nation at the end of WWII. Self determination of nations was one of the goals of the UN, but Churchill fearful of losing India (lost it anyway) said that only applied to Europe, thus the French got Indochna back as a colony.
BTW I served as a crewchief door gunner in Company A 228th ASHB, 1st Air Cav, June 67-June 68. Flew ammo into the Citadel in Hue during Tet, helped in the relief of Khe Sahn (wow zigzag NVA trenches right up the the wire there) and flew in valley of death, the A Shau.
You be might free with the word "Fuck". Fuck me? I don't think either one of us would like it, but I'm sure you'd enjoy fucking yourself pissant. There is nothing so over rated as a fuck nor so under rated as a good shit, but I can't picture shitting you out and calling it a good shit.
For you jerks what don't get the gunners laughing while they are shooting people, you just don't get war. The guys to try for war crimes are the SOB's in suits that put the soldiers in harms way in the first place. Like Rumsfield, who managed to make McNamara whom I'd thought would prove to be the dumbest Sec of Defense ever, look like a freaking genius.
Nothing in the actions of he people accompanying the reporters seemed hostile to me. On of he problems our our occupation of Iraqi is that we do not have never enough troops to adequately run the occupation. When we occuppied Germany in May 1945, we had over 250,000 troops in the Medical Corp alone.
As
You say you oppose both wars. But then you support the atrocities committed in them. You just don't get it.
This is a worthwhile attitude to take toward the military as an institution and the MIC, and toward professional soldiers who actually understand the carnage and still do not resign and work against war. It may even be true of a few of the 18-25 year olds who enlist, NOT because they believe they will be defending their fellow citizens from some enemy, but in order to "blow stuff up." But for the majority of these young men and women, steeped in 12+ years of government school propaganda, whose brains are not fully matured until age 25, it is a harsh judgment indeed.
You allow for no atonement or redemption. If you drive a car or take advantage of other material wealth available disproportionately to Americans, there is blood on YOUR hands as well. What have you done to atone for this? Do you actively work in counter-recruitment? That would be a good way for you to insure our 18-25 year olds are fully informed of the nature of the military. If you were doing this, you might have some reason to condemn those who enlist in spite of your advice. However, why should they trust you rather than the teachers, parents, pastors, newscasters and Presidents they've been exposed to for their entire life.
I believe it may be useful for an 18-25 year old to hear your pronouncement before he enlists, to understands that enlistment does not have universal approval and many of us consider enlistment itself an evil deed. Still, there should be room for compassion toward these two young men and commendation for their act of atonement, late though it be.
What you can all do is LEAVE! NOW! TODAY! GO HOME! Don't go childishly pestering your victims for advice about how you can make it better. JUST GO AWAY! And live with the fact that truly the best thing that someone like you can do for these people is LEAVE THEM ALONE. FOREVER!
The soldiers who wrote this letter acknowledge that nothing they say or do can change the pain and suffering they have caused to a number of individuals in Iraq. I think it is significant that these soldiers actually recognize the humanity of the Iraqis and when an Iraqi is killed it is a human that is killed and not collateral damage. I would hope that more soldiers come to realize this fact and speak out on what is actually happening in Iraq. I would also hope that what these soldiers have to say would deter people from joining the military in the first place. Nothing these soldiers say or do can undo the damage they have already done, but perhaps by thier words and deeds they can have a role in bringing all the stupid, brutal, and cruel wars sponsored by the United States government closer to an end.
People who voted for Obama should write a similar letter to the people of Afghanistan.
The only way to support your country is to speak the truth.It is the highest form of heroism.
It's good that they wrote this letter, it shows that they have a conscious. Unfortunately it took Julian Assange to get their crickets chirping. Otherwise violence dominates.
While the majority fit your description, don't let the exceptions go unnoticed…
Listen:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akm3nYN8aG8
also:http://www.truthout.org/iraq-war-vet-we-were-told…
Amen! Julian Assange is the one that ought to get the Nobel Peace prize, not that other guy. Assange is a real hero.
Big man on campus just spoke. It is typical of you to protect your own kind even when your own kind takes part in invading and creating the very insurgents you rant on about. I have seen and had to stomach working with your kind before; you are part of what’s wrong with this world. Open your freakin eyes. I used to think the only service that harbored ignorant officers was the USAF, I got my taste first hand by my many visits to Ft. Cartoon and realized it wasn’t so. Your logic is insane and you sir are nothing more than part of the military complex funded by our tax dollars to loot and dominate the world. They hate us for our freedoms my ass.
