Soldiers Discuss Using "Drop Weapons" To Cover Up Killing Innocent Iraqi Civilians

Several soldiers who have returned from combat zones talk with the American News Project about what they say is the widespread practice of using "drop weapons" to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feature five veterans and current members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, plus retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary Solis, a Vietnam War veteran and legal scholar who taught "Law of War" at West Point. Watch the video from ANP below:

Read and watch more from ANP here.

Comments

[research]

War Crime: invading Iraq on lies is a war crime.

Torture is a war crime.

free fire zones are a war crime.

Even in war, killing and coving it up, is a war crime.

[UncensoredReports]

Indefensible Spending

By Robert Scheer

You wouldn't know it from the most-exhau­sting-ever presidential primary campaigns, but the 2009 defense budget commits the United States to spending more (again, in real dollars) to defeat a ragtag band of terrorists than it spent at the height of the Cold War fighting the Soviet superpower and what we alleged were its surrogates in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20030.htm

[ClarkJensen]

If anyone should be tried as war criminals, maybe the electorate of the United States should be tried also.

Can you be tried for stupidity?

[UncensoredReports]

Iraq: At least 17 killed in another bloody day of US occupation:

A suicide bomber killed at least three policemen and four civilians in Mosul, police said. Two children were among the dead. At least seven policemen and 25 civilians were wounded.
http://tinyurl.com/6brb76

===

Iraq blast kills at least 13:

At least 13 people are killed, including nine policemen after a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police checkpoint in Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/6argw9

===

Dahr Jamail: Death Toll 'Above Highest Estimates':

"The U.S. military benefits from hiding the real totals," said a political analyst who declined to give his name because of the atmosphere of fear within Iraq. "And the Iraqi government is a puppet of the Americans, so their figures are ridiculously low as well."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42618

[BlackWidowPilot]

"If anyone should be tried as war criminals, maybe the electorate of the United States should be tried also."

Mr. Jensen, two words: *election *fraud. 2000 and again in 2004. Watch the fur fly if the Busheviks try to pull it off a third time to put "Hundred Years War" McCain into the White House in November '08.

Make a note of this before you decide to tar and feather *all* Americans again.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Bobrobert]

War crime????

What war crime?????

Accidentally killing someone is not a war crime!!!!

Get a life folks, do something productive with your lives.

[BayAreaResident]

Deliberate carrying of a foreign weapon to be planted by the innocent you've just accidentally murdered, does not sound very incidental to me... But who cares, they are just some Iraqis, right?

[Matango]

Actually, according to the Geneva Convention that is not a war crime. It doesn't make it right but it doesn't make it a War Crime either.

[vippy]

Planting guns in the "enemy's hand is!

[StillAmused]

"Accidentally" invading and occupying the wrong friggin' country IS a war crime. So's what follows, thanks to those GIs who share your attitude.

[Bobrobert]

War = kill anyone that you THINK is a threat to you.

Yep.

Can you imagine thinking this way twenty four hours a day for 15 MONTHES.

Get off your high horses.

These guys are all saying to have drop weapons incase you kill someone ACCIDENTALLY!!!

They were never told or encouraged to kill unarmed people and then give them a weapon.

If you cannot accept accidental shootings and deaths of civilians then stop the war.

Otherwise shut up.

[laocoon]

OK I will vote for STOP THE WAR. Anyone else?

[CyrusBeaucephus]

OK lets stop the F*cking war (ps.. its reallly not a "war" anymore--its a military occupation. A failed military occupation)

[ProveMeWrong]

I served two tours in the Gulf, and never had to shoot anyone. I didn't have to cover up any misdeeds to protect my country's reputation, either. Maybe lying isn't necessary if you act with honor. Maybe war, too.

By the new rule of preemptive aggression in the name of security, we as individuals should have every right to kill anyone who disagrees with us (and therefore undermines our security), including people like Bobrobert. Fortunately for them, we have morals, and find killing and lying to be wrong. (You don't think it's the LAW that's keeping us from killing, do you?) But go ahead and cross that line. Undermine America's morality a little more. Make murder a little less ugly with a lie (until the lie is discovered).

Those who respect the lie will have it turned on them.

Maybe that's it? Maybe Bobrobert bought into it, and now finds benefit in perpetuating the lie? Maybe if he gets enough people to believe the lie, they can make it true?

It doesn't take courage to start a fight, but to stop one. It takes courage to face a threat, and even more to mitigate it, rather than destroying it.

If morality and principle mean nothing in the conduct of one's affairs, including the waging of war, then we should forget about recruiting, and just start sending our criminals to defend our security - and not corrupt the good young volunteers who would otherwise have to do the job.

[ProFromOre]

I know first hand the damage 12 months in combat can impart. As a country, we are going to learn, in the next few years, the impact of war @ 24.7 for 15 months, repeated 3-4 times with inadequate dwell time . It's not going to be pretty, it's not going to be nice.

