Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiUS Soldiers 'Testify' About War Crimes
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND - Dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans publicly testified this weekend about crimes they committed during the course of battle -- many of which were prompted by the orders or policies laid down by superior officers.Some international law experts have said the soldiers' statements show the need for investigations into potential violations of international law by high-ranking officials in the Bush administration and the Pentagon.
The weekend gathering was designed to demonstrate that well-publicized incidents of U.S. brutality, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha, are not isolated incidents perpetrated by "a few bad apples," as many politicians and military leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the organizers said, of "an increasingly bloody occupation."
The so-called "Winter Soldier" event brought together more than 300 war veterans to discuss soldiers' actions and the impact of the ongoing wars. The event was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and was named after a quote from 1776 by the American revolutionary Thomas Paine.
Among those testifying at the hearing was Cpl. Jason Washburn, a former Marine who served three tours in Iraq. Washburn served in some of the most dangerous parts of the country, including Najaf and Iraq's Western Anbar Province. A squad in his unit was responsible for the massacre of 26 civilians in Haditha in November 2005.
Washburn told the gathering his commanders encouraged lawless behavior.
"We were encouraged to bring 'drop weapons' or shovels, in case we accidentally shot a civilian, we could drop the weapon on the body and pretend they were an insurgent," he said.
"By the third tour, if they were carrying a shovel or bag, we could shoot them. So we carried these tools and weapons in our vehicles, so we could toss them on civilians when we shot them. This was commonly encouraged."
Another former Marine, John Michael Turner, tore off the medals he earned during two tours in Iraq and threw them on the ground.
"Apr. 18, 2006 was the date of my first confirmed kill," he told the crowd other veterans. "He was innocent, I called him the fat man. He was walking back to his house and I killed him in front of his father and friend. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes, so I looked at my friend and said, 'Well, I can't let that happen,' and shot him again. After my first kill I was congratulated."
Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch, told OneWorld "we shouldn't scapegoat soldiers for any orders they have been given."
"The bottom line should be where up the chain of command does this [investigation] need to go," he said. "When we're looking at torture at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay we need to ask where were the officers and what were they doing?"
In 2006, Garlasco co-authored a report for Human Rights Watch titled "No Blood, No Foul," which featured numerous anonymous U.S. soldiers telling stories of torturing detainees.
"Detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003-2005," the report reads. "The accounts also suggest that U.S. military personnel who felt the practices were wrong and illegal have faced significant obstacles at every turn when they attempted to report or expose the abuses."
Last week, U.S. President George W. Bush vetoed legislation that would have specifically banned certain types of interrogation techniques that are internationally recognized as torture.
Bush announced the veto during his weekly radio address in which he defended widely condemned practices including waterboarding, the simulated drowning technique invented by Spanish inquisitors and adopted by such regimes as the Khmer Rouge. Bush claimed that techniques like this had alone prevented a repeat of attacks similar to those carried out on Sep. 11, 2001.
"The fact that we have not been attacked over the past six and a half years is not a matter of chance," Bush warned. "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe."
But veterans who testified at the Winter Soldier gathering said detainee abuse is just one of many types of brutality that has become a systematic part of the occupation.
"The problem that we face in Iraq is that policy makers in leadership have set a precedent of lawlessness where we don't abide by the rule of law, we don't respect international treaties," argued U.S. Army Sgt. Logan Laituri, who served a tour in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 before being discharged as a conscientious objector. "So when that atmosphere exists, it lends itself to criminal activity."
Laituri told OneWorld that precedent of lawlessness makes itself felt in the rules of engagement handed down by commanders to soldiers on the front lines. For example, when he was stationed in Samarra, he said, one of his fellow soldiers shot an unarmed man while he walked down the street.
"The problem is that that soldier was not committing a crime as you might call it, because the rules of engagement were very clear that no one was supposed to be walking down the street," Laituri said. "But I have a problem with that. You can't tell a family to leave everything they know so you can bomb the [expletive] out of their house or their city. So while he definitely has protection under the law, I don't think that legitimates that type of violence."