Get this straigh:
There were no armed insurgents .They were innocent civilians in their own country that was invaded,destroyed,and is occupied by your(US)Soldiers.Stop drinking the kool aid.Wake up !No more believing in those endless Pentagon lies.
The Reuters cameraman crouches behind a building looking, camera first, around a corner, and you hear an American in an Apache yell, "He's got an RPG!" – mistaking his camera with its long-range lens for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The pilot, of course, doesn't know that it's a Reuters photographer down there. Only we do. (And when his death did become known, the military carefully buried the video.)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt3…
In fact, over these last nine-plus years, Afghan (and Iraqi) ceremonies of all sorts have regularly been blasted away. Keeping a partial tally of wedding parties eradicated by American air power at TomDispatch.com, I had counted five such "incidents" between December 2001 and July 2008. (A sixth in July 2002 in which possibly 40 Afghan wedding celebrants died and many more were wounded has since come to my attention, as has a seventh in August 2008.) Nor have other kinds of rites where significant numbers of Afghans gather been immune from attack, including funerals, and now, naming ceremonies. And keep in mind that these are only the reported incidents in a rural land where much undoubtedly goes unreported.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt3…
Our troops are governed by the constant emotions of blood, anger, fear, and death.
Hmm!Only US soliders entitled to and allowed to have those feelings.Who are the occuipers and who are the occupied?!Who traveled thousand of miles to invade and dstroy the other's country and lives?
So you were an officer, eh? A person with command responsibility, eh? Someone with a higher level of education, responsibility, and judgment, eh? Then let me ask you this: when no WMD's were found, did you go to the JAG office to find out if you were a war criminal yet, or did you just continue "following orders"? It was a rhetorical question, no need to answer, I already know. You're a cowardly, Kool-aid guzzling war criminal, with no strength of character, no interest in the truth, too lazy to do the right thing.
Someone with a higher level of education, responsibility, and judgment, eh?
Nope. That's one of the biggest myths perpetuated by the MICC in order to cultivate the undeserved hero-worship that surrounds the military: that military "officers" are beings superior in "education" and "judgment." In fact, most of them are arrogant, clueless mediocrities who are incapable of contributing anything of value to the productive, PRIVATE SECTOR of society and whose only goal in life is their own self-aggrandizement. The military is the one organization that indulges these self-centered megalomaniacs in the fostering of their god complexes.
As to the inevitable "my-service-gives-you-the-freedom-to-criticize-me" rejoinder that the typical "military officer" (or NCO, or Private, for that matter) will spout off, all I can say is, FUCK YOU. Not only do you not "GIVE" me my freedom, it's obvious that you don't even recognize the "domestic enemies" to the Constitution that you swore an oath to uphold and defend (but which you've clearly never read). If you did, you would be joining forces with other officers who truly understood their primary duty as contained in that oath and would be leading a division to the steps of the White House, up the steps of Capitol Hill, to the Supreme Court building, the headquarters of several dozen unconstitutional "executive agencies", and, last but certainly not least, that center of all evil, the Pentagram itself. The fact that none of you have done so not only speaks to your ignorance of your REAL mission, but to your contempt of it and of your own cowardice.
So until the "officer corps" of today's imperial legions wakes up out of its institutional slumber, recognizes the subversion that and rot that have permeated the last six and a half decades of military governance, and takes action, I don't want to hear anymore bullshit about "honor", "courage", "duty", "patriotism", or "fighting for freedom." It's all a great, big criminal lie, and more and more of the People are beginning to recognize it for what it is!
<standing ovation>
Confederate Robert E. Lee was to have said: "It is good that war is so terrible less we grow fond of it" – sadly – we have indeed grown very fond of war and the killing.
As per the late Colonel David Hackworth: "There were 1000 Mai Lais in Vietnam – Vietnam was an atrocity from the get go".
As Yogi Berra would say about Iraq and Afghanistan: "It deja vu all over again" – NOT much different than was Vietnam.
Those hajjis's lives are cheap. $1500 for loss of life, $500 for loss of limb. 10 kilos of rice for loss of animals. You name it.
Don't expect the person who are responsible facing trial anytime soon. Be real.
"Those hajjis's lives are cheap. $1500 for loss of life, $500 for loss of limb. 10 kilos of rice for loss of animals. You name it."
