Mar 24, 2013

Bush's Legacy: Massacres, War Crimes, Neo-Nazi's, Murder & Terrorism

Background: Haditha Massacre: Was it an Isolated Event and Did the Military Try to Cover it Up? 

One Day After 2007 Attack, Witnesses Describe US Killings of Iraqi Civilians...



As the US Central Command says it has no plans to reopen an investigation into the July 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, we play never-before-seen eyewitness interviews filmed the day after the attack.

Transcript

JUAN GONZALEZ: We begin today with a Democracy Now! exclusive. As the US Central Command says it has no plans to reopen an investigation into the July 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, we’ll play never-before-seen eyewitness interviews filmed the day after the attack.


Military lawyers have reportedly been reviewing the classified video of the air strikes released by the website WikiLeaks on Monday. But Rear Admiral Hal Pittman, director of communications at Central Command, which oversees the war in Iraq, said in a statement to Reuters, quote, "Central Command has no current plans to reinvestigate or review this combat action."


However, CENTCOM did make public a redacted series of records on the case, including investigations days after the attack by the air cavalry and infantry units that were involved in the incident. According to an investigation by the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, the military concluded the aircrew, quote, "accurately assessed that the criteria to find and terminate the threat to friendly forces were met in accordance with the law of armed conflict and rules of engagement."


The chilling video footage taken from the US military helicopter shows US forces indiscriminately firing on Iraqis in the New Baghdad neighborhood of the Iraqi capital. The dead included two employees of the Reuters news agency: photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh.

"This Is How These Soldiers Were Trained to Act"–Veteran of Military Unit Involved in 2007 Baghdad Helicopter Shooting Says Incident Is Part of Much Larger Problem...



We speak with a former member of Bravo Company 2-16, the military unit involved in the 2007 helicopter shooting of Iraqi civilians that killed twelve people, including two Reuters employees, as seen on the military video released by WikiLeaks. "The natural thing to do would be to instantly judge or criticize the soldiers in this video," says Josh Stieber. "Not to justify what they did, but militarily speaking, they did exactly what they were trained to do...If we’re shocked by this video, we need to be asking questions of the larger system, because this is how these soldiers were trained to act." 


Journalists from the investigative team in Iceland that released the now-infamous US military video on WikiLeaks traveled to Baghdad recently to meet with the family members of some of the twelve people killed in the 2007 attack. Ahlam Abdelhussain, the widow of Saleh Mutashar who was killed when the gunship opened fire on a van, asks, "Why was he shot with his children in the car? They did nothing wrong. He was helping a journalist. What was his crime? What was the crime of our children who are left with no father and no support?”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZALEZ: We begin today with an update on the video released last week by WikiLeaks that depicts US troops killing twelve people, including two Reuters employees, and injuring at least two children in a suburb of Baghdad nearly three years ago. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC’s This Week that the video, quote, "doesn’t show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at American troops." He acknowledged that the video was “unfortunate” and “painful” but added that the incident had already been thoroughly investigated and the video, quote, "should not have any lasting consequences."

Here’s an excerpt from that US military video released by WikiLeaks. This is the moment that US forces first open fire from a helicopter.

    US SOLDIER 5: ...there, one o’clock. Haven’t seen anything since then.

    US SOLDIER 2: Just [expletive]. Once you get on, just open up.

    US SOLDIER 1: I am.

    US SOLDIER 4: I see your element, got about four Humvees, out along this —

    US SOLDIER 2: You’re clear.

    US SOLDIER 1: Alright, firing.

    US SOLDIER 4: Let me know when you’ve got them.

    US SOLDIER 2: Let’s shoot. Light ’em all up.

    US SOLDIER 1: Come on, fire!

    US SOLDIER 2: Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’.

    US SOLDIER 6: Hotel, Bushmaster two-six, Bushmaster two-six, we need to move, time now!

    US SOLDIER 2: Alright, we just engaged all eight individuals.
JUAN GONZALEZ: The video shows US forces watching as a van pulls up to evacuate the wounded. They again open fire from the helicopter, killing several more people and wounding two children inside the van.

    US SOLDIER 1: Where’s that van at?