International law expert Benjamin Ferencz, who served as chief prosecutor of Nazi War Crimes at Nuremberg after World War II, said none of the veterans who testify at Winter Soldier should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Instead, he said, President Bush should be sent to the dock for starting an "aggressive" war.
"Nuremberg declared that aggressive war is the supreme international crime," the 88-year-old Ferencz told OneWorld. He said the United Nations charter, which was written after the carnage of World War II, contains a provision that no nation can use armed force without the permission of the UN Security Council.
"Every war will lead to attacks on civilians," he said. "Crimes against humanity, destruction beyond the needs of military necessity, rape of civilians, plunder -- that always happens in wartime. So my answer personally, after working for 60 years on this problem and [as someone] who hates to see all these young people get killed no matter what their nationality, is that you've got to stop using warfare as a means of settling your disputes."
Ferencz believes the most important development toward that end would be the effective implementation of the International Criminal Court, which is located in the Hague, Netherlands.
© 2008 One World
13 Comments so far
Show AllI hope many citizens who have heard these accounts will send emails to their representative demanding impeachment of Bush and Cheney. It should be a crime for congress alone to have let this Bush criminal get away with so much.
This kind of discussion is way overdue, not just for the war in Iraq, but for all war. I have been advocating such a thing for years: that if every one of our returning soldiers were to recount their experiences, in detail, there would never be another war, AND their own healing would be accelerated.
Too many soldiers keep it in, try to tough it out, and refuse to talk about what happened to them. This robs them of the chance for their own healing and their country's.
We're here, we're listening,we care.
I fully agree with and welcome the words of Benjamin Ferencz; most definitely.
It's great that over 300 veterans attended the Winter Soldier event. I love to hear or read these numbers in this kind of context. "Bring it on, guys (and gals)!"; may more keep joining. Make Bush and Cheney have nightmares for the rest of their lives, with all of this demonstration of righteous order!
Mr Ferencz is entirely right about these soldiers definitely needing to NOT be prosecuted. It'd be dishonourable of us to give these people even the slightest of a "hard time" due to their having served in these wars. They are to be fully WELCOME!
Their testimonies are illustration of true, authentic repentence, and that is [all] we need from them; well, that and their testimonies, in order to put Bush and Cheney, and guilty, criminal military commanders of course, on trial, that is. One thing we can be very certain of is that these soldiers won't easily serve in war ever again. They learned the hardest way possible, and they will not be forgetting these experiences.
NONE of the other soldiers, and meaning those not yet part of IVAW, f.e., should be put on trial; except for those who wittingly committed crimes of war and against humanity, while I believe that they probably represent a relatively small minority of all U.S. soldiers serving in these wars.
We just need get the damn leaders, to put them all and fully "out of commission", away for the rest of their earthly lives; behind bars, not the death penalty, to be clear. And the prisons should not be the luxury kind plenty of elites are treated to, sometimes anyway. These criminals should get the worst prisons in the world, minus torture and other crimes against humanity, of course.
There should never be any parole possible for these war criminal leaders and commanders.
Some people would degree with the extent of prison time that I believe these criminals should be given, and firmly so, and I'll consider other views; but won't make any promise about changing mine.
I have called and e-mailed CNN and the New York Times about the Winter Soldier testimony, even sent them links to video. I get the same crap as ever--thanks for your interest. F the corporate media--they are complicit in War crimes. first we put the Bushies on trial for Crimes against Humanity. Then we nail the propaganda arm of the Bushit.
Stop these KILLERS.
I submit video to local public access TV stations in Maine.
I sent in clips off the Winter Soldier hearing on Saturday, Interviwed folks who watched a live feed and Vietnam Veterans in Maine and it is now plaing in Central and Western Maine. Folks up here are fed up with the lies of the corporate-controlled media. They're tuning in to local access more and more. Go to www.wabpj.org, contact that site and ask for Pete Sirois. I would be happy to discuss alternate methods of reaching the people that realy count.
