CNN reporter Arwa says Haditha "Isolated incident" they showed restraint..

[Philosoraptor]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/30/damon.iraq.btsc/index.html

Arwa Damon apparently traveled with the same company involved in the "Marine Massacre" before it happened. On CNN's morning show she said this group "always showed great restraint" when dealing with the local civilians and terrorists, and SEVERAL times she stated that this type of thing is "AN ISOLATED INCIDENT".

BULLSHIT CNN lady, bullshit.

[tanyev]

1. You think they put her check in the mail or do they direct deposit it?

[Ilsa]

11. That reply is worthy of an email to Jack Cafferty if he broaches

the subject.

[originalpckelly]

27. Hey let's see if he read this:

I agree with your fellow CNN reporter, the marines did show restraint. Instead of killing the whole town they just killed a whole family.





PS: That bitch is fucked in the head if she believes this crap.

[ShortnFiery]

2. The American Corporate Press is as corrupt as our

Executive Branch. Bet she looks forward to "a little extra" in her pay this month. :puke:

[Wickerman]

3. yeah, and Lizzie Borden committed an "isolated incident"

during what was otherwise a life of "great restraint".

:eyes:

[kittenpants]

4. she kept emphasizing the danger behind every door...

as if she personally was very afraid (and I don't blame her), but it was obvious that she was identifying soley with the troops who were her protectors. I don't think she needs a paycheck--the marines have her loyalty because they took care of her so now she's protecting them.

[Ilsa]

10. Yeah those little girls and babies and pleading mothers

are a real big threat to a 21st century Marine.

[Philosoraptor]

13. That baby was surely a threat.

You can't discriminate by age, they'd already killed a 15 year old girl, and a couple toddlers, the baby was gravy.

[Junkdrawer]

5. Guerrilla Warfare 101...

The Resistance kills soldiers like sitting ducks.

The Occupiers round up innocents and kill them in revenge.

The population gives more support to the Resistance.

More soldiers killed.

More reprisal killings.

....
....
....
....
....
....

[Philosoraptor]

6. Mission Impossible, but without Tom Cruise

[Junkdrawer]

9. The only question is whether the reprisal killings were ordered by...

the US authorities in Iraq and, if so, how high up was the policy approved.

[maine_raptor]

7. Oh Yea, like their going to pull something with the cameras on.

Hey they may be Marines, but they ain't dumb!

[dipsydoodle]

8. Hiroshima was an isolated incident

until Nagasaki 3 days later.

[babylonsister]

12. They trotted her out right quick, didn't they. Was she lying in wait

for this moment to defend this admin and the atrocities happening in their, and our, name?:eyes:

[Philosoraptor]

15. She's the soft version, the crazies justify it all sorts of ways.

I'm sure Rush will explain to the waiting thralls that it's all perfectly legal and necessary.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. OMG, it's 1968 again! My Lai was an 'isolated incident' too!

[Philosoraptor]

16. Only there was no internet then. Still, the story took 6 months to break

To the general pop. The neocons must really hate the web.

[KharmaTrain]

17. Stockholm...Or That's Baghdad Syndrome

This is where "embedding" reporters with U.S. Forces pay off for Rummy and Cheney. The reporter lives with the troops day in and out for several days and a bonding occurs. You generally see these in the fluff pieces of the mechanic who can build a humvie from scrap parts or the mobile surgeon who stitches up 50 people an hour...but it also pays off when it comes to stories of this sort. Look at how rah rah the corporate media was during the invasion...and most of it provided by embedded reporters who were riding to "mission accomplished" (or that's how it looked) into Baghdad...all, of course for traitor Geraldo.

The closeness in such dank and dangerous circumstances is creates stresses similar to being a hostage...everyone hunkers down together for better or worse and even if she saw attrocities, she wouldn't report them out of sympathy/respect/fear of his protectors...even in the comfy CNN studios in New York.

Good chance these guys went on dozens of missions with no incidents...and, yes there's danger in every door they knock on...but this appears to be people who snapped under the stress and frustration of their mission. I don't think higher ups ordered this action, but I don't think they were immediately saddened and have been in cover-up mode.

[Philosoraptor]

18. They expect us to believe that thousands of kids HAVEN'T been killed

That it's just a handful, one morning that just got out of hand.

