Showing posts with label US Troops In Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Troops In Iraq. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Same Old Song And (Dehumanization) Dance - From 'Charlie' to 'Haji' - ISN Security Watch
"The more stupid shit we do, like shooting up the Koran, the longer we'll be in this country," --Master Sergeant Joseph Kather, US Army reservistLetters From Iraq: From 'Charlie' to 'Haji'
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Military officials say the soldier who had fired at the Muslim holy book has been removed from Iraq, though ISN Security Watch was unable to confirm this independently.
Following target practice with the Koran, US military commanders fear inflamed anti-American sentiment as the pattern of disrespect continues.By Anna Badkhen in Baghdad for ISN Security Watch (27/05/08)
Before the US soldiers climbed into their Bradley fighting vehicles and took off for a two-hour street patrol in southwestern Baghdad, US Army Sergeant First Class Robert Keith had something to tell them.
"You go into a lot of houses," Keith told the young men standing in the dusty gravel before him. "Sometimes you're on your own. I hope you do the right thing."
He took a short pause and surveyed his troops, making sure they understood the importance of what he was about to say.
"If you pull out a Koran and shoot at it," he told them, "I'll kill you."
Keith was reacting to the latest incident that US military commanders here fear may inflame the anti-American sentiment in Iraq: A soldier from Keith's own 4-64 armor battalion of the Fourth Brigade, Third Infantry Division, used the Koran for target practice this month in the predominantly Sunni Baghdad suburb of Radwaniyah.
The shooting of Islam's holy book was the latest publicized illustration of US forces' disregard of Iraqi, and Muslim, culture. The most infamous episode of disrespect during the five-year war saw US soldiers torture Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.
But degrading treatment of Iraqis is commonplace among US troops, who typically refer to traditional dishdasha shirts as "man-dresses," and use the word "haji" as a derogatory term to refer to Iraqis the way US soldiers in Vietnam called Viet Cong fighters "Charlie."...
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Un-Holy War Chronicles - US sniper in Iraq used Koran for larget practice, writes offensive graffiti
From BBC:
"An American sniper has been sent home from Iraq for using a copy of the Koran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad, the US military says."
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He was unnamed, but was reportedly a staff sergeant in a sniper section.
US military spokesman Colonel Bill Buckner said the incident was "both serious and deeply troubling", but stressed it was an "isolated incident and a result of one soldier's actions".
[And then there's this 'isolated incident']
[And this soldier... also 'isolated']
...and a group of soldiers did this "isolated act":
The US army's commander in Baghdad, Major-General Jeffery Hammond, made a personal apology to local Sunni Arab leaders in Radwaniya, CNN reported.
On arrival, he was met by hundreds of protesting tribesmen.
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The military presented the elders with a new copy of the Koran.
(Wasn't that... special...)
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Tags:
Amoral,
Amorality,
Disinformation,
Genocide,
Haditha,
Holy War,
Iraq,
Iraq War,
Koran,
Moral Turpitude,
Muslim,
Religion,
US Troops In Iraq,
Warmongering
Friday, April 4, 2008
...And In Iraq... Remember Iraq? US troops in civilian clothing targeted by unknown gunmen near Baghdad... Call in airstrike.
"So how come they were wearing civilian clothes?"
Friday, April 04, 2008His source... Arabic... [Here]
Clashes Continue in Basra: Badr Militia Strengthened
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that clashes continued to be fought in Basra on Thursday between Iraqi government troops and the Mahdi Army militia.
It also says that US troops in civilian clothing were targeted in the Shiite city of Hillah south of Baghdad. They were attacked by unknown gunmen and had to call in airstrikes on enemy positions. So how come they were wearing civilian cloths?
..Ya don't suppose they're actually going to say if it was an SOG?
But they HAVE preemptively justified it.
From March 2003
Pentagon Defends Use of Civilian Clothes
The Pentagon on Friday defended the use of some civilian clothes by U.S. special operations forces, a tactic used to help them blend in with the local population.
Alleging war crimes, Bush administration officials complained bitterly last week that Iraqi paramilitary forces dressed as civilians, faked surrenders and used other battlefield ruses to kill American soldiers.
Asked at a Pentagon press conference why it is OK for American commando troops to take off their uniforms, but a crime when the Iraqis did it, Defense Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said she thought American forces wear something that distinguishes them from civilians, but deferred the question for a later answer.
The issue is a subject of disagreement among Pentagon legal advisers and policy makers. Some officials have said for some time that it is a gray area that needs to be settled as a policy, another defense official said on condition of anonymity.
Special operations forces are often allowed what the military calls "relaxed grooming standards." In the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan, for example, special forces wore long hair and beards to blend in with the local Muslim population.
Many wore only parts of their uniform - for instance camouflaged pants with a T-shirt and baseball cap or a camouflaged jacket with an Arab head wrap or scarf.
At the press conference with Clarke, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the war crime is determined by what the soldier does as well as what he wears.
"I'm not a lawyer, so I might get part of this wrong, but part of it is ... what you do when you're not in uniform," he said. "If a force is going to engage in combat, it's going to fight, it must wear a uniform or some kind of uniform - law of land warfare says arm bands or some distinctive marking that allows combatants to be identified from civilians."
After the press conference, officials said U.S. special forces in Iraq "are wearing uniforms," but declined to say if they are full uniforms or modified.
The discussion came as an Army legal oficial told a House panel that Fedayeen militia members captured in Iraq would likely not be entitled to the protection of prisoner-of-war status. That would mean they could face criminal charges for attacking American soldiers.
W. Hays Parks, special assistant for law of war matters for the Army's Judge Advocate General, said that to get POW protections, fighters must meet certain criteria, such as having a formal association with a government, carrying arms openly and wearing distinctive clothing.
He said that among the examples of Iraqi violations of the Geneva convention have been the oadcast (sic) of videotapes of dead and captured U.S. soldiers, the use of white flags to fake surrenders and then attack Americans, and the dressing of forces as civilians to lure invading troops into ambushes.
Source: Pauline Jelinek,APR,Washington, 04abr03
This document has been published on 22mar03 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
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