wikileaks:-Cover-up of murder of civilians and journalists

[MacCruiskeen]

But yeah, Fuck War.

Starman, I think "war" is nearly as much a euphemism as "battle" here.

Very depressing knowing how helpless we are to stop this mercenary madness.

Not nearly as depressing as it is being shot without warning by an Apache helicopter.

how helpless we are

General strike. Tax strike. Hunger strike. TV strike. Flyleafing. Civil disobedience. Speaking out loudly. Defacement of recruitment posters. Defacement of NYT and WP buildings and offices. Graffiti everywhere. No platform for defenders of imperialist massacres (active disruption, red-paint attacks, shoe-throwing). Sit-down protests in very public places. For instance.

(No one's claiming it's easy.)

Some brave men and women:

"My name's Peter Brannigan, and I've got a Purple Heart here, and I hope I get another one fighting THESE motherfuckers."

[Nordic]

Nobody went out in the streets of Baghdad in 2007 without an armed escort.

Shooting men in Baghdad because they were carrying guns is like shooting kids in a jr. high because they have iPods.

[apologydue]

Bushmaster (Lachesis muta muta) - The Largest Pit Viper
By: C.M.Shorter


The Bushmaster, lachesis muta muta is the largest Pit Viper in the world with a nasty reputation as a "cruel dude". The Bushmaster is a huge, thick-bodied and highly venomous snake with a triangularly shaped head, one of nature's warning signs that a snake is poisonous and potentially deadly. Bushmasters live in remote, heavily forested tropical jungle terrain. Isolated in their jungle environment, envenomation by a Bushmaster is very serious, sometimes fatal and particularly dangerous to humans. It is important to familiarize yourself with wilderness survival before entering Bushmaster territory because often snake bite victims are miles and miles away from any traditional medical help. The Bushmaster is the largest venomous snake in the New World, often reaching lengths in excess of 6 feet with a maximum recorded length reaching an amazing 14 feet! The Bushmaster has a prominent dorsal ridge and an upturned snout with well defined body scales, keeled and extremely rough. Identifying Bushmaster body color hues range from light brown to shades of pale pink with a series of dark brown or black blotches markings running the entire length of the body including the tail.

The Bushmaster has earned this fierce reputation, known to aggressively attack man but only few human attacks have been recorded due primarily to the Bushmaster's nocturnal nature. Even if they do attack only occasionally, the Bushmaster is greatly feared by people indigenous to their jungle habitat. Appropriately named in English, the name Bushmaster when translated from Latin means "Brings Silent Death". One of the largest and most dangerous snakes in South America, the Bushmaster is capable of multiple bite strikes, injecting large amount of venom and even the bite of a juvenile Bushmaster can be fatal. In the case of envenomation, a polyvalent Crotalidae Antivenom is recommended and contains all the necessary fractions to neutralize the venoms of all Central and South American species of Lachesis.

The Bushmaster has extremely long fangs - not as long as those of the Gaboon Viper who has the elite distinction of having the longest fangs of any snake in the world (reaching over 2.5 inches), but still extremely dangerous. These long Folded Fangs function like hypodermic needles designed to penetrate deeply, grab and hold onto prey while the snake injects its victim with immobilizing venom. Snake venom delivered by the Bushmaster has powerful Hemotoxic properties affecting the circulatory system destroying red blood cells causing organ degeneration and generalized tissue damage which can be fatal if left untreated.

Sharing territory with the Tropical Rattlesnake, the Bushmaster ranges throughout the countries of Brazil, Costa Rica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Trinidad. The Bushmaster has the unique distinction among reptiles of having the infamous 158th Infantry Regiment, Arizona's First Volunteer Infantry later organized into the 45th Division after World War I, honor this snake by taking the name "Bushmasters" for their Regiment. Trained in jungle warfare in the Panama Canal Zone, this Infantry became so famous for their newly acquired jungle fighting skills the regiment adopted the name "Bushmasters". General MacArthur himself personally selected the Bushmasters Regiment to be sent under his command to Japan during World War II. It was this elite military Regiment that proceeded two days ahead of America's famous D-Day, to silence Japanese air warning stations.

