Special Report: Army Reservist Witnesses War Crimes

[chlamor]

Special Report

Army reservist witnesses war crimes
New revelations about racism in the military

By Paul Rockwell
Online Journal Contributing Writer

April 1, 2005—Aiden Delgado, an Army Reservist in the 320th Military Police Company, served in Iraq from April 1, 2003 through April 1, 2004. After spending six months in Nasiriyah in Southern Iraq, he spent six months helping to run the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad. The handsome 23-year-old mechanic was a witness to widespread, almost daily, U.S. war crimes in Iraq. His story contains new revelations about ongoing brutality at Abu Ghraib, information yet to be reported in national media.

I first met Delgado in a classroom at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California, where he presented a slide show on the atrocities that he himself observed in Southern and Northern Iraq. Delgado acknowledged that the U.S. military did some good things in Iraq. "We deposed Saddam, built some schools and hospitals," he said. But he focused his testimony on the breakdown of moral order within the U.S. military, a pattern of violence and terror that exceeds the bounds of what is legally and morally permissible in time of war.

Delgado says he observed mutilation of the dead, trophy photos of dead Iraqis, mass roundups of innocent noncombatants, positioning of prisoners in the line of fire—all violations of the Geneva conventions. His own buddies—decent, Christian men, as he describes them—shot unarmed prisoners.

In one government class for seniors, Delgado presented graphic images, his own photos of a soldier playing with a skull, the charred remains of children, kids riddled with bullets, a soldier from his unit scooping out the brains of a prisoner.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/040105Rockwell/040105rockwell.html

[babylonsister]

1. OMG! I pray this man's story doesn't get buried. nt

[chlamor]

2. Do you think

I should post this in General Discussion? I feared it would get lost in Pope parazzi and folks might not want to deal with gruesome tale on Saturday. Need a way to get attention in GD format as hard news isn't able to get through over there right now. Thoughts?

[babylonsister]

5. Hey, chlamor. YES! Post this with a catchy title; GD would

benefit!

[mikehiggins]

3. If he claims to have photos they should be shown

The fact that so many supposed photos from Iraqi prisons never saw the light of day gave freepers more than enough opportunity to claim they never existed.

We're supposedly grownups around here. If someone is going to be too horrified to see the truth, then he or she doesn't have to look. There are lots of people who think that photo of the VietNamese girl running down the road after a napalm attack shouldn't have been run. They were/are wrong: telling the truth about war includes getting these images in the faces of those who willingly deny the truth.

[Dr.Phool]

4. I think this is a post that should hang around for a while

So I nominated it for the front page. This kind of thing needs to get into the MSM(fat chance), but keep it going anyway.

I hope this kid is watching his back.

[understandinglife]

6. DU homepage material. (nt)

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[chlamor]

8. How is it determined that a story

gets posted on homepage? What are criteria?

[understandinglife]

10. Have no idea. Ask Skinner and the mods. (nt)

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[tofubo]

7. 6 bad apples, 6 bad apples, 6 bad apples, 6 bad apples, 6 bad apples

[LibertyorDeath]

9. More responses to this here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1698873

Rec & kick more people need to read about what is really happening in Iraq.

[babylonsister]

11. Thanks, Liberty. I wasn't around last night, so had no clue

this has already been around the block. Agreed, it's worth everyone's time.

[LibertyorDeath]

15. Anytime the more people who know about this the better. imo

[CoffeeCat]

12. I could only get through about half of the interview...

...I have a stomach ache, just reading the first half.

I don't know how we can change this.

I know it is just absolutely horrific and unAmerican.

We're rounding up innocent Iraqis. We're killing children.

We now imprison 10,000+ Iraqis.

This is just so dangerous and sickening.

We are setting up concentration camp conditions. Atrocities are all ready happening. We're warehousing Iraqis out of hatred and anger. Things will only get worse.

It was quite telling--to hear that soldiers are angry at Iraqis. We're supposed to be liberating these people. The soldiers understand that they're objects in *'s game. They know their lives mean nothing. So, they're angry. They need an outlet. They can't take it out on the military--so they project the anger onto the Iraqis.

It's only going to spiral downward even further.

This is so revolting and alarming on so many levels.

[acmejack]

13. And don't forget

We're creating another generation of screwed up people like the Vietnam veterans. It is hard to endure that environment and remain sane, as war is completely contrary to sanity. That's why the VA has so many shrinks and those practitioners have so many patients...

[LibertyorDeath]

14. Good post

"It was quite telling--to hear that soldiers are angry at Iraqis. We're supposed to be liberating these people. The soldiers understand that they're objects in *'s game. They know their lives mean nothing. So, they're angry. They need an outlet. They can't take it out on the military--so they project the anger onto the Iraqis."