Share 3394 Iraq War Vet: "We Were Told to Just Shoot People, and the Officers Would Take Care of Us"

It seems to me these new war gadgets , allow killing to happen so quick and far away , and in such large numbers , that we are farther away from civilization than ever before . Because we cannot use our senses and look the opponent in the eyes , it removes a lot of opportunities for understanding , for peace .

Put a man through hell, and so often it brings out the demon. Do not forget that these are our brothers and sisters, pushed to the limits in an environment that can only be described as "Hell on Earth." When the war becomes pointless, pointless atrocities unfold in wake of negligence.

This is also partly our responsibility as citizens back home. Look at what the establishment is willing to do to our children.

Enough is enough! Bring 'em home!

She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces."
O.O

holy fuck. karma will bite you in the ass

The Bush Army !

Changes are being made to avoid a situation like this horrendous event in the future. Afghan Commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has issued a new “Tactical Directive” aimed at reining in U.S. and NATO night raids on Afghan homes, two days after the command acknowledged the accidental killing of five innocent civilians on February 12 during a bungled special operations night raid.
McChrystal’s rising frustration with the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan by U.S. and NATO troops was evident in a virtual town hall meeting with troops last month where, referring to checkpoint shootings, he said: “We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.”
In the February issue of an ISAF publication, titled COIN Common Sense, McChrystal penned a short piece expressing concern over escalation of force shootings, that typically occur at checkpoints or from ground convoys, and said that both the rules of engagement and warning shots policy are under review.
Shortly after he assumed command, McChrystal issued a directive on counterinsurgency best practices that emphasized treating Afghans with dignity and respect and being judicious in the use of force, particularly air and artillery strikes. His efforts to restrain coalition troop behavior in a foreign land included issuing a directive on driving in Afghanistan without antagonizing the local populace.
McChrystal writes that nearly every Afghan he talks to single night raids out as their single greatest irritant. The new Tactical Directive on Night Raids, posted on the Central Command web site, says that Afghan men will naturally try to defend their hearth and home when heavily armed foreign troops kick in the door in the dead of night.
“He has been conditioned to respond aggressively in defense of his home and his guests whenever he perceives his home or honor is threatened. In a similar situation, most of us would do the same. This reaction is compounded when our forces invade his home at night, particularly when women are present. Instinctive responses to defend his home and family are sometimes interpreted as insurgent acts, with tragic results.”
The directive urges troops to consider alternatives to a night raid on Afghan homes and urges prior notification of Afghan government and military officials, and “local elders,” before a raid. Afghan security forces should be included in all night raids, it says, and “should be the first force seen and the first voices heard by the occupants of any compound entered.”
Searches of Afghan homes are primarily to be conducted by Afghan security forces and carried out with dignity, including the searches of females by females. Only portions of the classified directive were made public.

This is the tragic truth about all of our "MILITARY" interventions; more innocent people get killed than the guilty. That is the unvarnished truth of the matter.

"Winter Soldier" hearings; I saw a documentary called the same thing but it was about the Vietnam war.

I saw that video and it makes you wonder why is it that they can't zoom in closer to see if they are actually seeing a weapon or a camera? But maybe these helicopters are actually farther away than they seem, so the image is as close as it can be.

In any event, the people they shot on the ground were not shooting at them, so I don't know why it was reported, initially, that this happened during a combat engagement.

This instance--as well as others--is why we will never win the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people.

If I was put back there three or four times I would probably be called killer to. I would not allow myself to be caught between and betwixtt by unknowns i would want to not come home in a body bag.

Hold on, Let me get this straight....Are you telling me that war is bad? That is some out of the box thinking there friends. Maybe when we go to war with Iran in 5 years, you might ask a few questions before you enlist like "Can I see the proof we have gathered on their nuclear capabilities?"

I could not help but watch the videos.
I do not wish to comment on the subject, however, regarding...
"Wikileaks posted footeage..."
I wish people would take more time out to cite the proper/actual sources, as without that information we have no clue what we may be looking at.

Here is the actual source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange

I am grateful for the post and dialog. Thank you for the invitation and for posting, KS.

It's not unique to this conflict either, ALL war is like this.

That's why you should slap someone in the face who uses the phrase "just war." It's why the "we'll be greeted as liberators" lie was so bad.

When it comes to war, there really is not a whole lot of difference between a roadside IED and aerial bombardment. It's all mass violence designed to kill as many people as possible. Sometimes civilians are even deliberately targeted.

This is especially true in conventional total warfare. There's no distinction between civilian and soldier then.

are we pretending that we didn't know this all along?

to turn the table around..what do the likes of Osman bin laden tell their followers to do to people like you guys??

I seen this onthe news. I was appalled . as I watched the video it was very clear to me that the men were carrying cameras not weapons. I hope these soldiers can sleep at night knowing that they killed innocent people. This is such a screwed up war. How many more will die before we end war.

Read THIS !http://books.google.com/books?id=iichQ3yW-Q8C&dq=bhuddist+viet+nam+story&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=PI3BS9qPIYqlnQfAtqGWDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12&ved=0CEEQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q&f=false tommic , voted up !

"that's what they get for bringing their kids to a battle" .....wow.

war = profit

Not a whole lot different than Vietnam, sometimes we just lit up whole villages killing fifty sixty seventy people in seconds. War is a terrible ugly endevor. Some soldiers who are whacked out exhibit paranoia wanting to kill everything they see.
Its not as uncommon as you may think, haven't read of any fragging in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"She was carrying a huge bag, and she looked like she was heading toward us, so we lit her up with the Mark 19, which is an automatic grenade launcher, and when the dust settled, we realized that the bag was full of groceries. She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces."

WOW... I still can't get over that! It's so F*ing sad!!!