Education is key to understanding both the beauty and potential danger of these poisonous snakes which are best observed and appreciated from a distance. Snakes, including poisonous snakes deserve our respect - vital to a healthy ecosystem, they are very beneficial to man. Nature has given snakes the assignment of rodent population control. Snakes being broad spectrum cold-blooded carnivores, tend to take up residence where there is an abundance of prey, particularly mice and rats. Snakes help us sustain a healthy balance of life in natural ecosystems by eating a variety of prey including small rodents, birds, frogs, large insects, lizards and often, even other snakes.

Common Name: Bushmaster
Scientific Name: Lachesis muta muta
Snake Family: Viperidae
Description: The Bushmaster is the largest Pit Viper in the world. This snake has a triangular shaped head with rough scales. Long and heavy-bodied in shades of brown to pale pink with dark brown or black blotch marking running the length of their bodies.
Characteristics: Caution! Known to aggressively attack, particularly when agitated or startled.
Reproduction: Oviparous (egg bearing) with 4-12 young hatched in the Spring.
Length: 2 - 3.7 meters (Approx. 3 -12 ft)
Habitat Distribution: Tropical forested areas throughout Central and South America including the countries of Brazil, Costa Rica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Trinidad

http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/bushmaster-snake.cfm

[whipstitch]

Watching that video freaked me out. Saw this on reddit...



... although to be fair CNN now has a whitewash video featuring a pentagon spokeswoman. Who'd have thought that Fox News would have more accurate coverage?

Video Appears to Show U.S. Forces Firing on Unarmed Suspects in Baghdad

By Chad Pergram Justin Fishel

- FOXNews.com

The investigative organization WikiLeaks on Monday released military video of what it describes as three incidents of an "indiscriminate slaying" by U.S. forces near Baghdad on July 12, 2007.

WikiLeaks says the encounters killed as many as 25 civilians, including two Reuters journalists. The U.S. military said in a statement at the time that a total of 11 people died in the strikes conducted by U.S. and Iraqi forces, including two Reuters employees.

The video, obtained by WikiLeaks, is shot from two Apache helicopters on patrol in Iraq. The choppers were responding to reports of AK-47 gunfire in the suburb of New Baghdad when military personnel on board spotted a group of nine to 12 persons, including what turned out to be the two Reuters photographers, walking through a courtyard. A military official confirmed the authenticity of the footage to Fox News.

The military contends that the U.S. followed the appropriate "Rules of Engagement" for these episodes. In fact at the time, the Pentagon says U.S. troops were hit by rocket-propelled grenades (RPG's) and small arms fire while caught in a clash with Shia insurgents.

"There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force," said multinational forces spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl in July, 2007.

The video shows military personnel aboard the Apaches indicating they spot the suspects toting several AK-47s and several RPG's. But WikiLeaks contends that the Reuters photographers were only carrying cameras, which the military mistook for weapons. The helicopters circled multiple times before opening fire.

"Keep shooting!," yells a U.S. soldier recorded in the chopper radio traffic.

"Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards," responds another.

"Nice!" adds a third.

The two Reuters employees who died were 22-year-old photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his 40-year-old assistant Saeed Chmagh. The identities of the other casualties are unknown.

Once the smoke clears from the U.S. attack, one of the Reuters employees appears to be wounded and is crawling away from the scene.

"All you gotta do is pick up a weapon," says a voice aboard one of the Apaches.

In the second incident, a van arrives and begins to pick up the bodies. U.S. forces fire again.

WikiLeaks believes four people were killed in this attack.

Later, American ground troops pull into the courtyard in an armored Humvee and appear to drive over one of the casualties.

"I think they just drove over a body," says one of the voices aboard the Apaches.

"Really?" asks a colleague

"Yeah," answers the first voice with a chuckle.

A bit later, the same helicopters spot several individuals entering a nearby building. U.S. troops receive permission to strike again, this time with Hellfire missiles.

"Bastards!" shouts a voice from the helicopter.

"Look at that bitch go!" chimes in another voice.

"Nice missile," compliments a third voice.

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks released the video at the National Press Club in Washington. He described the U.S. troops as callous and the shootings as "another day at the office."

"The behavior of the pilots is like they're playing a video game," said Assange. "It's like they want to get high-scores in that computer game."

The military wouldn't publicly confirm the video's authenticity but said it "presumably" was associated with an incident investigated in 2007.

