Amy Goodman: What US soldiers do in Iraq

[Turborama]

US war veterans from Iraq testify before Congress giving eyewitness account about horrors of war.


By Amy Goodman - NEW YORK

War veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress and give an eyewitness account about the horrors of war. Like the Winter Soldier hearings, when more than 200 service members gathered for four days in Silver Spring, Maryland to give their eyewitness accounts of the injustices occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan, Winter Soldier on the Hill was designed to drive home the human cost of war and occupation—this time, to the very people in charge of doing something about it.

The name “Winter Soldier” comes from a similar event in 1971, when hundreds of Vietnam vets gathered in Detroit. The term is derived from the opening line of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet The Crisis, published in 1776. "These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman,” Paine wrote.

Well, in a packed public hearing, the soldiers testified before a panel of lawmakers from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Today, we spend the hour with their testimony. We begin with former Marine sniper, Sergio Kochergin, giving a firsthand, behind-the-scenes account of the initial days of the US invasion of Iraq.

SERGIO KOCHERGIN: As we cleared all the buildings and moved into the city, and we finally had a time to take a little break, we found a lot of left-behind vehicles, from pickup trucks all the way to luxury Toyota Avalons with leather and sunroofs, which we used for perimeter patrolling. The pickup trucks and the other vehicles were used for the car derby. We would either ram into each other or just ram into the walls, while Iraqi people watched us and were asking for vehicles. We knew they were going to loot the cars, so we just destroyed them, so that the people would not have a chance to take them, except for the scraps.

Continues: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=32451

ETA Just found the original Democracy Now! version with video: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/25/memorial_day_specialwinter_soldier_on_the

[billyoc]

1. Good thing we're not going to have a precipitous withdrawal.

I'd hate to see lawlessness there.

[HelenWheels]

2. How to win friends

and convert the Iraqis to democracy--destroy their vehicles and possibly their livelihood. Beyond disgusting.