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'Not One Word of Remorse' from Driver Who Crushed Rachel Corrie
Israeli soldier in bulldozer 'did not see her'
The Israeli soldier at the controls of the bulldozer that crushed the pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie told a court today that the first time he saw her was when fellow protesters were already tending to her dying body in the dirt.
Rachel Corrie's parents, Craig and Cynthia, stand next to a photograph of their daughter at the start of their civil case against the state of Israel earlier this year. (Photograph: Stefan Zaklin/Getty Images) Giving evidence for more than four hours in the civil case brought by Corrie's family against the state of Israel,
the former soldier repeatedly insisted that had not seen the
23-year-old American standing in front of his 66-tonne Caterpillar
bulldozer before she was fatally hit.
"I didn't see her before the incident," he told the court in Haifa. "I saw people pulling the body out from under the earth."
The soldier, named only as YB, gave evidence from behind a screen after a ruling by the judge for "security reasons". A gagging order was imposed on identifying details, although it was disclosed in court that YB is a 38-year-old Russian immigrant who learned Hebrew after arriving in Israel at the age of 23 and now works for a food processing company.
The Corrie family had requested that they be given dispensation to see YB give evidence, which was refused. "I do feel that the state of Israel is saying [we] are security risks and I am affronted by that," Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, said after the hearing. "I wanted to be able to see the whole person, not just hear the words."
Rachel Corrie was protesting against the demolition by the Israeli military of Palestinian houses in Gaza when she was crushed to death in March 2003. An internal military investigation concluded that no charges should be brought and the case was closed.
YB, who was in communication with his unit command and a second bulldozer on the scene, told the court that he was told through his headphones that he had hit someone. "I reversed … There was this thought that something wasn't right … It looked like I hit someone. I didn't understand what had happened."
In evidence that frequently contradicted his own earlier affidavits, YB said he reversed the bulldozer 25-30 metres. "After I reversed I saw they took out a body." He was "absolutely certain" Corrie's body was between the bulldozer and a mound of earth he had been ordered to flatten, contradicting earlier evidence given by two other military witnesses.
Asked if anyone from his unit went to the aid of the fatally injured protester, YB said: "No, we weren't allowed to leave [the vehicle]." Asked why he didn't call a military ambulance over his radio, he said: "That's not my level of command."
He recalled being warned that morning that there were civilian protesters in the area, and some might be armed. "Did you see any of them armed?" asked Hussein Abu Hussein, the family's lawyer. "I can't answer that, I don't remember," said YB.
Later Abu Hussein asked: "Did they carry anything that made them look like terrorists?" YB said: "They carried a loudspeaker and a sign."
"Did you suspect they were dangerous?" YB said: "I suspect everyone."
YB had offered no explanations, said Abu Hussein. "You continued driving forward, you pushed the dirt and you buried her. You didn't see anyone. You have no explanation of how [Corrie] was killed."
After the hearing, the lawyer told reporters: "The more we hear the more the impression is that someone tried to whitewash what happened."
Cindy Corrie said she was "glad to get this day behind me". Although the driver was a key witness, she said, "my sense is that there are other people on the ground and in the rear who also have responsibility and were giving orders, and allowed these things to happen to Rachel and continue to happen".
She had brought the book of her daughter's writing to court, she said. "I wanted to keep Rachel's humility and compassion for everyone in my heart today, but it was very hard as I did not hear one word of remorse from this witness today. That saddens me."
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Show AllOne important lesson is this: Israel is raising a generation of sadists. Their military are taught to shoot children, hide behind children and to disregard civilian rights. They torture in their jails and kill journalists with impunity. In their schools, they teach that Arabs are less than human. Israeli society is based on anti-Arab racism. Without that cement of hatred, the government could never carry off this 60+ year land theft and ethnic cleansing project without much protest on the part of the people. Israel is a monstrous society--and it will get much worse if America and Europe keep covering for it.
Amerikans are much worse. They rape the children first. Then try to burn them alive to destroy the evidence.
He was "just following orders," right? Where have we heard that before?
Now this is the ultimate irony. The murdering Israeli Zionist Jews have become good little Nazi Germans. Just following orders. I see nothing, hear nothing.
