American soldiers abusing the dead.

[Eamonnca1]

I wonder what the "support our troops" crowd make of this.  Must mess with their heads when they realise that their "heroes" are not as pure as the driven snow.

[muppet]

I wonder what the "support our troops" crowd make of this.  Must mess with their heads when they realise that their "heroes" are not as pure as the driven snow.

They would 'honk' a few times and everything would be all right.

[seafoid]

I wonder what the "support our troops" crowd make of this.  Must mess with their heads when they realise that their "heroes" are not as pure as the driven snow.

They would 'honk' a few times and everything would be all right.

You liberals sicken me

[LondonCamanachd]

Bad carry on to be at. Some people should never be given a gun or uniform.

I'm sure they're not the first and won't be the last "soldiers" to cross the line (fighting for any country or cause). These boyos just got caught on camera.

And it'll be their comrades that'll die in the resulting outrage.

Hearts and minds, boys...

[muppet]

I wonder what the "support our troops" crowd make of this.  Must mess with their heads when they realise that their "heroes" are not as pure as the driven snow.

They would 'honk' a few times and everything would be all right.

You liberals sicken me

I'll put a spell on you.

Eye of Newt and Santoe of frog,
Mit of bat and tongue of Ron.
etc.

[orangeman]

hold on lads we are facilitating this stuff. ireland is not snow white here these guys are piss stopping in Shannon every day. something the yanks offered to stop following protests and Bertie and co told them to pay no attention to the Irish electorate and carry on

There's a bit of a difference in Ireland allowing the yankees to stop for a piss in Shannon and then pissing on the enemy when they get to wherever it is they're going.

[Puckoon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16538159

According to BBC two of the four have been identified so far.

[Agent Orange]

The general consensus on the gaaboard seems to be that it is ok to shoot the Taliban, bomb them with fighter planes and drones, use depleted uranium against them, but dont piss on them. Or have I missed something?

[Jack Frost]

Hey folks, 1st post on the board, but have been following for ages.

A lot of good points have been raised above, and the one thing that stands out has been the outrage over 4 soldiers pissing on 3 dead Afghans, while totally missing the fact that the 4 soldiers murdered these men in the 1st place. These soldiers are occupying forces, and should never have been there to begin with.

It goes without saying that US military behave in a totally inhumane way, be it killing innocent civilians for fun, chopping off their fingers as souvenirs or to use as poker chips, murdering animals, etc, etc. Their reputation as occupying forces in other countries has been horrific, and to be honest, nearly make the brits look like angels.....

Ireland can hold their head in shame for allowing Shannon to be used as a stop over. Also, the leaders of all the main political parties north and south have failed miserably to stand up for the occupied and oppressed. The Shinners been probably the most guilty of this crime given their cosy relationship with Tony Blair, George Bush, Cameron, Obama, and Israeli Ministers.

I feel very sorry for the average US citizen who is experiencing tough times while billions of dollars are poured into Defence budgets. Plus, the fact that videos like these heap more misery on their already tarnished reputation abroad.

The sooner the west pulls out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya,Pakistan, etc,  and stop backing Israel the sooner we will experience a stable middle east. However, the drums of war are beating loudly for an attack on Iran, so don't be surprised to see further videos like the one posted, and more mass killings of innocent civilians.

[tyssam5]

Eagerly awaiting the pro-yank apologists...

Surely better than pissing on the living?

[Mike Sheehy]

Eagerly awaiting the pro-yank apologists...

There will be no apologists and I am sure you well know that. This is an abomination and those involved will be prosecuted. Keep in mind, however, that the Abu Ghraib atrocities were brought to light in 2004. The main perpetrators were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2005 (thats one year later) and 11 soldiers were convicted and sentenced to military prisons. Also, keep in mind that there were no fatalities wrt Abu Ghraib...
Contrast that to bloody Sunday where  26(?) people were shot and 13 killed. Have there been any convictions in this case ? Whatever you think about the US they at least make some fist of holding soldiers accountable.

[seafoid]

The thing about the Yanks is that they have no ***** clue about either Iraq or Afghanistan so the wars went on into the new decade .  Instead of the couple of months we were promised.

The Brits flew a senior Taliban negotiator to london for secret talks last year. he was a fraud. That is the kind of ignorance that drags wars on for ever.

There are 1.25 million veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. By the end of 2010, the bill for caring for wounded vets and their ensuing disability benefits reached $32 billion.
Harvard Professor Linda Bilmes estimated that the future cost will increase exponentially between today and 2055, the cost for the vets will reach somewhere between $346 billion and $469 billion.
Maybe this is Saddam's ultimate revenge.