On 29 May 2002, Libya offered up to US$2.7 billion to settle claims by the families of the 270 killed in the Lockerbie bombing, representing US$10 million per family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
It is encouraging that there exists a couple of soldiers that are not human monsters. I believe that the vast majority of those who sign up to serve the military, whether serving private contractors or the US government, and regardless of their 'outward appearances', would score high on the MMPI as sadistic sociopaths. The afore mentioned characters can carry bibles; wave flags; and eat all the apple pie they want. I don´t buy their B.S.
The two young men that spoke up were very courageous. God Bless them for telling the truth.
Ann,
It's a sad truth that we all have within us the capacity for good and evil, and that, depending on the circumstances, either of these can be expressed. The military conditions its members to be instantly and unquestioningly obedient, and from there it takes but one small trigger pull to start a human on the road to monster. That descent is as damaging for the person using the gun as it is for the person on the business end. The guilt is horrific, ineradicable, and lasts a lifetime, which is why so many military personnel commit suicide. They get sucked in by the patriotic impulse (a good thing, mostly), then they drink the Kool-aid, and it gradually poisons their soul.
Our military people deserve better. Most particularly, they deserve to be protected from those in power who would "use" them illegitimately, or perhaps worse, cavalierly, or those in the officer corps who would use them for career advancement.
Will the killers come forward? Take a chance on being killed by visiting the survivors of their victims? Not any time, soon, I'll bet.
On 29 May 2002, Libya offered up to US$2.7 billion to settle claims by the families of the 270 killed in the Lockerbie bombing, representing US$10 million per family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
To those of you who feel their apology is too little, too late, please don't misjudge these soldiers. One of them defied and tried to stop the killing of Iraqi civilians many times while he was deployed in Baghdad. He was punished, put in the Brigg, and more. He only recently returned. That's why he was not able to speak out sooner. I know because he is now my student in my Peace Education class. He was only 17 yrs. old when he volunteered, in the aftermath of the attack on the Pentagon. He was horrified by what his commanders were making the troops do in Iraq. You can't imagine their own personal hell.
It wasn't too late at all, even if they had participated fully in the slaughter (I am not saying either soldier did). It takes a brave, almost saintly, human being to stand up to atrocities right in the middle of it. It still takes a brave human being to admit that they were wrong to participate in the slaughter, even years later. I am very proud of them, and for what it's worth, I signed the letter as a fellow veteran.
What a load of crap. These soldiers should have behaved properly, with honour and gallantry. They behaved like dirty nazis and don't deserve any sympathy for their awful crimes.
They are just a bunch of egomaniacs mass-murderers.
If these 2 guys and their colleagues had any honour they would commit hara-kiri in front of the white house!
Why commit suicide for the orders from up above? Your idea has merit If only those in the WH or Pentagon would join in with them. But, as you already know, that's a fantasy left for underlings and not the "important" volk.
I certainly do not agree with either conflict we are currently involved in, as they have none of our national interests behind them, and are instead Israeli/neocon orchestrated events to protect that sh*tty little Apartheid state. But I think what is wonderful and revealing about many of the commenters who post here is that their own words confirm what many Americans already believe, which is that far-leftist "peace education" types truly hate the soldiers, not just the policy-makers, who are made to fight on our behalf. As if any shit-eating journalist or academic ever guaranateed or preserved the "right to dissent". Of course, its noticable that so-called patriotic right is not extended to those who disagree with the current regime.
why join up then? Why follow the orders then? Why not stand up and speak out against it? why not lay down weapons and go home? No draft.. this is a army of people who volunteered to join.. nobody made them join.
I don't hate soldiers, I think for the most part they are trying to serve country, some are bad, always been the case, but at some point every human has to start using critical thinking and start questioning what's going on vs what's right and wrong.. What's going on is WRONG.
I just want to say I agree with you that some of these people posting are spewing pure hatred over a broad spectrum of men and women. I believe they work themselves into a sick frenzy such that they can't even open their mouths without the putrid bile spraying out.
It is truly hilarious to read these detached elitists condemn ALL of our soldiers either as bloodthirsty sadistic psychopaths or little children unable to find work elsewhere because of the actions on a few whom they watch in a short video engaging the enemy in the way he engages us. My sincerest wish is for an end to these useless wars, an immediate redeployment back to our shores and especially to our borders, and finally an assignment to seek out and line up against the wall many of the swine whose comments are posted here.