Fucking hypocrites. Jews, you have become the very thing you supposedly were victimized by so many years ago. How does it feel to become the monster?
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
It's not "Jews" it's "Zionists" the two are mutually exclusive.
Zionists basically allied themselves with Hitler in WWII in order to help achieve their mutual goals of making Jews feel that they were so endangered that they had no choice but to commit Genocide in Palestine.
If you read up on Theodor Herzl, the "Father of Zionism" you can see that this is was all part of the plan from the outset.
If you read the writings of Jewish leaders contemporary to Herzl, you can see that they knew this was his plan, and vehemently opposed it, which is why they were targeted by the Nazis, whereas the Zionists were not.
If you read the book Holocaust Victims Accuse, available here - http://jewsagainstzionism.com/resources/onlinebooks/Holocaust%20Victims%20Accuse.pdf
you will get names and dates of some of this collaboration.
Good point, but unfortunately the vast majority of Americans don't make that distinction. They equate "Israel" with "Jew" - period. Which is why speaking out against Israel in America will get you labelled anti-semite and the shit beat out of you.
And, I might add, there are not too many Jews that do not equate themselves with, and support, Israel, whether they are Zionists or not.
Don't believe me? Try going to a local synogogue and say a few bad things about Israel. I give you 10 seconds before you are shown the door.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Dear herdpoisoning"
I have also read about Herzl, that at one time, he was considering land in both Africa and South America for a "altneuland" so to speak. Apparently, the British and others were not too excited about this. I wonder what the world would be like now, if either Africa or South America had been the "new home?"
A nation of psychopaths. Just like us.
He is a Russian immigrant. Learns "Hebrew", a language invented out of whole cloth in the late 1800s, gets paid to destroy the homes of the indigenous people of the Holy Land, kills an American citizen, and then lies about it, showing no remorse.
He is the epitome of a Jewish terrorist.
To be fair, I should say that Hebrew was not "invented out of whole cloth in the late 1800s". It was a revival of Old Testament Hebrew. (I remember, during my anthropology program, encountering this trivium: Because OT Hebrew was deficient in profanities and obscenities, the Israelis had to borrow* some from the local Arabic!)
Seriously, can you imagine the Zionists NOT making the language of their new homeland as much like the language of their scriptures as possible?
*I use the term in its linguistic sense. I don't see the Jews giving ANYTHING back to the Palestinian Arabs!
Well, they have structured their society to be as far from traditional teachings of the scriptures as possible, so to "imagine the Zionists NOT making the language of their new homeland as much like the language of their scriptures as possible" would not be that much of a leap.
Let's see - Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors land, Thou shalt not kill... just to name a few.
Good grief. I'm no supporter of Israel's government, but come ON, Revo! Hebrew has been around for thousands of years.
Yeah, like ancient Greek and ancient Latin. Classical Hebrew was not a spoken language until it was reinvented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Ben-Yehuda
Irish and Welsh had to be pretty much 'reinvented' too. Now you can watch TV in Welsh and Irish. It was a close thing, though, and both languages, especially Irish, were close to dying out, until assorted Nationalists and revivalists brought them back.I hate it when people mouth off about "The Jews", as if all Jews belonged to some monolithic tribe which marches to a single drum.Even when talking about Israel,it's a good idea to make a distinction between the Israeli government (and the factions that it's made of), and the Israeli people-whoever they are.And who, or what are the American People?
Israel and the United States do not have to answer to anyone or any country for crimes committed by their armed forces. Israel and the United States are above the law. They determine when a crime has been committed. Law and order are what Israel and the United States declare it is. My we have come a long way! Isn't "justice" wonderful?
Wait a second...you mean to tell me that the U.S. and Israel aren't the "good guys???" I'm shocked. Shocked, I say....
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Wait a second...you mean to tell me that the U.S. and Israel aren't the "good guys???" I'm shocked. Shocked, I say....
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
I was surprised to hear this trial reported on NPR this morning. I've been listening to see if they would mention it.
Not surprising, however, was their complete failure to include the fact that many witnesses have testified that the driver had a clear line of site to Corrie before he murdered her. The report discussed only the defense's side of the case.
Claiming that the killing was "accidental" and failing to express remorse don't jive.