    US SOLDIER 2: Right down there by the bodies.

    US SOLDIER 1: OK, yeah.

    US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse. We have individuals going to the scene, looks like possibly picking up bodies and weapons.

    US SOLDIER 1: Let me engage. Can I shoot?

    US SOLDIER 2: Roger. Break. Crazy Horse one-eight, request permission to engage.

    US SOLDIER 3: Picking up the wounded?

    US SOLDIER 1: Yeah, we’re trying to get permission to engage. Come on, let us shoot!

    US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse one-eight.

    US SOLDIER 1: They’re taking him.

    US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse one-eight.

    US SOLDIER 4: This is Bushmaster seven, go ahead.

    US SOLDIER 2: Roger. We have a black SUV —- or Bongo truck picking up the bodies. Request permission to engage.

    US SOLDIER 4: Bushmaster seven, roger. This is Bushmaster seven, roger. Engage.

    US SOLDIER 2: One-eight, engage. Clear.

    US SOLDIER 1: Come on!

    US SOLDIER 2: Clear. Clear.

    US SOLDIER 1: We’re engaging.

    US SOLDIER 2: Coming around. Clear.

    US SOLDIER 1: Roger. Trying to -—

    US SOLDIER 2: Clear.

    US SOLDIER 1: I hear ’em — I lost ’em in the dust.

    US SOLDIER 3: I got ’em.

    US SOLDIER 2: Should have a van in the middle of the road with about twelve to fifteen bodies.

    US SOLDIER 1: Oh yeah, look at that. Right through the windshield! Ha ha!
JUAN GONZALEZ: Saleh Mutashar is the man who was driving that van. He was taking his two children, age nine and six at the time, to school.
Well, earlier this month, journalists from the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, who were part of the investigative team that released the US military video on WikiLeaks, visited the family of Saleh Mutashar, the driver of the van and the father of the two children. They showed his family the recently released video footage of the attack on the van that led to his death, and then spoke to his son Sajad, his nephew Anwar, and his widow Ahlam Abdelhussain.
    AHLAM ABDELHUSSAIN: [translated] My husband did nothing wrong. He saved a wounded person and had his children with him in the car. How do I feel? What can I say? Why was he shot with his children in the car? They did nothing wrong. He was helping a journalist. What was his crime? What was the crime of our children who are left with no father and no support?

    ANWAR: [translated] He was carrying wounded people during the American attacks. He was trying to help. They believe that someone who was carrying a gun will take his children along with him? Unbelievable. What can we do? God take revenge from the Americans. They destroyed us and destroyed our nations. What is the future of those children? They are orphans.

    SAJAD MUTASHAR: [translated] I want to get our rights from the Americans who harmed us.
AMY GOODMAN: That was twelve-year-old Sajad Mutashar, injured in the July 2007 Apache helicopter attack on the Iraqi civilians, reacting to the video of the attack released by WikiLeaks. The boy’s mother says she has yet to receive compensation from the US military for the death of her husband or the injuries to her two children. She described the hardship she’s had to suffer since her husband was killed in July 2007.
    AHLAM ABDELHUSSAIN: [translated] We used to live in a rented house. He worked as a construction worker. We didn’t have any other income. After his death, I was left with nothing. My children were wounded. We were devastated. My father-in-law took us to live with him. Life became very difficult. My children are still suffering from their wounds. My daughter still suffers from pain in her head and her stomach. My son is still in pain after his surgery. We don’t have a pension or any other income to rely on, so my father-in-law took us to live with him.
AMY GOODMAN: The attack also killed two Reuters employees: the photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, a father of four, Saeed Chmagh.       



MOMENT OF ZEN: George Carlin on bombing brown people...






  • [ From: Imran Khan (official) exclusive interview with the Economist Magazine.]

    Imran Khan on Pakistan...



    At 4 minutes and 30 seconds Imran Khan points out that...

    "If people in Britain, for instance know exactly what these drones are doing I reckon they'll be bigger demonstrations here than in our own country. Because these are violations of all Humanitarian laws.

