Florida Marine metes out swift death in Iraq (New American Values/Propogan

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Florida Marine metes out swift death in Iraq (New American Values/Propoganda?)

ANTONIO CASTANEDA
Associated Press


RAMADI, Iraq - He was 5 when he first fired an M-16, his father holding him to brace against the recoil. At 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, spurred by the memory of 9/11.

Now, 21-year-old Galen Wilson has 20 confirmed kills in four months in Iraq - and another 40 shots that probably killed insurgents. One afternoon the lance corporal downed a man hauling a grenade launcher five-and-a-half football fields away.

Wilson is the designated marksman in a company of Marines based in downtown Ramadi, watching over what Marines call the most dangerous neighborhood in the most dangerous city in the world.

Here, Sunni Arab insurgents are intent on toppling the local government protected by Marines.

Wilson, 5-foot-6 with a soft face, lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He's married and has two children and speaks in a deep, steady monotone.<snip>

During a large-scale attack on Easter Sunday, Wilson says, he spotted six gunmen on a rooftop about 400 yards away. In about 8 seconds he squeezed off five rounds - hitting five gunmen in the head. The sixth man dived off a 3-story building just as Wilson got him in his sights, and counts as a probable death.

more: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15153837.htm

on edit: This is on the Breaking News page of a major FL Newspaper...

This reminds me of the news in Stormship Troopers. Or is it just me?


You need to read the whole piece... Unbelievable.

[Not Me]

1. May God have mercy on this man's soul.

nt

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. But... but...

He's a good Catholic! Did you read the line:

"It doesn't bother me. Obviously, me being a devout Catholic, it's a conflict of interest. Then again, God supported David when he killed Goliath," Wilson said. "I believe God supports what we do..."

And Daddy was a gundealer???!!!!

Jesus, he's GWB's wet dream.

[Sretto]

53. He isn't being honest...

He felt the recoil but didn't mention it. What else has he forgotten?

[Drum]

2. From the sound of the excerpt in your OP,

I immediately thought of the film Enemy At The Gates with Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman. In it, Jude Law is the unerring Russian sniper who makes his shots count, and Fiennes portrays a propaganda, er, press officer, who stirs up the patriotism and sentiment for the Russians to fight on, through odes of praise to the sniper Vassilli (Law.)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Read the whole thing... It gets worse.

[gratuitous]

4. So join up, youth of Bradenton!

You too can kill insurgents, because for sure every last person that's ever strayed into Mr. Wilson's sight was a dirty insurgent, deserving only of death, meted out swiftly, impartially and for the glory of the good old U.S. of A.!

Because surely Mr. Wilson will never experience a moment of doubt or hesitation. He will never be marked for death by a suicide bomber, and when he comes back home, he'll pick up right where he left off, his military experience neatly tucked away in a little box in his brain, and his wife and kiddies will never have to worry about Daddy's subconscious mind suddenly flaring up and mistaking any of them for six gunmen on a roof 400 yards away on a sunny Easter Sunday morning.

[MikeNearMcChord]

8. And God help the citizens of Bradenton Florida,

when the demons from his Iraq service haunts him, yet the local VA was shut down, he couldn't get his treatment, and all of the sudden, any Cuban, Puerto Rican, African American or other dark skiinned citizen becomes the "Haji"

Speaking of God check out the quote
"I believe God supports what we do"
Gee Marine Wilson, you think that the insurgents believes that God supports what they do? And why does a powerful God need some puny Marine to do his will?

[Zhade]

17. He might as well have a "Gott mit uns" belt buckle on.

NT!

[Judi Lynn]

It takes that magical "God wants me to do this" thinking which prompts

people like them to believe they are heroes as they slaughter human beings.

In war, "religion" (of the psychotic variety) aids the "government"'s plans.

If they follow their consciences, it'll screw them up, and they can't go along with the plan.

[Judi Lynn]

28. It takes that magical "God wants me to do this" thinking which prompts

people like them to believe they are heroes as they slaughter human beings.

In war, "religion" (of the psychotic variety) aids the "government"'s plans.

If they follow their consciences, it'll screw them up, and they can't go along with the plan.

[saigon68]

6. THIS IS THE TYPE OF ACCOUNT THAT IS PRINTED

By Europeans to show what kind of Rustic ass-Clowns we employ to do our killing.

This guy is probably a Psycho.

I've seen a few

They don't adapt real well when the shooting stops

But if the BIG CHIMPANZEE has his way with his never ending war, this killer may get to shoot HUNDREDS rather than DOZENS

THIS IS ONE OF THE SICKEST POSTS I HAVE SEEN ON THIS BOARD

Wilson plans to leave the Marines after his contract expires next year, and is thinking of joining a SWAT Team in Florida - possibly as a sniper.