The local NPR station is conducting its pledge drive this week. I'm waiting for their email for which my response will describe their worthless reporting.
q
Another reminder that NPR is steeply slanted to the right - It's funny when you hear people disparaging Fox News and proudly claiming they get "objective news" from NPR. NPR news is another voice for the conservative right - in sheep's clothing.
Don't waste any money on NPR stations. Since the first Gulf war back in 1991, NPR has gone steadily rightwing. You'll hear plenty of generals and rightwing apologists on their programs, but very few progressive opinions. Time to pull money out of this fake liberal program.
The abused have become the abusers.
No remorse from the driver that killed Rachel Corrie! Are you sure his name wasn't Dick Cheney?
'Nuff said.
We've reverted to a world of barbarians. Civilized societies are dead or dying all over the world.
Ummm... WRONG. Yeesh, people. Check your facts before posting. This is embarrassing!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian
The word "barbarian" comes into English from Medieval Latin barbarinus, from Latin barbaria, from Latin barbarus, from the ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (bárbaros). The word is onomatopoeic, the bar-bar representing the impression of random hubbub produced by hearing a spoken language that one cannot understand, similar to blah blah and babble in modern English. Related imitative forms are found in other Indo-European languages, such as Sanskrit बर्बर barbara-, "stammering" or "curly-haired". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek pa-pa-ro, written in Linear B syllabic script.[2] Depending on its use, the term "barbarian" either described a foreign individual or tribe whose first language was not Greek or a Greek individual or tribe speaking Greek crudely.
Thanks for pointing that out. I had a feeling that his etymology was mistaken in this case -- they even used the term "barbarian" to describe enemies of the Roman Empire, I believe.
Jeanmarie-you have a fancy computer: I'd have to beat mine with a knout to get it to write Greek or Sanskrit.Linear B would be an even greater struggle. I guess you're a classicist. I was for a while, a long time ago.Thanks for your post.
It's possible that in the future, the word "Israeli" will be used the way that we now use the term "barbarian."
I can't speak for the Barbary pirates, but the word "barbarian" actually comes from the ancient Greek word "barbaros", which mean people who speak an unintelligible language, i.e. the "other", the "foreigners"-which means pretty much anyone who didn't speak Greek at the time, which is to say the rest of the world.Herodotus thought that the bleepin' furriners sounded like "barking dogs." The roots of Western intolerance are deep.
The word has already been coined: it's called 'fascists'.
"The Israeli soldier at the controls of the bulldozer that crushed the pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie told a court today that the first time he saw her was when fellow protesters were already tending to her dying body in the dirt."
All I can say, about all those from far away foreign lands who 'get their head chopped off in Iraq" or who get crushed to death in Palestine - if you don't want to get your head chopped off in Iraq.. DON'T GO TO IRAQ... If you don't want to get crushed to death in Palastine.. DON'T GO TO PALESTINE...
I can't think why these people think THEY are sacrosanct in a land full of suffering and dying of that land's own people. They are doing things which cause trouble IN that land... while having the mistaken feeling they are being 'altruistic'... 'doing good for the sake of goodness itself'.... not so, they receive the reward from the pleasurable sensations they receive WHILST 'doing good'.. they are NOT doing good in a land where the people are suffering, dying, in innner conflicts...A single person, a foreignor, cannot help them.. can only stir up trouble, as shown.
~sc
So she had it coming? She was asking for it?
You will sit and hide, and one day they will evict you and bulldoze your home, and declare you an un-person, and perhaps you will then understand.
I can't help feeling this is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Why should we be losing the cream of our crop to unutterably shocking Nazi imitators? How does ANY real spirituality condone this?
What Israel does is evil. Evil has to be confronted or it gets worse and worse.
Americans are hardly innocent bystanders. Israel is the largest recipient of US aid, on the order of $3 billion annually. The US repeatedly blocks UN resolutions that would have reined Israel in. Israel couldn't commit its crimes without US protection. Even the bulldozer that killed Rachel Corrie was built by the American company, Caterpillar. Palestinian blood is on our hands.
As far as I'm concerned Rachel Corrie did what few of us have the courage to do. She's a genuine hero.
