tagged w/ Admission
-
-
-
NYFA1
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
-
-
NYFA1
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
If even a fraction of former Bravo Company 2-16 soldier Ethan McCord's story is true, Congress must investigate.
June 21, 2010 |
Editor’s Note: It remains Washington’s conventional wisdom that President George W. Bush’s troop “surge” in Iraq in 2007 was his finest hour, even though another 1,000 U.S. troops died along with many thousands of Iraqis. Few news media honchos accept contrary analyses for the decline in Iraqi violence, including factors that predated Bush’s surge.
So, the myth of the “successful surge” has influenced other war policies, including President Obama’s “surge” in Afghanistan. But the Iraq surge was much uglier than the U.S. media presented, including quick-trigger decisions to “engage” Iraqi targets whether threatening or not, as Ralph Lopez recounts:
***
If even a small fraction of what former Bravo Company 2-16 soldier Ethan McCord is saying is true, that orders were given at a battalion level in Iraq for "360 rotational fire" against civilians in order to "kill every motherfucker in the street," upon being hit by an IED, then Congress must investigate.
This claim suggests a war crime which far surpasses errant bombs or overzealous individual soldiers in the heat of battle. This is the mass execution of civilians.
Further funding for the Iraqi and Afghan wars, presently being stalled in the House Appropriations Committee by Chairman David Obey for other reasons, could be contingent on a full investigation, including subpoenaed witnesses, and a report to Congress.
McCord told the World Socialist News Web site the implementation of an order for "360 rotational fire" in 2007 by a battalion commander was a new "SOP" (standard operating procedure). McCord said in an April 2010 interview:
"We had a pretty gung-ho commander, who decided that because we were getting hit by IEDs a lot, there would be a new battalion SOP. He goes, ‘If someone in your line gets hit with an IED, 360 rotational fire. You kill every motherfucker on the street.’
“Myself and Josh and a lot of other soldiers were just sitting there looking at each other like, ‘Are you kidding me? You want us to kill women and children on the street?’ And you couldn’t just disobey orders to shoot, because they could just make your life hell in Iraq.
“So like with myself, I would shoot up into the roof of a building instead of down on the ground toward civilians. But I’ve seen it many times, where people are just walking down the street and an IED goes off and the troops open fire and kill them."
Mass execution of civilians in retaliation for an attack on forces has been already prosecuted in the context of international law. In 1944 German SS Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler ordered the mass execution of civilians, prisoners of war, civilian prisoners, and a number of Jews, in the ratio of 10 to 1, ten executions for every German soldier killed in a March 1944 attack by Italian partisans.
More at the link:If even a fraction of former Bravo Company 2-16 soldier Ethan McCord's story is... more
-
-
There are enough resources available both online and through high schools and institutions of higher learning to help provide some semblance of stress reduction and structure to a frenzied, occasionally soul-crushing process. Take advantage of these tips and tricks from experts and expert researchers alike as a means of approaching the college application process with a clearer head and more responsible, positive outlook.
Link: http://www.onlineuniversitylowdown.com/2007/08/60-insider-secrets-to-college-admissions.htmlThere are enough resources available both online and through high schools and... more
-
-
eva2
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat," says Afghan commander McChrystal.
March 31, 2010 |
"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat," says top American commander.
President Obama's sneak visit to Afghanistan this weekend, although shrouded in secrecy, still received lots of prime press coverage.
At the same time, an astonishing open admission of possible US war crimes by Obama's man on the ground in Kabul, senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan General Stanley A. McChrystal, was reported by Richard A. Oppel Jr. in the New York Times... and then promptly ignored by the rest of the mainstream media.
"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat," McChrystal said during a recent video-conference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties.
According to the military's own figures, American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but as McChrystal noted, none of the victims proved to be a danger to the troops.
Despite new rules put in place by McChrystal, aimed at reducing the killing of innocents, such shootings have not dropped off. Although fewer in number than deaths from air strikes or Special Forces operations, their continuance, as the Times noted, "has led to growing resentment among Afghans fearful of Western troops and angry at what they see as the impunity with which the troops operate -- a friction that has turned villages firmly against the occupation."
These persistent "escalation of force" episodes have "emerged as a major frustration for military commanders who believe that civilian casualties deeply undermine the American and NATO campaign in Afghanistan."
A case in point: the murder of Mohammed Yonus, a 36-year-old imam killed two months ago while commuting to a madrasa where he taught 150 students. As Oppel noted, "a military convoy raked his car with bullets, ripping open his chest as his two sons sat in the car. The shooting inflamed residents and turned his neighborhood against the occupation, elders there say."
Although General McChrystal has reduced the number of civilians killed overall — deaths from aerial attacks, for example, fell by more than a third last year — shootings from convoys and checkpoints involving American, NATO and Afghan forces continue to plague the coalition. Shooting deaths caused by convoys guarded by private security contractors - not part of the calculation — make the total number of "escalation of force deaths" far higher than just those decried by McChrystal.
As noted by blogger Allison Kilkenny - one media observer who wrote about McChystal's statement — what the general admitted to may be a war crime:
“Military brass and the warmongering elite usually skirt war crimes accusations by saying the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations aren't conventional warfare. That is to say, the US is not at war with an official army, so anyone picked up on the battlefield (which is the entire world in the War on Terror) isn't a POW. They're an enemy combatant who does not have access to the protections afforded to enemy soldiers under the Geneva Convention.
This is a tricky way to circumvent accountability, but even this clever interpretation of international law can't cover the stink of McChrystal's admission. The US is occupying Afghanistan, and while there, they are killing innocent civilians, says the highest ranking military official in the country.
So, to recap: the President of the United States visits Afghanistan to deliver personally "pointed criticism to President Hamid Karzai in a face-to-face meeting," after flying in "for an unannounced visit that reflected growing vexation with Mr. Karzai as America's military commitment to defeat the Taliban insurgency has deepened."
The president's visit comes only days after his highest ranking military official confirms in the “Paper of Record” that his military forces have killed dozens of people, none of whom posed a threat -- and other media doesn't see fit even to mention that fact?"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever... more
-
-
Many universities, professionals, and organizations offer blogs and other resources to answer the questions and alleviate the anxieties of incoming freshmen and students returning from extended absentia alike.Many universities, professionals, and organizations offer blogs and other resources to... more
-
-
eva2
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
If you're in the midst of your MBA application, you're probably swamped by rankings, school comparisons, essay writing, letters of recommendation, and even more headaches. Below are 100 tips and resources to keep you organized and on top of it all.If you're in the midst of your MBA application, you're probably swamped by... more
-