[seafoid]

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War
by Evan Wright
Berkley Caliber, 354 pp., $14.00 (paper)

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2007/dec/20/iraq-the-hidden-human-costs/?pagination=false

Wright is a keen observer, and in Generation Kill he manages to get past the screens that conceal so many aspects of military life. Here, for instance, is his description of his initial visit to meet Fick's men:

The tent reeks of farts, sweat and the sickeningly sweet funk of fungal feet. Everyone walks around in skivvies, scratching their balls.

Vigorous public ball scratching is common in the combat-arms side of the Marine Corps, even among high-level officers in the midst of briefings. The gesture is defiantly male, as is much of the vernacular of the Marine Corps itself.

Officers and enlisted men alike take pride in their profanity, with "queer," "f**got," and "motherfucker" among the staples. The soldiers often fight with one another, tell dirty stories, use racially tinged putdowns, read porn magazines, and masturbate. Almost all engage in "dipping," or using smokeless tobacco—the "universal drug of American fighting men." In addition to delivering "a nicotine buzz that makes filterless Camels seem like candy cigarettes," Wright notes, it causes users to "salivate like a rabid dog" and to "constantly expectorate thick streams of brown goo."

Wright is no less unsparing in describing the backgrounds of the Marines. This is a sensitive topic, with few journalists willing to look too deeply into the composition of the all-volunteer army. Wright has no such qualms. "Culturally," he writes, "these Marines would be virtually unrecognizable to their forebears in the 'Greatest Generation.' They are kids raised on hip-hop, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Springer." There are "former gangbangers, a sprinkling of born-again Christians and quite a few guys who before entering the Corps were daily dope smokers." While some joined the Marines out of prep school or turned down scholarships at universities, more than half "come from broken homes and were raised by absentee, single, working parents. Many are on more intimate terms with video games, reality TV shows and Internet porn than they are with their own parents." Together, he writes, these Marines "represent what is more or less America's first generation of disposable children."

While shocked at times at their childish behavior, Wright is also impressed by their fighters' ethos. Most seem driven by "an almost reckless desire to test themselves in the most extreme circumstances." The life they have chosen seems in many ways

a complete rejection of the hyped, consumerist American dream as it is dished out in reality TV shows and pop-song lyrics.... Their highest aspiration is self-sacrifice over self-preservation.

This sounds idealistic, but, as Wright is quick to note, "the whole point of their training is to commit the ultimate taboo: to kill. Their culture revels in this." At the end of team briefings, "Marines put their hands together and shout, 'Kill!'"

Like Fick with his visions of ancient Greece, many of these men arrived in Kuwait full of romantic notions about honor, valor, and sacrifice. From the very start, however, those ideas would be put to the test. Both Fick and Wright express dismay at the layers of incompetence among superior officers with which the men in First Recon must contend. The company's operations chief, while failing to bring along enough batteries for the Marines' critical night-fighting equipment, had the presence of mind to bring a personal video camera, which he plans to use to make a war documentary that he hopes to sell after the invasion. Their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Ferrando, seems more interested in the Marines' personal appearance than in their preparedness for battle. Addressing them in the Kuwaiti desert on the eve of war, he tells them that when they cross the Euphrates, all mustaches must come off. "We're getting ready to invade a country, and this is what our commander talks to us about?" one soldier says. "Mustaches?"

3.
During their initial thrust into Iraq, the Marines encounter little resistance. Speeding along Iraq's highways, they are cheered on by excited Iraqi children. By the third day, the platoon has pushed to within twenty kilometers of the southern city of Nasiriyah. Along with 10,000 other Marines, they park on the road, waiting for orders. Even while idle, they leave their mark, in the form of garbage and—a subject rarely broached by the mainstream media—bodily waste. "Taking a shit is always a big production in a war zone," Wright observes.

In the civilian world, of course, utmost care is taken to perform bodily functions in private. Public defecation is an act of shame, or even insanity. In a war zone, it's the opposite. You don't want to wander off by yourself. You could get shot by enemy snipers, or by Marines when you're coming back into friendly lines. So everyone just squats in the open a few meters from the road, often perching on empty wooden grenade crates used as portable "shitters." Trash from thousands of discarded MRE packs litters the area. With everyone lounging around, eating, sleeping, sunning, pooping, it looks like some weird combat version of an outdoor rock festival.

In a cluster of mud-hut homes across from the platoon's position, old ladies in black robes stand outside, "staring at the pale, white ass of a Marine" who, naked from the waist down, is "taking a dump in their front yard." A Marine says to Wright, "Can you imagine if this was reversed, and some army came into suburbia and was crapping in everyone's front lawns? It's f**king wild."

