And for those who feel getting the US out of Iraq is the defining issue of 2008, here is Dennis Kucinich’s video of today, March 19, 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PY8RZT3zAs

A quote from one US sergeant:” “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..”, he explained: this makes itself felt in the rules of engagement handed down by commanders to soldiers on the front lines.

So, how about prosecuting your commanders? Or is that too far out a concept?

He goes on that when he was stationed in Samarra, for example, one of his fellow soldiers shot an unarmed man while he walked down the street. “The problem is that that soldier was not committing a crime …”

Eh?? Actually it is a crime you moron. This is how some people I know there have been killed, simply for walking in the wrong area without knowledge of the orders these invading criminals had been given.

“We all killed Jesus.”
Mel Gibson
Bullshit, Mel.

A variety of strange circumstances got me into community college for a while, then I landed in the Navy, where - after bootcamp - I never even held a weapon. But all of that was just chance, and had chance been different, I’d have gone off to Viet Nam - still lost in my goofy, horny, violent, confused little teen world. In that case, of course, they’d have given me lots of deadly weapons, and they’d have taught me how to use them. I don’t know if I had the tools or the “center,” at the time, to stand against such pressures. I don’t think I did. I don’t think kids do now, either.
As I got into my 20’s, I looked back on my late teens with much embarrassment and amazement. I’d known virtually nothing about almost everything. It’s like I was only semi-conscious, dreaming.
That’s how I see 18 and 19 year olds, now. The idea that they’re making their own decisions and responsible for their own lives is essentially preposterous. Most of them have not yet had a life at all, and they’re surrounded by people and institutions which relentlessly tell them to kill for their beloved country.
The real question, I think, was the one asked at the end of the film: “Valley of Elah.” The little boy says to his mother: “Why would the grown ups send a little boy [David] down into the valley to fight such a big, scary monster [Goliath], when even they were afraid to fight him?”
“I don’t know,” his mother replies.
I don’t know either.

that’s what being a born-again fake ‘Dissident Voice’ (TM) in happy-clappy skYankiLandia is all about

Now, polish the General’s Helmet to a spit-shine, Democrat Bitches!

thank you also good sir or madam max.

A form of Truth and Reconciliation is what is called for; but we’ll not see. This may be the closest thing to an acknowledgement of the horror that we unleash on people. Our sins are deep and many. That these sins are not shown to the public at large - when a CNN does a update on Iraq and Afganistan and never mentions the Winter Soldiers it is just one more case of hiding our collective wantoness. We hide so much from ourselves as a people. The “war” is not “our” war; it is Bush’s war we tell ourselves. No, it is ours. We, collectively live off the fat of war, we bath in it, we mall in it, we tv in it, we eat popcorn in it, we drive down the highway because of war, our war, our blood soaked wars.

Winter Solidier is not Truth and Reconciliation, but it is a glimpse of what WE have done and continue to do. We need to look at it, stare into the face of the victims of our madness. No excuses.

These boys who went and killed are our arms and legs, that’s all that distinguishes their acts from ours. Bush has shoved our hedonism in our faces. He, god help us, is our worst darker side.

Frank Bubo, I take it you would describe the victims of fatality-causing drunken drivers as “murder victims” also, instead of “involuntary homicides.” I just wonder whether your attitude comes more from ignorance or fear.

Robert Magarulian. I’m curious. This Robert guy, the Vietnam-era Navy vet you quote, when and under what cricumstances did he deliver his pronouncement condemning his fellow Marines along with “political leaders”? Before 1975 and in public? And if you heard the Winter Soldier testimonies, you’d know: NO one discounted their own actions while scapegoating others.

Joed. “These vets are typical, and it is sad.” No, IVAW’s membership is pretty far from typical. Its numbers have been holding steady for months at around 850. Do you have any idea what percentage of the eligible pool of veterans that represents? I’ve read you frequently at DV, joed. It’s not IVAW that’s typical and sad. It’s you.

THE OFFICIAL COMMENTS:
“Soldiers and Marines are not to blame for the suffering of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan; these veterans’ stories will indicate that responsibility belongs to those in the seat of power. Winter Soldier will prove that the problem goes much deeper than the atrocities of Abu Ghraib or the massacre in Haditha.”
Liam Madden, an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of Appeal for Redress. He serves on the Board of Directors of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

“Contrary to the rhetoric of political and military leaders, wrongdoings in Iraq and Afghanistan are not isolated incidents perpetrated by ‘bad apples.’ Throughout the military, from the highest levels of power, servicemen and women are being ordered to do things that violate their consciences and the rules of war. We repeatedly see lower enlisted soldiers getting punished for bad policy. Winter Soldier will place the blame of atrocious U.S. war policy where it belongs: on our political leaders.”
From the Iraq Veterans Against the War website.

THE UNOFFICIAL COMMENT:
“We’re only a bunch of volunteers following orders. You can’t blame us. Gosh, we’re all just ignorant people who want to get a college education after we’re done killing the bad guys led by Al Qaeda. We don’t know nothin’. Our political leaders are the ones to blame for all the atrocities, not us.”
A volunteer, ignorant person awaiting his college education.

THE REALITY:
“Soldiers and Marines have failed to act in accordance with Geneva Conventions and the conclusions reached at the Nuremberg trials. Avoiding responsibility will only lead to mental health problems later on. Yes, political leaders are also responsible for their actions. But focusing solely on political leaders, while discounting one’s own actions, merely continues the scapegoating.”
Robert, Vietnam-era veteran, U.S. Navy.

This is in contrast to Elliot Spitzer who assumed accountability for his own behaviors and stepped down from his entire political career with the possibility of future prosecution.

Many of the Winter Soldiers confessed to Summer Atrocities, including murdering noncombatant civilians under direct pressure and sometimes orders to do so from their superiors.

And the Pacifica broadcast crew swept the crimes under the rug, accepting the claims by the murderers that they themselves were victims of a bad situation. That would be like a Hell’s Angel claiming he was not to blame because he happened to be in a bad environment. The US Army is an all-volunteer army and all soldiers are under legal mandate to disobey illegal orders and to avoid war crimes.

It was sad to see Pacifica Radio stoop to tacitly condoning murder by soldiers who had after the fact pangs of conscience. If this is Pacific at its best, God help us.

If only that were true.

Pacifica was, quite incredibly, awol from its own broadcast. KPFT Houston ignored the hearings and kept to its regular “all-music” weekend schedule.

How ironic to hear frequent complaints of the MSM’s lack of coverage during the hearings, via webstream, as KPFT’s own broadcast carried the likes of Pink Floyd.

What a shame and a waste, and an insult to Pacifica’s true spirit, that Houston airwaves were deprived of this vital, and very powerful testimony from the ongoing illegal occupation of Iraq.