'I Pretended to Be Dead'

[kpete]

ABC News has an interview with a 12 year old girl who survived the Haditha massacre. It is a moving tale.

'I Pretended to Be Dead'

On the new tape shot by an Iraqi journalism student and given to ABC News by the Hammurabi Human Rights Group in Iraq, Younis, soft-spoken, with rounded cheeks and a headscarf, begins by calmly telling the interviewer, "My name is Safa Younis. I'm 12 years old."

The interviewer asks, "What did the American soldiers do when they broke into the house?"

"They knocked at the door," Younis says. "My father went to open it, they shot him dead from behind the door, and then they shot him again after they opened the door."

She describes hearing the Marines go through the rest of the house, shooting and setting off a grenade before getting to the bedroom where she was with her mother and siblings.

"Then comes one American soldier and shot us all," she says. "I pretended to be dead … and he did not know about me."

more at:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/IraqCoverage/story?id=2015052&page=1
via:http://www.allspinzone.com/blog/index.php?itemid=2873

[Philosoraptor]

1. Heartwarming little memorial day story huh?

Good God Almighty we should be ashamed of ourselves as a nation.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. It always comes to this

a total cheapening of life, even women and children. Now these people are gone, the last child probably traumatized beyond help forever, the kids (they are all kids to me) who did this haunted for the rest of their lives and possibly incarcerated. I hope this is prosecuted quickly and efficiently.

This was done in our names.

[CrispyQ]

14. In our names.

This story is so tragic. I can barely comprehend such horror.

Was it F 9/11 where a mother of a soldier said, "I gave them my son & they returned to me a killer." I can't remember where I saw that footage but it damn near yanked my heart out. It is a such a horrid truth of war.

[CoffeeCat]

3. Another criminal aspect of this story...

...is that it is being treated as an isolated, horrific incident.

Atrocities like this have happened an untold number of times, in Iraq.

Can American please wake up now? These soldiers--and the American people--were told
that we were going to Iraq to as liberators.

We are fighting Iraqis now. We are not giving them freedom. We have torn apart their
country. Their infrastructure is in shreds.

I'm not excusing what these soldiers did. However, our soldiers are the biggest victims
in all of this. They were sold a bill of goods--and they know damn well they were lied to.
They all know that there's no WMD over there. They also know that--as Junior tells the American
people that we're there to "give peace and freedom" to the Iraqis--they're being trained to
see the Iraqis as the enemy.

Our soldiers are not only battle-fatigued from doing 3 tours--they also feel betrayed.

No wonder so many are arriving home with PTSD.

[lpbk2713]

4. I've been waiting....

to hear Limbaugh brush this off as a "frat prank" or to otherwise minimize it to the same degree. I wouldn't be surprised. I've heard him badmouth Kerry for criticizing the tactics the military uses in dealing with non-combatants in the ME. I'd like to know what his spin du jour is on this.

[Deja Q]

5. Oxycontin must've shrunk his already underdeveloped brain.

Much as with Donald Trump, the fact that repeat-offending drug abusing twerp has any cred just shows how sad the American people are.

[tblue37]

15. No, they don't know they were lied to.

Ninety percent of the troops in Iraq believe they are there because Iraq was directly involved in 9/11. This creates an underlying hatred and revenge attitude that becomes explosive when one of their own is killed by an IED or an ambush.

[caledesi]

24. You hit the nail on the head tb. These soldiers were drilled and

drilled about 9/11 and Iraq. They were drilled to kill, kill and kill more. I don't think most people could kill ordinarily, so they have to turn these guys/gals into animals. This makes me sick. The lies, the carnage, and I have to be honest, if I heard all those lies and were on my SECOND tour, I am not so sure, I would be crazy too having lost ALL control, and kill innocent people too.

This is a sorry mess.

[tblue37]

27. They were actually on their THIRD tour.

It is just mind-boggling, isn't it?

[zippy890]

6. make yourself read this

we have not learned from our history.

until we do, these atrocities will continue to happen.