It's the true cost of war, though.

[joanjourne]

You know, it really pisses me off when people, like the guy in this video, say with such certainty "The American public doesn't care."

Excuse me, Jack. Yes we do. Jesus Christ, why the hell do you think people go to protests, put up signs all over the place, a la the freeway blogger, trying to get SOMEONE to listen to our voice screaming that we HATE this damn war? What would he have us do? I'd really like to know. Write our congressman? VOTE? Storm the White House with pitchforks & torches?

"The American public" are not the ones who got us into this obscene mess. We are SICK TO DEATH of this war. DON'T tell me we don't care.

[ProFromOre]

(part 3 of 3)

I submit that several generations were damaged by the event of the '60's and early'70's and we have been circling the drain since. The apathy leads to not being heard. Uninvolvement leads to poor leaders & less 'tending of the garden' of Democracy.

THAT, IMHO, is the reason we find ourselves in the situation we're in today: the venerable GOP, the party of Lincoln, has shown itself to have been hijacked by neo-cons and has devolved into the morally bankrupt Failure Party. The Bush crime family in the White House is the epitomy of their failures and Ronald Reagan, a mean-spirited dolt who should have been impeached, is their godhead. Their mantra is "let the market adjust" and, for them, privatization is nirvana.

The good news is, things are changing. We've had a couple of generations come of age that didn't suffer the demoralization and are getting involved. A new hope has bloomed with Obama helping scores of the disaffected trust enough to become involved, once again. If we seize the opportunity, become involved and voice our concerns, we can effect change to the better. It's up to us to define our future, as it has always been.

The primary reason for the virulent reaction to Hillary Clinton's foolish mention of RFK's assassination was the concept spoken jabbed that wounded, but hopeful, collective psyche like a red-hot poker.

[Bobrobert]

There are hospitals that treat for free.

You may wish to seek one.

If we impeach everyone you want and believe what you say the world is coming to an end soon.

Take care all.

[research]

Never has an administration been more deserving of impeachment than BushCo.

[ProFromOre]

two purposes:

1. what the f*** are you talking about, in all sincerity...

2. HuffPost didn't post the first two parts of my post -- I'm posting them now.

[ResidentChimp]

As an Oregonian don't think the rest of the Country is following your trend. The Oregonian Governor is in the pocket of the Government Unions and doesn't make a move unless they say so. The Willamette Valley Corridor is just chocked full of far left liberals who have come to believe their own echo chamber. Now that Obamaniacs have reviled and denigrated Hillary, many of her former supporters will be voting for McCain. Most far left liberals in the business of Bush Bashing really want Obama to lose so they can continue to make the big bucks in denigrating America and the Republicans.

[BlackWidowPilot]

"Most far left liberals in the business of Bush Bashing really want Obama to lose so they can continue to make the big bucks in denigrating America and the Republicans."

Um, this is fascinating. Can you prove this assertion, or are you just regurgitating from a crib sheet provided by your local John Birch Society chapter president?

Do tell, Chimpy.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[john85msy]

Not good at all.

[Hare]

I feel sorry for the soldiers that have to follow orders and then come home to face their conscience. I feel many cannot handle facing what they did and blame themselves instead of thinking and realizing who are the real guilty party. They are in pain and try to kill themselves and hurt their love ones, if you are one of those, please stop, breath and then think. Is that the best way to solve the situation of Iraq/Afghanistan or are you just being selfish not able to consider others before yourself. Help us change the status quo and your inner turmoil will begin to dissipate. That I can guarantee you. Participate in the change. As long as you are alive you have a mind and a voice so use them wisely. Killing yourself is not the answer.

[JTyroler]

When all of this is over, we will have problems dealing with our actions - unfortunately, most of us won't see the damages. I imagine that most people haven't seen photos of the birth defects caused by depleted uranium ammunition. We usually don't see photos of the civilian dead, our dead soldiers, people in Iraq and Afghanistan trying to live their day-to-day lives - we don't see much of the war. And because we don't see these images, we don't get outraged at what is being done in our name.

We don't know what a victory in Iraq looks like. We don't know what a victory in Afghanistan looks like. We don't really know why we have troops in Iraq. At one point, we were going after al Qaida - a bounty on bin Laden of $50,000,000 and still haven't found him after 6 1/2 years. We were told that there were a lot of terrorists in Iraq and they were going to nuke us - which doesn't make much sense because we have so many nukes - any nation that tried to nuke us would probably be blown away in retaliation.

Iraq ended up being ruled by a delusional madman - and we killed him. Saddam didn't have a clue what was going on in his country - generals kept him in the dark. Our reason for sending troops in Iraq changed multiple times. Who are we fighting? Does anyone actually know?