    On some information, which might or might not be correct, someone sitting thousands of miles away... presses a button and people are blown up! Houses are blown up in villages. They hit houses in the villages. People gather around and come to rescue the survivors minus limbs, another drone attack kills 7 people, killing the survivors, for another hour no one goes near the site, there are screams of the survivors... again people come to rescue them, ANOTHER drone attack and another 7 people are killed - 22 people are killed in this! 

    I don't know who is the brain power behind this...

    Number 1: It is immoral 

    Number 2: It is completely counterproductive. All it does is it creats Anti-Americanism which is now worse than ever in our history.

    You win the war on terror if you win the hearts and minds of the people"


    Interviewer Question: Do the drone attack lead you to be Anti-American 

    Answer: I can't be Anti-American cause I realize that the majority of Americans would agree with me! Majority people in Britain are anti war. I'm anti THIS policy. Jimmy Carter critisized these drones attacks."

    Note: This isn't war. This IS terrorism by the Pentagon.


Related:


Hitler's Minions In Texas! Are Noe-Nazi's The USA's Answer To The Holocaust? http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/hitlers-minions-in-texas-are-neo-nazis.html



U.S. claims Jewish settlements are an obstacle to peace, but continues to give Israel generous foreign aid 

The Fall Of Educational Standards & Rise Of Child Abuse In the USA Can Be Traced To Texas! http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/the-fall-of-educational-standards-rise.html


Origins of Military Trained Domestic Terrorists (Nazis) In The USA... Get It Israel? http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/origins-of-military-trained-domestic.html






BTW, when does this investigation begin? 


Moment Of Zen...




Accountability in the U.K. - David Cameron Kills it (A side by side comparison of what an investigation looks like in the UK as compared to the US - when there is an investigation, which is rare)



Background:

A Daily Show Introduction to Bill O'Reilly (Includes News Reports & Analysis!) http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/a-daily-show-introduction-to-bill.html

From Bill Moyers: How big money and big media have coupled to create a ‘Disney World’ of democracy http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/from-bill-moyers-how-big-money-and-big.html

Bush's Legacy: A Bill Moyers documentary exploring how mainstream media failed to question the war in Iraq http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-bill-moyers-documentary.html

US TV News Media: Echo Chambers http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/us-tv-news-media-echo-chambers.html

US TV News Media: Fox News Echo Chambers http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/us-tv-news-media-fox-news-echo-chambers.html


Breaking Down Society & Social Structures Leads To Anarchy AND Violence http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/breaking-down-society-social-structures.html




Related Blog Posts:

BBC-Guardian Exposé Uses WikiLeaks to Link Iraq Torture Centers to U.S. Col. Steele & Gen. Petraeus http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bbc-guardian-expose-uses-wikileaks-to.html

Bush's Legacy: New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq’s Oil Reserves to Western Companies http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-new-iraq-oil-law-to-open.html

Bush's Legacy: Fired Army Whistleblower Receives $970K for Exposing Halliburton No-Bid Contracts in Iraq http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-fired-army-whistleblower.html

Bush's Legacy: A Bill Moyers documentary exploring how mainstream media failed to question the war in Iraq http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-bill-moyers-documentary.html

Bush's Legacy: Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed State Living in "Utter Devastation" http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-dahr-jamail-returns-to.html

Bush's Legacy: Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq With Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-en-years-later-us-has-left.html

Breaking: Iraq Spies Lies Exposed! & Tony Blair Ignores His Own Spy Agencies! http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/breaking-iraq-spies-lies-exposed-tony.html

Amanpour On Iraq: Where were the journalists? http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/amanpour-on-iraq-where-were-journalists.html

Democracy Now! Iraq War Timeline Recaps a Decade of Independent Reporting on Occupation and Protest http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/democracy-now-iraq-war-timeline-recaps.html

CNN: Drones killing innocent Pakistanis, U.N. official says http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/cnn-drones-killing-innocent-pakistanis.html

The Halliburton Agenda: The Politics of Oil and Money http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/the-halliburton-agenda-politics-of-oil.html

The Iraq Effect (2007): New Study Finds 600% Rise in Terrorism Since US Invasion of Iraq http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/the-iraq-effect-2007-new-study-finds.html

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