"Detached elitists?" Buddy, you'd better wake up and realize that many of these "detached elitists" who post here are VETERANS of these very wars we're discussing, veterans who not only see them for the crimes against humanity that they clearly are, but who have awoken to the fact that ALL WARS fought by the Amerikan political establishment (Whatever the faux party designation of those occupying the executive branch or the majority in that useless debating society called "Congress") are criminal, unconstitutional, and solely fought for the benefit of the well-heeled few. For you to apply the tired, stale ideological bromides of "left", "right", "liberal", "conservative" to any of this shows that you just don't "get it" and that you're just another MSM koolaid drinker who is part of the problem.
As I said in a previous post: If anyone serving in today's military wants to put an end to the madness, they need to recognize the fact that the people "leading" these immoral, illegal, insane, unconstitutional wars are the "domestic enemies" of the Constitution that you swore an oath upon commissioning to defend against! Until all members of the military recognize that fact and act accordingly, not only will nothing change, but military members will find themselves co-opted into becoming the very instrument of that founding document's destruction! In fact, that's already happening, so what are you going to do about it?!
You must have no self-awareness at all not to see the contradiction in what you are saying.
"My sincerest wish is for an end to these useless wars"
That will happen when the US public at starts to think clearly ,stop believing in what those never-stop lying politicians and their enabling mouthpieces of the media and intelectuals,and view and value the lives of other people in other countries the same way here.
I completey concur. see? we can have a rational logical conversation without badmouthing those soldiers caught up in events larger than themselves.
many of these "detached elitists" who post here are VETERANS of these very wars we're discussing, veterans who not only see them for the crimes against humanity that they clearly are, but who have awoken to the fact that ALL WARS fought by the Amerikan political establishment (Whatever the faux party designation of those occupying the executive branch or the majority in that useless debating society called "Congress") are criminal, unconstitutional, and solely fought for the benefit of the well-heeled few.
I dont disagree with you, brother, Im talking about the ones who wish our soldiers ill. it is not their fault they are being cynically misuded by the types you describe who lead them into harms way with no national interest at stake. hate the politcos, not the joes. otherwise, you and i agree.
Except that the "Joe's" didn't HAVE to enlist. And by so doing they ENABLED all these useless wars.
also – WE the people have, through our inaction and apathy, given consent and power to the political elite that are the policy makers and who's orders and laws are carried out by our military and federal police. WE have enabled this too. We have done nothing to stop this.
instead of focusing rage on the trigger pullers, here is where the anger should be directed:
http://renaya.com/opinion/?p=1339
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/04/israe…
I rest my case…
I’m currently active duty and deployed. Some of the comments here are disturbing. Yes, I volunteered. I also learned a lot from being in. I use to be a young republican thinking I was serving my country. Now I’m a constitutionalist, an oathkeeper, a 3 percenter and want to do whatever I can to truly serve my country. I will become an activist against the war and of big government when I return home.
Some say to just lay down your arms. Can I? I thought about it. But what can my family do while I serve 12 months in jail or more? I have 11 months left in country. I also have 10 months left on my contract. I try to educate those around me. Whether or not it’s against UCMJ I don’t know or don’t care. I welcome disciplinary actions for my opinions as well as a ticket home.
I am an infantry soldier as well. I have to leave the wire almost on a daily basis. Some of my brothers were hit by an IED yesterday. All survived. I’m terrified each time I leave the wire but know I have to do whatever I have to do to make it back alive. I don’t know if I’d be able to live with myself if I ever discover that I killed non-combatives. But it’s something we have to live with on a daily basis.
Thus, under Nuremberg Principle IV, "defense of superior orders" is not a defense for war crimes, although it might influence a sentencing authority to lessen the penalty. Nuremberg Principle IV states:
"The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."
It is time our leaders in this nation admit our wrong doing and leave other countries alone. The War on Terror will never end because you can't defeat an ideology. It is war for war's sake. Money, power and control.
War is State Sanctioned Murder.
Bring the troops home.
Then electrocute them.
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There is a sure form of dialog you've got infrequently at events in New York a couple of new ebook. The phrase "banal" generally rears its Radgonske Gorice by-now banal head; you say 'underneath-edited,' I say 'spinoff.' The dialog goes round and round numerous literary criticisms, and by the time it strikes on one factor is obvious
Steiber and McCord… two REAL HEROES! And you know damn well that no one in authority in our country will be inviting them to appear at the singing of the national anthem before a baseball game or football game.