By the next morning, all the trash has miraculously been picked up by the soldiers. But things quickly take a darker turn. In the first real setback for the Americans, some Marine units become bogged down in a series of firefights in and around Nasiriyah. Fick's platoon, waiting some distance away, watches as artillery batteries fire 155mm shells into the city. "Marines who so scrupulously picked up all their litter this morning are now bombing the shit out of the city," Wright observes. A short time later, Fick's men, approaching a bridge leading into Nasiriyah, are unsettled to see armed men darting through alleyways, clutching women in front of them for cover. The Marines' rules of engagement forbid them to fire unless first fired on, but, once the Iraqis do begin shooting, Wright reports, "up and down the line, just about every rifle, machine gun and grenade launcher roars to life."

As the Marines fall back, some are clearly exhilarated at this first exposure to battle; others express remorse. "Before we crossed into Iraq, I f**king hated Arabs," says Antonio Espera, a thirty-year-old sergeant from California. "I don't know why.... But as soon as we got here, it's just gone. I just feel sorry for them. I miss my little girl. Dog, I don't want to kill nobody's children." Coming under heavy fire for the first time, Wright is surprised to find himself calm, but he is astonished at the fierceness of the barrage being directed at Nasiriyah. It includes high-explosive rounds that can blast through steel and concrete as well as DPICMs (Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions), cluster shells that burst overhead, dispersing dozens of bomblets designed to shred people.

Even in the best of circumstances, Wright notes, artillery fire is imprecise, which leads him to wonder why reporters and antiwar groups concerned about collateral damage in war pay so little attention to it:

The beauty of aircraft, coupled with their high-tech destructive power, captures the imagination. From a news standpoint, jets flying through the sky make for much more dramatic footage than images of cannons parked in the mud, intermittently belching puffs of smoke.

But the fact is, the Marines rely much more on artillery bombardment than on aircraft dropping precision-guided munitions. During our thirty-six hours outside Nasiriyah they have already lobbed an estimated 2,000 rounds into the city. The impact of this shelling on its 400,000 residents must be devastating.

Entering the city with the Marines, Wright gets to see just how devastating the impact has been. Smoke curls from collapsed structures, and houses facing the road are pockmarked and cratered. The corpses of Iraqi attackers are scattered on the road leading out of the city. Run over repeatedly by tracked vehicles, "they are flattened, with their entrails squished out," Wright notes, adding:

We pass a bus, smashed and burned, with charred human remains sitting upright in some windows. There's a man in the road with no head and a dead little girl, too, about three or four, lying on her back. She's wearing a dress and has no legs.

Heading north, the Marines find themselves amid the palm trees and canals of the Fertile Crescent, but all around are signs of death. Along the highway are torched vehicles with "charred corpses nearby, occupants who crawled out and made it a few meters before expiring, with their grasping hands still smoldering." Lying beside one car is the mangled body of a small child, face down, whose clothes are too ripped to determine the gender. "Seeing this is almost no longer a big deal," Wright comments. "Since the shooting started in Nasiriyah forty-eight hours ago, firing weapons and seeing dead people has become almost routine." Fick, reaching back to his four years in a Jesuit high school, writes that he found himself "mouthing the Twenty-third Psalm: 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death....'"


Further north, as they near the town of Qalat Sukkar, Fick writes, he and his men are ordered to seize a nearby military airfield. This upsets them, since they are not trained for such a mission, and their Humvees lack not only armor but also doors and roofs. Fick is further distressed to hear the new rules of engagement: all personnel on the airfield—whether armed or not—are to be considered hostile. During training, he writes, "we had learned about Vietnam's free-fire zones. They had been, it was acknowledged, immoral and counterproductive. Qalat Sukkar was being declared a free-fire zone." As they race toward the airfield, one of his men suddenly opens fire. Looking out, Fick sees in the distance a blur of cars, camels, and men carrying long sticks that might be rifles.

Finally reaching the airfield, the Marines find it deserted. While relieved, they are shaken to see how vulnerable they had been. They are soon approached by five Iraqis dragging two bundles. Inside are two teenaged boys. Both have been wounded—one gravely. Examining him, Doc Bryan, a medic, can see that he's been shot with 5.56mm rounds, a caliber used by the Americans. "Marines shot this boy!" he roars. It's now clear that the distant figures who'd been shot at were not fighters with rifles but shepherds with canes.

Fick runs to company headquarters and explains what has happened. He wants the boys evacuated to a field hospital. The major on duty informs him that Lieutenant Colonel Ferrando is sleeping and can't be disturbed. Fick is livid:

I wanted to tell the major that we were Americans, that Americans don't shoot kids and let them die, that the men in my platoon had to be able to look themselves in the mirror for the rest of their lives.