Maybe then he can shoot a few Non white "drug dealers"

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. But... but...

He wants to benefit society when he gets out by BECOMING A SNIPER!

Or, I guess he could run Daddy's Weapons Dealership.

[saigon68]

9. Not this guy

At some point he will develop a deep seated need to kill.

Maybe he will kill his wife?

[MikeNearMcChord]

11. Well with the SC allowing the police greater resources

like no-knock searches and the like, I think Marine Wilson's future is so bright that he will need shades, Lord Help The Rest Of Us.

[Zhade]

19. A guy a mile away from my childhood home did that.

Hacked up his wife and kids with a machete. Yep, he was a soldier. I think this was shortly after the U.S. killed all those innocent people in Panama to get at a drug dealer that used to be on the CIA's payroll until he started getting "uppity".

You know, I always say "bring the troops home", but bloodthirsty sociopaths like this guy (who's clearly been brain-washed since boyhood) are invited to find somewhere else to return to, preferably a deserted island where the only people they can hurt/kill are each other.

I really fear the wave of destruction the madness of war will unleash here when our soldiers are driven out of Iraq, like they were driven out of Viet Nam, and make their way back here.

[saigon68]

29. Tim McVeigh turned on the Justice Dept under Reno

For imagined thoughts of being fucked with.

[itzamirakul]

33. And now we have callers on C-Span WJ saying that we have

hundreds of "cells" here in America. I think this is in preparation for them to start shooting in residential areas in the U.S. by claiming to be aiming at some of these mythical cells that are hiding behind regular citizens and forcing the deaths of innocent women and children.

[Zhade]

34. And, helpfully (for them), the pro-Israeli government agitprop...

...currently all over M$M arguing that it's okay to kill civilians to get at Hezbollah is softening up the weak and cowardly (including some right here at DU) into a stance where they will only question it happening HERE when the bullets start flying.

Idiots! Collective punishment is illegal, immoral, and just plain wrong!

[Maine-ah]

31. It's possible he could.

by joining a police dept. or FBI, and there are plenty of situations that he could very well benefit society by being a sniper such as hostage situations.

To the OP, I agree with you on the way this story goes, but I think you may mean Starship Troopers, not Stormship Troopers. It does have plenty of similarities in the reporting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120201/

someone there posted a rather interesting review of the movie, relating it to current situations:

132 out of 168 people found the following comment useful:-
Best satire since Dr. Strangelove, 23 July 2003

Author: Max Gardner ([e-mail]) from Wilmington, DE


Starship Troopers is a subtle and insidiously subversive movie that proved frighteningly prescient in the wake of post-9/11 uberpatriotism. Both Heinlein's book and Verhoeven's film are valid and interesting political statements at opposite ends of the spectrum. Heinlein's novel was criticized as fascist at the time of its publication, and for all his obvious talent as a writer I'm inclined to agree. The movie is as much a sendup of the original novel as it is a satire of jingoist American politics. It really is a shame that despite the squeaky-clean heroes plucked straight from the soaps, the Mormon extremists, the multiple-amputee mobile infantry retirees and the propaganda shorts masquerading as news, the vast majority still seems to regard Starship Troopers as a stupid action movie and, for some reason, absolutely refuse to consider that it might be something more.

[Zhade]

35. Yeah, he could be helpful - until he snapped...

...and turned the rifle on civilians, thinking they were the enemy. The darker, the better, probably.

[Maine-ah]

36. self delete.

I don't want to start a flame war.

Peace be with you.

[Zhade]

46. Look, you gotta admit that SOME will crack.

That's all I'm saying.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

38. Thanks for the correction... I looked at that and thought it didn't

sound right.

[Maine-ah]

40. eh, no problem

It was a pretty good movie, though ten years ago I never would have thought of applying it to current politics. I think I'll have to see it again.

[IndianaGreen]

59. Yeah, he is a certifiable psycho -- another Charles Whitman

in a war that is already lost.


College photo of
Charles Whitman
(University of Texas)

Too bad that Charles Whitman is dead. His skills at shooting people from the University of Texas Tower would have been well suited for Iraq.

[xchrom]

10. and so the demise of civilization.

this guy could have a been a roman centurion fighting in germany -- slowly losing ground to the barbarians -- but lethal all the same.

[progressivebydesign]

12. Are we supposed to applaud this? They must be soo proud. n/t

[Sretto]

54. Yeah

I think it's pretty good shootin'!

[catnhatnh]

13. "Though I've killed more than twenty people....