[ThermoChemist]

"I imagine that most people haven't seen photos of the birth defects caused by depleted uranium ammunition."

++++++++++­++++++++++­++++++++++­++++

Well, for those who haven't seen the photos:

http://mindprod.com/politics/iraqdubabiespix.html#DUBABIESPIX

[BayAreaResident]

YouTube is full of videos on which US soldiers as well as private contractors are killing innocent civilians left and right, and i mean it - left and right, and apparently it isn't a big enough deal to even bother dropping any weapons by, since they would simply move on to find another target. And this stuff is going on over there all the time, that is why we have to end this war immediately!

[john85msy]

The soldier blowing up the dead dog stuffed with explosives on the side of the road was cool but the soldier throwing the puppy of the cliff was disturbing. It damages our image as a civil people in the eyes of the world and our allies.

[springsm]

Isn't this a common ploy in police departments all over in the biggest of cities? What a terrible burden and shame for these young people who are thrown into this illegal bushbot war. I do differ with the Law professor...people not directly involved DO care, they HAVE cared, they demonstrate that they STILL care, they elect new people to congress because of this gd war...NOTHING and I mean NOTHING has made any difference to congress..to the cowboy wannabe in the WH...nothing. We are fed pap and the media propagandizes it. Don't tell me I don't care. I also care about these people coming back from this war so badly damaged physically, mentally and/or emotionally. There is no excuse for this. And on top of that we are paying for hired mercenaries. Geez..what a darn mess bush as wrought.

[Berettasskeeter]

No, it's not a common ploy. A very few have done this, but it has been hyped by Hollywood. The vast majority of police are trying to do the best job they can while handicapped by politicians and the press.
Semper fi

[osturk]

Our combat soldiers carry a heavy burden. If they make a mistake and kill a civillian then then they have to worry about being called a murderer. So some of them drop a weapon to cover up their error. Our soldiers deserve better support.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Our soldiers deserved to have never been sent off on Cheney's war for oil and empire launched and sustained by over 900+ *documented* lies about WMDs and debunked claims of connections between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.

Our soldiers deserved better than defective body armour, unarmoured humvees, and being served rotting food and contaminated water by Cheney crony KBR, while *mercenaries* are paid with taxpayer dollars many times the pay rate of comparable soldiers in uniform enduring stricter rules and regulations, and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice while enduring barely tolerable conditions, VA benefits denied as an apparent matter of official policy, while the mercs enjoy better conditions, better food, and get away with taking far fewer risks.

Our soldiers deserve to be brought home - NOW - to proper medical and psychiatric care, improved pay scales, educational benefits, and a VA that actually delivers care to our veterans without endless red tape and run-around.

Enough is enough is enough.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[awcbuddy8]

If you can name one case where a soldier was sent to Iraq with inadequate anything, which could have been avoided, please let me know.

The myth that the soldiers were sent to Iraq with crappy body armor is so freaking stupid.

[kardwell]

The best and ONLY legitimate wasy to support our soldiers is to 1.) bring them home. NOW, 2.) respect and adhere to international law, 3.) to acknowledge and support them when they testify to the crimes they have been forced to commit, 4.) ensure they receive proper medical and psychological treatment upon their return home, 5.) IMPEACH and PROSECUTE the liars and thieves i the Bush administration who created this mess

Cover-ups and deception do not help anyone.

[vippy]

Not so fast here. From my WW2 father i learned there are two kinds of soldiers. Those who
kill when told to kill and those who kill because they enjoy killing! Planting guns in enemies'
hands is one of them. So many suicides among our soldiers now because they have seen far
too much and cannot deal with their memories. I don't support all soldiers, there is a difference.

[jnratliff]

The young man said you are put in a situation where you feel you have to be dishonest if you want to get back home to your family.
I think if you are republican you are dishonest, no honor, no integrity, just a low life criminal.

[Bobrobert]

Wow

So upset.

Killing people is what you do in a war.

No one can be assumed to be innocent.

If you think someone can be innocent you end up dead.

Think about it.

You have to go around 24/7 with the belief that anyone not in a uniform like yours is capable of killing you.

Get real folks - innocents die because war is killing people.

War is not a John Wayne movie.

We killed over a hundred thousand innocent woman and children in Japan with the big bad bombs.

If you want to stop killing innocent civilians - STOP THE WAR or shut the hell up.

Take care all.

[vippy]

question - have you served and participated in a war? Did you go by the rules or made up your
own?

[laocoon]

my problem with most of the right is that they do think we are living in a John Wayne movie. Good guys and bad guys and the duke always knew immediately who to shoot. Reagan said he ran the country by asking what John Wayne would do in this situation. Red River was the one movie that showed the evil of the John Wayne character. The US has in the hands of the right become like the John Wayne character in Red River.

[POINT84]

This is sad...Bush needs to get tried for war crimes already