[Junkdrawer]

21. How about this:

Suppose that reprisal killings were tolerated by the military chain of command as a way of trying to suppress the cooperation of the population with the resistance. At first, it's just the young men the Marines suspect were involved. Then it becomes all young men. Soon killing becomes second nature and, yes, woman, children and infants are killed.

[KharmaTrain]

30. Reminds Me Of A Vietnam Veteran Friend

I have a good friend who was a marine and was involved in S & D (Search & Destroy) missions in the Mekong Delta. He was reluctant to talk about his war experiences unless he got a few stiff drinks in him...then the stories that came out from 20 years earlier were clear for all to visualize.

I remember him talking about how he never knew who was really friendly and who wasn't. After going on many of these missions were they'd find weapons stashes or find a local who later turned out to be a VC, the suspicion grew even deeper. And women and children weren't exempt as many of these caches were found in their huts...and they'd all pretend not to know how it got there. I can see how the frustration built-up as some of these soldiers have gone on dozens of these missions and one town and raid turns into the next...how one Iraqi looks like the next and you don't trust anyone.

When you see "tolerated" in the military chain, I don't see it being encouraged, but it's obvious that there was a concerted effort by various people along the chain (and I submit it was higher and lower) to keep a lid on this thing...since they knew how this incident (and yes, I believe it was an incident) was going to be a big blow up.

This isn't like Fallujah where there was a systematic destruction of the city. What I think we're starting to see is the fatigue of all the tours and extended stays...the growing frustration among the troops on the ground to the dead-end missions they're on and the raising danger those missions take. Sadly I expect we'll see more of these incidents the longer we remain as the frustrations grow deeper on both sides.

[Junkdrawer]

36. Here's my problem with "incident"...

6 months before this "incident", the cousin of the Iraqi UN Ambassador was killed in cold blood. See testimony here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1316819&mesg_id=1316819

Now, are you saying we threw two darts in a region of millions of people, and one of them, by luck, hits one of the few people who has the connections to make sure we hear about it? :shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

37. How Many Incidents Haven't We Heard About???

As the saying goes "war is hell"...and I'm far from condoning what happened, just trying to rationalize it in a region riddled with madness.

The real root here falls upon how Iraqis and Arabs in general have been demonized in both the military and the corporate media. When boooosh used the word "crusade", that was the tip of the iceburg. Every war involves dehumanizing the enemy and this invasion has had plenty of that. There was a culture of hatred of these people that was simmering in the military for years and easily tapped when mixed with a cross and flag.

The fact this regime continues to abuse 9/11...invoking all sorts of stereotypes and boogie men to further spread fear and hatred...the ingredients that have fueled racism and is a prime tool of this regime and the Repugnican party.

I saw the Iraqi ambassador yesterday on Wolfie's treehouse and again this morning on C-SPAN...he mentioned about his cousin's murder, but it still didn't seem to keep him from joining the sham government in Baghdad and serve as a propaganda tool for the boosh regime.

Sadly, this country has long abandonded princpals of human rights and decency...racism and hatred are now in vogue and this is one end product. The ones who will take the fall aren't the ones who encourage the attitudes and fan the flames of hatred that the military has used to turn human beings into killing machines.

Peace...

[jbnow]

19. I imagine if you knew the guys

and never saw anything like that behavior it would be a shock.

They probably were on pretty good behavior in front of reporters. She probably did see them being careful.

It's likely most of these guys were more careful and used restraint before. It must get harder on every deployment. There is NO excuse for what they did but if you knew them they'd probably seem like nice enough guys, not monsters.

It's easier to crack under the pressure of being there for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time. You don't know who the enemy is, you don't see progress, you always feel in danger and you are. You keep losing more friends or seeing them badly injured. You see no escape, no win.

It is just easier to crack then.What they did was horrible, who could shoot kids especially? They couldn't have thought the kids made and planted the bombs. They devalue the lives of "the enemy" and took the lives in fury. I can't imagine that.
If they are regular guys and not monsters they will carry this forever. God, I wonder if after it happened they were sorry and not just worried about being caught. Did they really justify it to themselves after the heat of the moment, or were they sickened at their actions?

Anyway, the reporter was probably telling the truth as she knows it.