...how many would those twenty have killed?"....well,by your reckoning and with equal skill-400 "confirmed" and 800 "probable" kills....But of course these were mere "insurgents" and not a "designated marksman"...IE:possible opponents but not sniper/assassins shooting from under cover.....This guy, at best, is a neccesary evil (if the story is true) and at worst, well, something far different and almost surpassing loathing. If real,and I know a few real warriors, it was a mistake to tell this story,and if not, we have a name for his ilk....

[Zhade]

20. He's actually to be pitied.

Locked up so he can't harm another living soul first, but pitied nonetheless.

This guy's been steeped in the culture of killing since he was five, apparently. IMHO, that kind of upbringing is child-abuse, and maybe even criminal negligence - culpability in creating a killing machine.

I feel sorry for what this kid might have been, and wonder how many more of him will be created before humanity realizes this isn't the way to live in peace.

[Retired AF Dem]

14. What is the saying on DU

"we don't support the war but we support the troops". At least in this thread there are no hippocrates. If you don't support the war you can't support the troops. This marine is doing his job. At least it sounds like he isn't killing any unarmed civilians.

[Zhade]

21. "At least it sounds like he isn't killing any unarmed civilians."

With all due respect, this propaganda hack work doesn't really seem to be the type of piece that would be honest about his killing any civilians if that's happened.

I don't support the war, I DON'T support troops like these, and I never will. That's coming from a kid with a long family line of soldiers. Uh-uh. I don't support anyone, soldier or not, that takes this much PLEASURE in war.

IMHO, it's sick.

[saigon68]

30. I don't support thugs like this or the system that glorifies them

This guy will continue to kill one he is removed from Iraq-Nam

[MGD]

39. Sadly, I think that's a definite possibility

And, even more sadly, by the time it's over, there will be scores of thousands of souless killbots just like him trying to "find their niche" in a society that has very limited uses for souless killbots.

[saigon68]

44. They will use truncheons to beat the black man to death

On the streets of amerika

[catnhatnh]

22. Really????

....The buzz is that Iraqi civilians are ALLOWED to keep AK-47's...So how does Rambo Jr. MKII discriminate his targets???

[Zhade]

24. Well, if they aim or even look at him, they must be terrorists, right?

I mean, they couldn't be average citizens defending their homes from invaders who killed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, bombed, mutilated, and desecrated their country and lives, right?

[Maine-ah]

32. Link that please.

does buzz = rumor? I have family in the military in Iraq, smack in the middle of Baghdad on their 3rd tour. Not once has he mentioned this, nor his father who is now home. I'll be sure to ask about it next time I talk to them.

[NickB79]

45. I too recall hearing that on CNN a year or two ago

It said each family was allowed to keep one AK-47 for self-defense.

[MarkDevin]

50. I don't support troops who take pleasure in rape and killing.

Those punks are a disgrace to the uniform of my country. They deserve jail time, not our support!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Excuse me while I go hug an accountant

and thank him for choosing that profession. :argh:

[Zhade]

16. Yay for propaganda that glorifies illegal invasions and occupations!

Hooray for the applauding of war crimes!

:sarcasm:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. Another odd quote...

"The key to accuracy is composure and experience, Wilson says. “The hardest part is looking, quickly adjusting the distance (on a scope), and then getting a steady position for a shot before he gets a shot off. For me, it's toning everything out in my head. It's like hearing classical music playing in my head.”"

[Zhade]

23. He honestly sounds mentally ill.

I mean, it's pretty much sickness to be so detached from the thought of killing another human being.

Fwiw, I feel the same way about people who flip the switch on the electric chair.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

25. Reminds me of Alex in Clockwork Orange... n/t

[Bigmack]

26. I don't know where to post...

on this thread... so this is probably a reasonable place to start.

This kid is sick alright... the Corps made him into what he is. When they're done with him, they'll just kiss him goodbye and hand him over to society.

For the next 40 or 50 years he'll have ample opportunity to deal with the shit he's done... usually late at night, and with a load of chemicals aboard.

I'd lay money he'll never become a SWAT team member or anything related to law or justice. He'd never pass the psych eval.

In Vietnam, they just put the war dogs down after their time was up. The warriors?.... well, they just have to go thru hell all by themselves.

[bemildred]

27. Thanks for your testimony Mack.

I was friends with some VietNam vets when they came home. It was kind of amazing for a peacenik like me, what they had going on with the drugs and the drinking and the nightmares. It's funny, but I never felt unsafe with them though, they still had a moral core, and I felt like it protected me. Having had my own occasion for self-medication, I understand it better now than I did then. Most of them made it, but it was not a pretty ride, and they got no help that I could see. It still kind of pisses me off when I think about it. It was like THEY failed, and not the assholes running the show.