I read the words of the soliders coming home and what they endured. Yes, endured. They are young people under the command of those who are supposed to be better educated in the ways of the world and yet, the maturity level of the so-called commanders seems to be younger than that of the 18 to 22 year olds who are serving under them.
Drop weapons? Our govt gives children guns and tells them, kill the insurgents but if you kill a civilian, make him or her look like they deserved it? Many people in this country want to ban the death penalty and yet, those same people cheer on the young people responsible for killing on a daily basis. And America calls Saddam ruthless? How many people, soliders and civilians must die before our govt finally equates itself with Saddam...
This is horrible! Just terrible! I don't know...Iraq is a mess ok? I mean...it's just total BS! To understand that the Iraqi people were generally better under Saddam Hussein, for crying out loud, than the USA war/occupation of Iraq is very disappointing. Hussein would NEVER stand for this s***! This sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing...it would be intolerable to him. So "freedom" means that sure one has the "freedom" to walk on the street, but you risk being killed! Wow! Such freedom. When Hussein was in power EVERYONE could walk on the street and go shopping, and go to school, WITHOUT fear of being killed you see. The only condition was that an Iraqi follows the law. One breaks the law one is dead. That sounds barbaric, but..at least there was law and order in Iraq under Hussein. Even after the first Gulf War, there was even a Hard Rock Cafe built in Baghdad - Saddam Hussein seemed to have been ok with a Hard Rock built in Baghdad otherwise it would not have been there. Despite the terrible things that Hussein has done, the USA f-d him over and should therefore be punished. I mean...if the International community would punish the Nazis, surely they will punish those responsible for invading Iraq as it is only fair. Besides, at least the Nazis were most justified in invading France than the USA was in invading Iraq.
I have written many newspapers and asked why they aren't covering it. I have written columnists and asked them to cover it. I have sent some of the testimony to the senators. If more of us did that they would know some people know the truth... Go to democracynow.org and take some of the testimony and send it to as many people as you know. I put it on my blog http://theexpatwriter.blogspot.com
We can get the word out.
That's very good, demosthenes. I would that people listen to you, too.
In his interview with Matt Renner of Truthout
Winter Soldier coordinator Perry O'Brien pointed to "bad apple mythology" and the silence of veterans in all wars and the assumption that civilians can't deal with war reality-- so it should be kept from them-- as three targets of the program.
OK, now. Let's get a grip. This is the most important event in the anti Iraq war movement ... ever. The Iraq Veterans Against The War organized this multi-day event, where many, many veterans -- current veterans of the Iraq war -- told their stories. They told about what they've been doing in Iraq. They told about what's been happening to them now that they're back. (No medical care. Homelessness. PTSD.) It was incredibly, powerfully moving. (You can read more about it at http://warcomeshome.org.)
The propaganda directed at most Americans is full of admonishments to "SUPPORT THE TROOPS". Suppose it were to become common knowledge in propaganda land that THE TROOPS have discovered that the entire, mendacious enterprise is corrupt to the core, and they want out!
Say to everyone you know and everyone you meet and all your relatives in the dark, "What do you think about Winter Soldier?" How about we SUPPORT THE TROOPS by LISTENING TO THEM!
So, will these "criminals" be drug in front of the ICC for trial? Will the worldwide progressive consortium be there to defend their war "crimes"? QUICK...WHERE'S RAMSEY CLARK????
I just sent this to my local NPR station, KPCC 89.3, Pasadena/Los Angeles/Orange County, CA. This was their response to an email I sent on Monday, March 17th.
"Thanks for your note.
I'm not altogether certain what hearings you are referring to. The original "Winter Soldier" hearings were held in the Vietnam era. I am aware that the ongoing group called Winter Soldier sponsored some events in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. I've heard a couple of items on those events in NPR newscasts, and there was a story about the group during Sunday's All Things Considered."
I wonder where they are getting their information? Corp Media?
I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john
Just like the Clinton Administration taught us that a bj isn't sex, bush has taught us that it's ok to torture or kill anyone who either disagrees with us or doesn't look like us. Time for new leaders - no one in the Clinton or bush dynasty.