"We are aware that several media outlets are airing footage depicting gunfire from a U.S. helicopter," the military said in a written statement. "At this time, we are working to verify the source of the video, its veracity, and when or where it was recorded."

Reuters attempted to obtain the 38-minute video without success through the Freedom of Information Act. Assange would not say specifically about how WikiLeaks obtained the video.

"It was being conveyed by people in the U.S. military," he said, adding that some "people in the military don't like what's going on."

Asked to comment on the video, a senior military official at the Department of Defense told Fox News on the condition of anonymity that "an investigation of the incidents confirmed our belief that these attacks were justified."

"The individuals who were killed, apart from the Reuters journalists, were involved in hostile activity," this official said.

The official also said all the material seen on this video has been addressed publicly by the Department of Defense. "With regard to the death of the journalists and the apparent misidentification -- all of this has been acknowledged in the past," the official said.

The "Rules of Engagement" have not been changed following the incident.

[82_28]

FUCKING DISGUSTING! I am trembling still, 10 minutes later. I AM SO MOTHERFUCKING DISGUSTED i really don't know what to do or say. There are no words. And I hope those souls that are gunned down in such a cowardly way never rest in peace, until they can see to it that they can make sure their murderers are tormented for all eternity.

And for any "spooks" out there. I am just as American as you. Except I tend to care about the fucking well-being of others. This country has finally gone to total shit. Utter, banal, evil shit. When and if I ever get killed that way, you better bet I will have a ghost that will haunt you and yours, forever and ever and ever and ever. You evil, banal fucks.

Nice shooting. GAH! How on god's green earth do any of these people live with themselves?

[nathan28]

Nice shooting. GAH! How on god's green earth do any of these people live with themselves?

With massive psychiatric illness. PTSD for "pilots" of UAVs, who work in air-conditioned offices and don't get shot at and go home each day, is IIRC something like double the rate for combat troops.

Still no word on how prevalent it is among Congressional reps or Pentagon strategic planners.

[DeltaDawn]

Know off the bat, I'll get grief and whatever for my opinion, but have to say......Sorry, but war is war, and when a society, we cannot understand will send their children (what I consider babies) to self destruct just to kill a few soldiers, then I have to do what I was trained to do. I Will protect my fellow men and what I believed to be my country!!!! Sorry, but right is right, and wrong is wrong, I truly believe my country, along with the English are behind the right causes, and if I have to play by the enemies 'tricks'.....so be it....ALways behind what America decides, will play by anyone's 'rules', but plan on winning.

Abuse me, use me, been there before, and will be there again, if the need were to ever come up!! Just whatever it takes!!!!!....Country & beliefs come first, political correctness second, B.S. media....not important!!!!!!

Again I apoligize for insulting many, but a soldier will always think as a soldier, and I MUST ALways back what they are doing & showing.....just Army training, and I'm proud of it!!!!

[StarmanSkye]

Boy, that 'response' by the pentagon is fuckin' COLD. NO WAY were they taking hits.

Just as sick as Delta Dawn's throw-away 'Rah for my BOYS!' training crap. You got to be one brain-messed mother to not understand the choppers were NEVER under threat or attack by the guys they shot in cold blood. This is JUST how a market-place of buyers and sellers get gunned-down because the absurd lies and fraud of an immoral war blurs the lines between right and wrong. Get over yourself and your diseased attitude of self-rigjhteous 'honor'. You pervert everything about duty and call it Righteous. The Truth is not in you.

It's now pretty clear the two Reuters photogs and driver were coming back from a story on weightlifting and were diverted to check something out, perhaps reports of a gunfight with shia 'insurgent' forces in a nearby neighborhood. The chopper pilots had also heard reports of gunfire and were sent to check it out. On getting close to the area they heard about, the photogs and driver got out of their car and were joined by a small group of men, probably neighbors who told them about hearing some small arms. Several men among that group had weapons, undoubtedly an informal neighborhood-watch kinda self-defense group. They are ALL aware of the two circling helicopters but clearly NEVER thought they were in danger -- well, 'cept 2 guys with guns in particular that begin to get fidgety and self-conscious with all the circling helicopter activity. But I bet they felt safe in the company of 2 professional photogs and thought the choppers had targets identified a couple streets away. I believe there were three men with the 2 children in the van that stopped to lend humanitarian aid -- They also probably never dreamed US forces would shoot them for lending emergency assistance to someone seriously wounded.