The reckless way his men have been deployed has opened up cracks in his trust in his commanding officers:

I thought of the untold innocent civilians who must have been killed by artillery and air strikes over the past week. The only difference was that we hadn't stuck around to see the effects those wrought. Our actions were being thrust in our faces, and the chain of command was passing the buck to the youngest, and most vulnerable, of the troops.

Determined to force the issue, Fick races back to his men. Placing the two boys on stretchers, they rush them to the battalion headquarters, then deposit them in front of the indifferent major. Faced with this small-scale mutiny, he slips to the back of the tent to rouse Ferrando. Coming out, the lieutenant colonel—quickly sizing up the situation—orders the boys' immediate transfer to a field hospital. Fick's dejection does not lift:

I felt sick for the shepherd boys, for the girl in the blue dress, and for all the innocent people who surely lived in Nasiriyah, Ar Rifa, and the other towns this war would consume. I hurt for my Marines, goodhearted American guys who'd bear these burdens for the rest of their lives. And I mourned for myself. Not in self-pity, but for the kid who'd come to Iraq. He was gone. I did all this in the dark, away from the platoon, because combat command is the loneliest job in the world.

4.
The morale of Fick's men continues to erode as they press northward. A new source of tension is added by the need to set up roadblocks to counter the unanticipated threat of suicide attacks. Because these sites tend to be poorly marked, many Iraqi drivers fail to stop at them. When US soldiers fire warning shots, the Iraqis often speed up. As a result, many are killed. After one car has been shot at, a Marine named Graves goes to help a little girl cowering in the back seat, her eyes wide open. As he goes to pick her up, "thinking about what medical supplies he might need to treat her...the top of her head slides off and her brains fall out," Wright writes. As Graves steps back in horror, his boot slips in the girl's brains. "This is the event that is going to get to me when I go home," he says.

With the battlefield growing ever more dangerous, the Marines' initial inhibitions about firing fades, and even relatively minor threats are met with fierce bursts of gunfire. Civilians bear the brunt, to the consternation of many of the Marines. "I think it's bullshit how these f**king civilians are dying!" rages Jeffrey Carazales, a lance corporal from Texas, after he shoots at a building that clearly has civilians in it:

They're worse off than the guys that are shooting at us. They don't even have a chance. Do you think people at home are going to see this—all these women and children we're killing? f**k no. Back home they're glorifying this motherfucker, I guarantee you. Saying our president is a f**king hero for getting us into this bitch. He ain't even a real Texan.

At a bridge leading into the town of Muwaffaqiyah, Fick's unit is ambushed on three sides, and a sergeant, shot in the foot, begins to bleed profusely. The Marines then open up on their attackers, killing some and causing the rest to flee. Pulling back a couple of kilometers, the Marines again complain about the reckless way in which they've been deployed. Meanwhile, they watch as artillery batteries pummel Muwaffaqiyah. Exploding DPICM shells scatter lethal clusters over wide areas. A-10 fighter jets belch out deafening machine-gun fire. Cobra helicopters, low-flying and menacing, launch rockets and grenades. When the platoon is finally able to enter the town, they see that large sections of it have been leveled. On the rooftops are an undetermined number of bodies—victims of the shrapnel from the cluster rounds. "We had one guy shot in the foot, and we blew up their whole town," a Marine tells Wright.

Wright's account of this attack is exceptional. In the thousands of reports written about the invasion, few dwelled on the enormous destruction it caused.

[Orior]

Eagerly awaiting the pro-yank apologists...

There will be no apologists and I am sure you well know that. This is an abomination and those involved will be prosecuted. Keep in mind, however, that the Abu Ghraib atrocities were brought to light in 2004. The main perpetrators were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2005 (thats one year later) and 11 soldiers were convicted and sentenced to military prisons. Also, keep in mind that there were no fatalities wrt Abu Ghraib...
Contrast that to bloody Sunday where  26(?) people were shot and 13 killed. Have there been any convictions in this case ? Whatever you think about the US they at least make some fist of holding soldiers accountable.

Good post.

[Jack Frost]

Eagerly awaiting the pro-yank apologists...

There will be no apologists and I am sure you well know that. This is an abomination and those involved will be prosecuted. Keep in mind, however, that the Abu Ghraib atrocities were brought to light in 2004. The main perpetrators were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2005 (thats one year later) and 11 soldiers were convicted and sentenced to military prisons. Also, keep in mind that there were no fatalities wrt Abu Ghraib...
Contrast that to bloody Sunday where  26(?) people were shot and 13 killed. Have there been any convictions in this case ? Whatever you think about the US they at least make some fist of holding soldiers accountable.

Indeed they do. Just look at what they have done to Bradley Manning. He exposed their murders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he ends up in jail. Have any US soldiers been arrested on the back of the information and video he allegedly released to Wikileaks which showed US soldiers murdering innocent civilians in cold blood?