Dear raine:
Do you really believe that? That misery is only the business of those in their own country? Israel is the one causing the "trouble' in the land. Not just the land but in International waters too.
Saddest of all, is the fact that this soldier had no remorse, and that his answer when he saw what he had done was that he did not ask for help, because that was beyond his "level." Departmentalized and devoid of humanity...wow.
All kinds of people need to show up in this country....a single person CAN change the world.
One phrase response to you:
"The only thing required for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing."
'nuff said.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Boy are you ever on the wrong foot! Don't stop to think about what you wrote, it might be painful.
Should we have said in DONT GO TO GERMANY in WW2? Don't stop apartheid in Africa?
.
Most of the Israeli Defense Force function like members of the German SS,,,,,,,,,they disconnect from their humanity and moral senses.
They can return to their families, coworkers, communities, and civilian occupations; with no linkage to their criminal acts.
They compartmentalize their war-criminal activities, separated from their normal-sane civilian lives. The IDF has drilled this "disconnect" into all recruits. If you have moral reservations, you are drummed out, and labeled as mentally and "unpatriotically" UNFIT.
This is many degrees worse than the Nazi SS of 75 years ago.
We were supposed to learn,,,,,,,,,NEVER AGAIN
Now history is being repeated.
//
We have to do what is right, even when it hurts other people sometimes, eg. the latest Nobel peace prize. Rachel was trying to keep the Israeli soldiers from bulldozing a Palestinian home and hoped that her "United States-ism" would intimidate the army into ceasing destroying a few of the homes. We still hope and try to make changes, eg. Jimmy Carter, even while the - yes, I believe it and call it - genocide - continues, slowly, ala 21st Century.
My sympathy to the parents, to the brave family who are doing what is right, even though they know better than anyone that this is a kangaroo court. Thank you, and I am so sorry.
My heart goes out to the soldier who testified, too, for it must be terrible to have had so much anger that you could bulldoze a young woman and so much angst now that you can't even say you are sorry to her parents.
My heart tells me that the driver-murderer is a genuine psychopath.
That's too easy. He's just like all soldiers who are taught to transcend their humanity.
Not all soldiers. Some actually transcend their training. Even soldiers have will power and a choice. What is too easy is for soldiers to say that they were just following orders.
I value Rachael Corrie far more than Anne Frank.
I believe the point is Rachel Corrie gave her life for others, while I don't recall Anne Frank doing any such thing.
Rachel Corrie stood up for her beliefs and was a messenger, Ann Frank was a messenger too, maybe she was standing as tall as she could.
Good call there.
Rachel Corrie stood up, Anne Frank hid.
It is time for the United States of America to throw the Jewish Monkey off its back.
Rachel Corrie and her parents have been naive in the extreme. They still believe the finest words that are uttered in the USA even after having paid with precious life for their belief
I admire them to even greater extremes. She was an angel and they are blessed.
Amy Biehl, while naively assisting a black friend, was by chance stoned, beaten and stabbed to death in Guguletu, outside Cape Town, on August 25, 1993 simply because she was white. The mob of black youths responsible for this consisted of people systematically degraded and enraged by Apartheid. Her parents travelled to South Africa and to personally forgive and shake the hands of the youths convicted of inciting the attack while stating that 'The most important vehicle of reconciliation is open and honest dialogue...we are here to reconcile a human life which was taken without an opportunity for dialogue. When we are finished with this process we must move forward with linked arms.'
Amy Biehl and her family are of the same order of angels and forthright world citizens as the Corries. One incident of this nature could be regarded as an accident but two indicate a large reality.
In these two families we find the plentiful power of the people living in the USA. They are the of the finest alloy. If the people of the USA were able to follow their lead in reality the country would be rightfully regarded as a leader amongst the finest in the world.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the USA, in the form of such as the Pentagon and the White House and Democracy, contrives appropriate appearances of sympathy while persistently seeking to create and sustain the conditions under which Amy and Rachel died. It is in the latter and their supporters that we find the plentiful dross that smothers this country called the USA and makes it the shame of the larger world. Both institutions and their entire chain of associates consist of forceful idiots, which makes for an awful large number of forceful idiots in the USA and the Western world now.