The chopper drivers couldn't FAIL to see what was just a group of civilians posing no threat to them or anyone else. In this way, the Military was systematically penalizing normal Iraqi civic activities and attitudes, targetting mutually-supportive attitudes of assistance, cooperation and interdependency, essentially breaking-down the foundation of Iraq's civil society, making people fearful and suspicious of each other, which was aggravated when false-fighters spread terror and destruction, blamed on Sunnis or Shia, provoking violent sectarian violence that fractured Iraq society even further. I'm just cynical enough to think the US military was not above paying armed groups to flush-out groups of irregulars who dared to defend their neighborhoods against gunmen -- a cynical way to destroy the Iraqi will to resist aggression and defend their property and families. The US Military then exploited the role of all-powerful Peacekeepers, protecting everyone against the breakdown in civil society which THEY themselves had bankrolled, supplied and masterminded.

Perfected in hot-spots around the world, lookout for a similiar way for US-mercenary troops to disarm America's grassroots resistance to tyranny, and the breakdown/fragmenting of America's will to be a united people under a code of honor, dignity and mutual-support.

Will the American public ever wake-up and have their Ah-HA! moment, realizing what horrific monster they had funded, armed, organized, trained and incentivized, now let-loose, turned against themselves and everything they once had felt most dear?

Will we realize too late the US Military invariably ALWAYS ends up fighting against the most honorable ideals?

[DeltaDawn]

Guess you have to be a real soldier to understand. Live it, understand it!!!!! Behind my fellow soldiers and Country...ALWAYS!!!!!! Doesn't really matter what 'home' thinks about it, they aren't there, and don't know!!!!!! Sad, but you can't convince a 'real' soldier that we aren't doing all we can do for our country's freedoms...Enjoy it, we fought & still are for your pleasure

[Laodicean]

Guess you have to be a real soldier to understand.

Indeed. A real soldier does understand...what the right thing to do is.

[whipstitch]

Hard to figure what's more disheartening. The mindless actions of automaton soldiers or the apologists for their sick and disgusting behavior. How does one come to defend the gunning down of men trying to drag the wounded off of the battle field or the shooting of children? May they all recover from their programming and one day find peace.

[nathan28]

Hard to figure what's more disheartening. The mindless actions of automaton soldiers or the apologists for their sick and disgusting behavior. How does one come to defend the gunning down of men trying to drag the wounded off of the battle field or the shooting of children? May they all recover from their programming and one day find peace.

To be very clear I'm not defending anyone in this regard and my post above should not be read as apologism.

[seemslikeadream]

Guess you have to be a real soldier to understand. Live it, understand it!!!!! Behind my fellow soldiers and Country...ALWAYS!!!!!! Doesn't really matter what 'home' thinks about it, they aren't there, and don't know!!!!!! Sad, but you can't convince a 'real' soldier that we aren't doing all we can do for our country's freedoms...Enjoy it, we fought & still are for your pleasure

I wonder if I am understanding you correctly? If so how can you possibly stand behind a country that is committing war crimes? You do understand that crimes against humanity are being executed in your name?

[nathan28]

Apparently DeltaDawn has been fired on by gunships before. Can you give us some survival tips, or ways to down one with small arms, like a Nikon D90 SLR? It's too bad those sandni--terro--I mean, Iraqis--didn't read that part of the manual.

[whipstitch]

Hard to figure what's more disheartening. The mindless actions of automaton soldiers or the apologists for their sick and disgusting behavior. How does one come to defend the gunning down of men trying to drag the wounded off of the battle field or the shooting of children? May they all recover from their programming and one day find peace.

To be very clear I'm not defending anyone in this regard and my post above should not be read as apologism.

No worries, I didn't take it that way. I was referring to various comments I've read on youtube and elsewhere online.

I wish videos like these were common and posted everywhere. The whole sick system is only sustainable as long as it's kept secret. I'm sure this sh*t has been going on every single day for decades. Obama must be having a bad day with this video going public as the whole world is now seeing the US imperialist war machine in a whole new light seeing that these heartless 20 something video gamers are running the show. What a courageous face they have shown the world as they bring freedom to the masses.