[Selatius]

7. Would it have been more merciful if she died with the rest of her family?

I wonder if she has weighed dying together with her family vs. living out the rest of her life with no family?

If I were caught in a similar situation, I'd wonder the same thing. If I was killed like that, at least I died together with my family.

I'd suffer survivor's guilt.

[madokie]

12. something to be guilty about maybe, living is not

[yngliberal]

8. Wow

And people wonder why so many people in Iraq are mad at us.

[malaise]

9. Just look at this

young girl's sad eyes. Fugg you George Bush.

[madokie]

10. There's nothing we can do to win over the hearts and minds

of any of the Iraqi or their neighbors, they're all more determined to fight us now than ever, no matter what. We have lost our moral upper ground to not ever be regained, only if after much soul searching and a show of trying to do what is right by them all. We lost the war george*, someone please tell him, we lost. Only leaders can lead a charge to change something and you are not a leader, george*. Failure, flop, imposter, ah, there is the word, imposter.

[CoffeeCat]

11. How sick is this quote??!?!

From the article:

"Pentagon officials are worried the allegations will severely damage America's effort to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people."

If anyone...ANYONE...believes that we are in Iraq "winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people" then they are gullible beyond repair.

Can you believe someone from the Pentagon would be toeing the same old line...in the middle of this sick scandal?? He just had to get his soundbyte in, and remind the American people that they need to look the other way, because we're in Iraq "to win hearts and minds."

I just can't take the lies any more.

I just can't take being insulted like this any more.

[lebkuchen]

13. I completely agree. "Winning hearts and minds" is a fable.

I don't doubt that we've had military units who'd initially tried to promote good will in the name "democracy," but their efforts were undermined by the gun-slinging mercenaries and the torture edicts originating in the WH. Our troops are just a cog in the wheel of the Grand Lie, that bringing democracy to the Iraqis was the mission--it never was.

Now that every American is a target in Iraq, every American has thrown caution to the wind and is doing "whatever" to survive, as are the Iraqis.

It's a lose/lose situation. Every morning it's a deeper pit Bush has orchestrated to be dug. Our soldiers hold the shovel.

[Philosoraptor]

16. ..........

.........

[Pachamama]

17. Sgt. Frank Wuterich - Remember that name.....

According to the ABC News Report and report given to Murtha, this is one of the Marines from whom the bullets came that murdered this girls family in our name......

:grr:

[lonestarnot]

18. Smoking guns here!

[Truthy Nessy]

19. Did you notice that TV news like CNN rarely mention

that those civilians killed consisted of mostly women and children and babies. I am so ashamed to be an American.

[caledesi]

25. Not to mention pregnant Iraqi women. Where are the pro-life

people? Hello? I guess Iraqi women are not human. :sarcasm:

[Cocoa]

20. Safa Younis is gonna get swiftboated

and Frank Wuterich is going to be worshipped as a hero by the RW.

[radwriter0555]

21. Why does she hate America???

*cough*

[ronnie624]

22. If she does hate America,

she is well justified.

[radwriter0555]

23. That's what I'm thinking....

Poor child. I'm so sorry.

[XOKCowboy]

26. I posted a similar thread here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1308791

The tape has been around for months. We're just seeing it.

[tinfoil tiaras]

28. That poor girl is my little cousin's age-

my age only 2 or so years ago! I cannot fathom something that horrible happening to me or my family. I'm increasingly shocked and appalled about some people's attitudes toward human life. I just finished reading a discussion board about the death penalty and some people's responces on there I couldnt belive (e.g. "I think we should go back to hanging prisoners", "We should just round them all up and kill them all", "That filth doesnt deserve to live", etc). It really saddened me.

You know who else would have gone into a family's home and shot everyone (almost everyone) to death? You know who doesn't have respect for human life? Hitler. Al Queda (sp?). Stalin. Hell, even the fucking Taliban (duh). I have no idea why in the world the US would want to stoop to the level of these people. The state of this country saddens me even more every day :cry: :cry: :cry: