Robert Parry: U.S. Soldiers Kill Unarmed Iraqis and Afghanis

[babylonsister]

U.S. Soldiers Kill Unarmed Iraqis and Afghanis

By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted February 15, 2008.

George Bush winks at indiscriminate killings, further tarring the reputation of the U.S. military.


By forcing repeat combat assignments to Iraq and Afghanistan -- and by winking at torture and indiscriminate killings -- George W. Bush is degrading the reputation of the U.S. military, turning enlisted soldiers and intelligence officers into murderers and sadists.

For instance, on Feb. 10 at Camp Liberty in Iraq, Army Ranger Sgt. Evan Vela was sentenced by a U.S. military court to 10 years in prison for executing an unarmed Iraqi detainee who -- along with his son -- had stumbled into a U.S. sniper position last year.

After letting the 17-year-old son go, Vela's squad leader, Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley ordered Vela to use a 9-millimeter pistol to shoot the father, Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, in the head, an order that Vela carried out. "It was murder, plain and simple," military prosecutor, Major Charles Kuhfahl, told the court.

Janabi's son, Mustafa, was allowed to make a statement, explaining how his father's death had devastated the family and how one of his four younger brothers now avoids their home because he can't stand the sight of his father's empty room.

"Please don't forget about us," Mustafa told the court.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77064/?page=entire

[ixion]

1. Murder: a true 'Murikan value

:(

[atreides1]

2. I Beg to Differ

The US military is now responsible for tarring its own reputation, Sgt. Vela in no way was required to follow that order which was blatantly illegal. If he chose to do so then he did it of his own free will, then tried to lie his way out of taking responsibility for his actions'

Bush may have started this ball rolling, but he didn't pull that trigger!!!

I don't believe in giving the US military a free pass anymore, it's about time that they take responsibility for the actions performed by those in uniform, and it's about time that everyone quits trying to put all of the blame on Bush and his closet Nazis, including the Repukes in Congress!!!!

Let the excuses begin, tired, constant deployments, blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all, and it's always the same.


How about making less excuses and taking more responsibility?

[Smith_3]

3. I agree with you, but:

Don't give the brass a free pass. The person who gave the order is guilty too.

[pokercat999]

4. It's time we wake up to the fact that the military has one

basic and foremost mission. That mission is to kill the enemy! When things get tough, a trooper gets confused or scared, his fall-back position and all his training tell him/her to eliminate the threat. If its an unarmed civilian......oh well, he/she will protect their perceived self interest first by the most expedient method.

Should they be held accountable? Goddamn right they should, from top to bottom. First the trooper on the ground and then those that sent them including EVERY american from the president on down to joe six-pack! Yep, you and me too. If we haven't taken up arms (figuratively) against this country yet we are just as guilty as that trooper in the field.

It's time to admit we have unleashed the best equipped killers in the world against the civilian population of Iraq, with almost no accountability except those few who are so blatant as to murder in front of the whole world and their punishment is light.

Why haven't I taken up "arms" against this country....probably the same reason as you, it's easier to live my life of ease than to protect the world from us.