[The Stranger]

20. Oh, those poor, poor mass murderers.

Poor things! Having to shoot women and children point blank!

The nerve of people not to know how hard it is!

[Philosoraptor]

23. Every conceivable excuse is being puked up by the "experts"

They snapped is the main meme.

[Tansy_Gold]

29. So how come they don't ALL "snap"?

Why do I have such a difficult time accepting this excuse? "They were under such stress, such pressure, and they saw their buddy killed and they just snapped."

Can I say bullshit?

Something's wrong here. Other Marines and other soldiers have seen their friends killed and they don't go haring off to slaughter a couple dozen civilians. They're supposed to have trained, experienced, competent leaders who reinforce their own training. You just don't off a bunch of civilians because one of your own got blown to bits by someone else.

Oh, wait a minute. That's the whole philosophy behind the war, isn't it? Let's off a bunch of civilians in this country because some of our own got blown to bits by someone else. . . .


Never mind.



Tansy Gold

[endarkenment]

22. It's always an isolated incident.

It is always just a few bad apples. It is never the inevitable consequence of a corrupt and failed policy. There is never any acceptance of responsiblity.

We americans are guilty of war crimes. We have the blood of Haditha, of Fallujah, of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed, of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been injured, of an entire nation that has been destroyed for nothing, for lies, for the foolish dreams of empire enacted by men who never fought and never served, men without honor, men without shame. We are the good germans of our era.

[The Stranger]

25. Excellent post.

Keep keepin' on.

[Cha]

24. Not according to this

article by Robert Parry..

Bush's My Lai
From Abu Ghraib to Gitmo...now Haditha - Bush Trail of Tears
by Robert Parry

Snips~

Bloody Occupation

"Three weeks into the invasion, Hussein’s government collapsed, but Bush’s short-sighted plan for the occupation left U.S. forces stretched thin as they tried to establish order.

Sometimes, jittery U.S. soldiers opened fire on demonstrations, inflicting civilian casualties and embittering the population. In Fallujah, some 17 Iraqis were gunned down in demonstrations after U.S. soldiers claimed they had been fired upon. Fallujah soon became a center of anti-American resistance."

Civilian Slaughter

Not surprisingly, there were violations of the rules of war from the outset, such as the aerial bombing of a civilian Baghdad restaurant where faulty U.S. intelligence suggested that Hussein might be having dinner.
As it turned out, Hussein was not there, but the attack killed 14 civilians, including seven children. One mother collapsed when rescue workers pulled the severed head of her daughter out of the rubble.

Other U.S. bombings inflicted horrendous death and destruction on civilians. In one attack, Saad Abbas, 34, was wounded, but his family sought to shield him from the greater horror. The bombing had killed his three daughters – Marwa, 11; Tabarek, 8; and Safia, 5 – who had been the center of his life.
“It wasn’t just ordinary love,” his wife said. “He was crazy about them. It wasn’t like other fathers.” "



More..
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_robert_p_060530_bush_s_my_lai.htm

[Junkdrawer]

26. Hey Arwa, I guess the cousin of the Iraqi UN Ambassador was isolated too..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1316819&mesg_id=1316819

What are the odds. Only 2 cold blooded killing incidents, and one involved a UN ambassador's cousin.

[ugarte]

28. I saw the piece. Soledad was just as bad

giving Arwa the set-up pitch and all the usual exculpatory boo-hoo crap on behalf of the Marines.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. She's on CNN right now. How come I've never seen her before? She has a

real nasty attitude.

On edit. Just did a search at CNN, it seems that she writes for the site and doesn't appear on air. I can see why.

[otohara]

32. I Recently Watched Gunner Palace

soldiers hate being there, they hate Iraqi's and call them all sorts of ugly names. Shoot innocent people they despise, nah!!!

[cantstandbush]

33. Isolated like Abu Gahraib, GITMO, and other barbarism by US. n/t

[Mr_Spock]

34. Hey Arwa, you're blinded by your prejudices - shut the fuck up moron

You are not helping the situation by looking the other way - it will only encourage more senseless killing if they are forgiven for this. Killing is never right - ever - but especially NOT for revenge.

[Javaman]

35. Have we forgotten the video of the soldier killing the unarmed Iraqi???

I believe it was about 6 months ago.