Dahr Jamail: Testimony from a former U.S. Army Ranger ("atrocities")

[Barrett808]

Testimony from a former U.S. Army Ranger
Jessie Macbeth, a Former Army Ranger and Iraq War Veteran Tells All
May 21, 2006

This 20 minute interview will change how you view the U.S. occupation of Iraq forever. I cannot possibly recommend this more highly. An Iraq war veteran tells of atrocities he and other fellow-soldiers committed reguarly while in Iraq. I have never seen this level of honesty from a U.S. soldier who directly participated in the slaughtering of Iraqis.

Excerpts:

"When we were doing the night raids in the houses, we would pull people out and have them all on their knees and zip-tied. We would ask the man of the house questions. If he didn't answer the way we liked, we would shoot his youngest kid in the head. We would keep going, this was our interrogation. He could be innocent. He could be just an average Joe trying to support his family. If he didn't give us a satisfactory answer, we'd start killing off his family until he told us something. If he didn't know anything, I guess he was SOL."

and

"For not speaking out, I feel like I'm betraying my battle-buddies that died."

Watch the video here (http://www.peacefilms.org).

Produced by Pepperspray Productions

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/informational_posting/000394.php

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Anything from Dahr Jamail

is worth reading.

He knows and has seen a lot. Plus he's got the pictures to prove it.

[rooney]

2. this is so difficult to believe that our soldiers would commit

these atrocities. They are only human and are in an inhumane situation so it is hard to say what anyone might do. This will ruin the lives of the people committing the terrible things. We put our young men and women into a place that is foreign to them and their lives are in danger and they do not know what to do. They are not like the actors on TV shows and the career military people. Some people who sign up for the military cannot be taught how to fight or how to kill another person. PERIOD.
I do believe what has been said, even though it is hard. It took me a long time to believe our US administration would do the things that they have done during their time in Washington. In fact, there are new surprises everyday. I do believe them all. What would I do if I were one of those soldiers in Iraq? I really do not know.

[Ms. Clio]

3. Haditha

"When we were doing the night raids in the houses, we would pull people out and have them all on their knees and zip-tied. We would ask the man of the house questions. If he didn't answer the way we liked, we would shoot his youngest kid in the head. We would keep going, this was our interrogation. He could be innocent. He could be just an average Joe trying to support his family. If he didn't give us a satisfactory answer, we'd start killing off his family until he told us something. If he didn't know anything, I guess he was SOL."

The victims of the Haditha massacre were also tied and shot in the head.

I knew this was happening, but still, to read it. . . .

[rooney]

4. this and many other things just make me sick!

I don't believe I can stand it too much longer, with more illegal and immoral things these idiots are doing. Right now, It seems there should be a way to stop it and I do meen now----not have to wait for the November elections. It seems as though our hands are tied. What can one person do?

[Ms. Clio]

14. I know what you mean

And lord only knows what BushCo. will cook up for us between now and November.

[DBoon]

19. Just wait til this comes back home

Don't ever think our government won't do this to its own citizens

[Ms. Clio]

21. well, to be fair

the Chimperor will identify us as "terrorists" and then strip us of our citizenship, first.

[acmejack]

5. It is just the same

I will see you tomorrow, that is all for me tonight. I will not sleep.

[AlamoDemoc]

6. K&R......A MUST SEE VIDEO

[cassiepriam]

7. Our troops are turning into monsters. There are too many reports

coming out to deny it. Many reports coming out about the random and frequent murders, rapes, tortures of innocent Iraqi men, women and children by US troops. In the heat and chaos of any war, some of this is going to happen. We know that. But to the extent that it is happening now? No.

Some of these Americans were monsters to begin with; war gives them a perfect opportunity to act out their rage and/or sadism. Others were normal human beings before they went over. Some of these guys have been there three years now. They have lost their humanity. Shooting young children? As a way to obtain information from men who most likely know nothing anyway?

What we could be looking at is serious and wide spread PTSD. US troops decompensating in violent indiscriminate behavior. Shooting first, asking questions later. Shooting any thing that moves as a way to deal with their own trauma, rage, terror. After a while everything is like watching a movie, nothing seems real. A numbness sets in.

I wonder where is the chain of command? Where is the supervision? The mid and upper level officers are either burned out as well, or are helpless to stop it.

Please keep in mind that these US troops will be coming home some day. And they will live in your town, maybe next door to you, your children and loved ones. And somebody is going to have to help them become normal again.

That is going to be a very tough job for mental health experts. But not as tough as repairing the damage we have done to the country of Iraq, which may take many generations to recover from the damage we have done to the people and the land.

And please feel free to flame away at me. Not the first time since I am outspoken about military PTSD. And trying to face this reality head on. Denying it exists will not make it go away.

[tocqueville]

10. I think that PTSD is an answer but not the primary

the pattern of overkill is not new in the US Army, it's historical.

It goes from Sherman, the Phillipines, bombing out European cities without strategic or little interest during WWII, Hiroshima, the Vietnam war, the Basra road massacre during Gulf War etc... etc...

The Haditha and similar intermezzos are more the top of that pattern, caused by special conditions that would happen in any war, and by other Western Nations (to compare Armies claiming having decent standards). Probably the frustration of losing the war and the feeling of a need to avenge 9/11 play a crucial role...

But there must be other factors that lead the US forces to behave the way they do in more "normal" situations. I agree with you that there is a pattern, but I see it more caused by deep rooted behaviours in the American society that lead to a lesser respect for life (even American one). Death penalty, overcriminalizing of petty deeds, heavy prison sentences and media showing death caused by the "good guys" as normal. The pattern is very obvious in many movies.