[itzamirakul]

37. Sounds as though he has found his calling in life...

Killing other human beings to the strains of classical music that only he can hear...

[boilinmad]

41. This is...

seriously, probably the most disgusting thing i have ever read......and the scary part, is that this ill-raised beast is just one of many.

[maxrandb]

42. 5'-6"?? Definitely a Napoleon Complex

We have a saying in the Navy. Never put the guy who used to get "swirlies" in High School in a position of leadership.

[MUSTANG_2004]

47. What an ignorant view!

If you're less than average height than you're incapable of commanding? Take your opinions on "short" people and replace them with "black" and see if you qualify as a bigot that judges someone by a physical characteristic that they have no control over.

[maxrandb]

55. Lighten up Francis!

Simply stating that this guy may be "compensating" for "shortcomings" in "other areas".

Kind of like the guy who buys a Hummer so he feels like a man.

I have nothing against short people, but short or tall, anyone who has such a cavalier attitude about life and death is not dealing with a full-deck (IMHO)!

Me thinks we will hear from this guy again, after he is removed from a place where he can kill people. When we DO hear from him again, I don't think we'll be singing his praises.

There's a little too much Timothy McVeigh, Lee Harvey Oswald, Siran-Siran and John Wilkes Booth in this guy to make me feel comfortable if he decides to live next door to me.

[MUSTANG_2004]

56. Yeah, right.

You're not biased against someone who's 5'6", you just don't think anyone that short is qualified for command because they were probably picked on in high school. I would have said the guys doing the bullying are unqualified for command, but you appear to be from the "blame the victim" school of thought.

And I can definitely appreciate that you follow-up your statement with "I have nothing against short people". Sounds very similar to "I can't be a bigot. Some of my best friends are...."

While we're at it, I don't understand the "Francis" reference at all. What's up with that?

[maxrandb]

58. It's from the movie "Stripes"

Anyway, some folks will jump on something in a post and scream "bigot, anti-semite, wing-nut", etc. I happen to be a fairly sarcastic person, and my post was meant to be "tongue-in-cheek". It's much harder to comprehend sarcasm when reading what someone is writing, as opposed to having a face to face conversation. If you and I were speaking face to face, you would be able to detect the "tongue-in-cheekyness" of my post.

By your judgemental standards, I guess if I see a primer gray pick-up truck with Confederate Flags in the windows, nude girl mud-flaps, and a "Rush is Right" bumper sticker; and said; "Gee, what a frickin Redneck Bushbot", you would accuse me of being bigoted against pick-up drivers.

And no, I don't think "bullies should be the only one's in command", but you can't dismiss people's experiences, and how they shape their character. Some folks that are picked on, or bullied are going to respond in the correct way, deal with it, and become better leaders. Some are going to harbor deep-seated emotional problems because of it, and take it out on folks when given the chance.

[Anakin Skywalker]

61. You Are Right.

In this society, apparently it is still OK to make derogatory remarks on some physical characteristics.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Seldona]

48. I hope that one day

this boy becomes a man and realizes what he has done. You cannot escape yourself.

I only hope he survives the experiance because many will not.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rodeodance]

51. and US troops meet violent deaths and others live with brain injuries

[leftofthedial]

52. Kill kill kill!

Kill 'em faster!

Kill 'em deader!

Kill! Kill! KILL!

[BreweryYardRat]

57. Hrm...there's a sentence in that article that

While the guy certainly does a good job (5 headshots in 8 seconds is pretty impressive), this raised an eyebrow with me:

"Once Wilson shot an insurgent who was "turkey peeking" - Marine slang for stealing glances at U.S. positions from behind a corner...at 514 meters-557 yards." That's 1685 feet...over a quarter-mile.

At that distance, even through a good scope, how could he be sure the guy was an insurgent? Wilson claims he's never shot a civilian, but could he even have seen a weapon in that instance? That seems like a situation where you do your absolute best to check before firing and make sure it's an insurgent, and not just some poor paranoid civilian looking around, hoping our poor jumpy troops won't shoot him or chase him if he dashes across the street on his way home. Or at least try to shoot him in the knee if you can. Of course, since this guy seems kind of sociopathic, he might have deliberately done a poor job checking.

I'm glad I can raise this question here, because I don't have to worry too much about getting a "RAAAARRGHHH WAITING TO SHOOT COULD HAVE ENDANGERED HIS UNIT AND GOT THEM ALL KILLED RAAAARRGHHH!!!!!!!!" response.

[WhiteTara]

60. how scary

Wilson plans to leave the Marines after his contract expires next year, and is thinking of joining a SWAT Team in Florida - possibly as a sniper.

[KansDem]

62. The USA's version of Juba?

Juba