Unnecessary killing is often shown as "normal" or at least as a "sad fact".... And the wrongdoing is most of the time excused and if some upper person ties to get at the perpetrators he is often portrayed as a "traitor". Sometimes, in rare cases, the responsible is sentenced, but it's mostly an "upper guy" and just to show that the "system works".

If you look for example at series like JAG, the defense of the wrongdoings is often preposterous. It's more or less always motivated by kind of a superior interest, that no risks can be taken, when in reality a little restraint would have solved the situation as well, the guy laying on the floor is harmless, but killed anyway.

I think that both the US military and many average Americans are in complete denial about this. This of course gives them a very bad reputation abroad. British soldiers asked about what they feared the most during Gulf War have come mostly with the same answer "US friendly fire".

[Cant_wait_for_2008]

12. These ghoulish stories are why I DONT support the troops in Iraq.....

...A young lad came to my door a few weeks back asking for a donation, part of which went to support the troops, or so he said.

He couldnt believe it when I told him that I don't support the troops and that I hope he doesnt become one of the invaders of Iraq when he becomes 18.

The look on his face was priceless when I told him that it could be his mother or sisters that were killed in cold blood by our troops.

[Cant_wait_for_2008]

13. And many of these monsters will be donning police uniforms when they..

come home, chock full of hate, murder and rage and untreated PTSD.

God help us all !!!

[Igel]

8. The only question is, does Macbeth deserve

life in jail, or execution for his war crimes and complicity in war crimes?

[LibertyorDeath]

9. No, but all his fucking senior officers do right up the line

every last Mother fucking one of them that gave the orders for these War Crimes.

I knew it was bad but this is way worse than I thought.

"The only question is" I don't think so there's lots of questions here.

This goes all the way up to Rumsfeld and beyond.

Highly trained child killers just fucking wonderful

Few bad apples my fucking ass.

[Igel]

20. Ah, the Nuremberg defense

brought into the 21sth century. It didn't even need to be revised.

It was wisely rejected last century; it would be wise to let its rejection stand.

Even if Macbeth were directly ordered to kill civilians by * himself, that would not exculpate him.

[fun n serious]

15. Thats a good question

It's hard for me to answer. I want to say yes. I want to say he should have disobeyed orders.

[fun n serious]

11. Kick

I am entirely discusted over this.

[emlev]

16. kick

[Leopolds Ghost]

17. 2 More Threads w/ Transcript

"By my hand alone almost 200 were taken out"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1253554

Partial Transcript -- by IndyOp (An Army Rangers account of Iraq)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2639154&mesg_id=2639236

[fun n serious]

18. kick

[Ron Mexico]

22. This lying clown didn't even serve.

Look at his service profile, and let's see if any of you vets tell me what the problems are.



Now look at the guy in uniform:



The sleeves are rolled up Marine style, not Army style. He's wearing a black t-shirt under hos BDUs and he's wearing the beret the wrong way.

Even if he's describing real events, I have no reason to believe someone with this lack of credibility. If this asshole has any service time at all, it's probably that brief period before washing out of boot camp or AIT.

[Barrett808]

23. Very interesting -- can any other vets corroborate? n/t

[Ron Mexico]

24. Hey, I'm ex-USAF but even I cracked up at the three combat jumps.

Every posting I had except for Basic was joint service, even my tech schools. I can't always spot a good fake, but I can sure as hell tell a bad one.

[Barrett808]

25. That's why we post at DU

Sanity checks are crucial.

So what do you think is going on here? Organized propaganda campaign, publicity seeker, or something else?

[Leopolds Ghost]

26. Grandiose Schizophrenia? White House Syndrome? Munchausens?

He's apparently been doing this for several years and joined a protest against a coffee shop ("Coffee Plantation" -- ??) for being kicked out of the place because he was mistaken for a homeless person. Said he did not side with homeless persons necessarily, but was upset because they didn't believe he was military. Lots of guys in this world fall into this sort of pattern of making up stories about themselves in a grandiose belief that they have to get some vital piece of revealed information into the hands of authority figures (some people have even suggested Joan of Arc had this, but at least she was successful at it.)

[Barrett808]

27. Has anybody called this guy on his apparent BS?

Or alerted Dahr?

[PublicRadioVet]

28. So many stupid errors!

You would think that someone who set out to pose as a Ranger would at least do the research to get it right.

A few things I noticed, right off the bat!

- Army wears brown t-shirt, Air Force wears black t-shirt.
- Sleaves rolled "marine" style.
- Beret is right color, but flash is over wrong eye.
- Flash shows no unit or directorate insignia.

As for the Military.com page, why would someone with a Combat Infantry badge also have a Combat Action badge??? The CAB is very new and was specifically created for non-infantry troops in the traditional support MOS's who can't or otherwise won't ever get the CIB. That a soldier would have both... I don't know that the reg says you can't have both, I just know I have never seen it. A guy would have to have gone and gotten his CIB while serving as an 11B somewhere, then reclassed to something like, say, 88M, and then gone back to combat again, seen fighting, and gotten the CAB. But even then, I would think the 11B would take precedent. Once an 11B, forever an 11B.

Dumb. People need to stop believing in this fraud.

[Iblis]

29. Kicked!

For NanceGregg and Peacetheonlyway!!

Kick kick kick!!!

L