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A02998

Articles : Iraq

Latuff 2007

By Nathan Coe

Indiscriminate killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians caught on tape

Rapid gunfire, an all too common sound, erupts in the palm-lined streets of Ramadi. American forces positioned on a rooftop open fire on the street below, riddling a car with hot lead.

“Yeah bitch, get that fucker up,” a soldier says to a comrade preparing his AT-4 for action. “There’s a car,” continues the first soldier, “I lit that fucker up dude! Got thirty rounds in that bitch!” Camera man ducking for cover, the action continues. Two more cars speed up, one crashing into the first. A man, apparently unarmed, jumps from the crashed car and runs behind it, into a recessed corner in the buildings. He convulses as bullets pass through his body to the rhythm of a soldier’s assault rifle, eliciting a cry of “yeah bitch, you’re fucking done!” The bazooka-man fires, extinguishing any remnants of human life below. With no one left to kill, a cease-fire is called, complete with victorious laughter and celebratory screams of “wooo-hooo!”

“Look-it, we fucked those people all to shit down there,” says a soldier, expressing pride in his murderous crime. “I shot that dude in the white car right into the fucking building!” It’s enough war-time “glory” to make you sick. And it’s just another day of urban warfare in occupied Iraq.

Video Shows U.S. Soldiers Killing Unarmed Iraqi Civilians

I ask readers to please forward this video to mainstream media outlets and to those in government demanding that action be taken to investigate this apparent murder of innocent Iraqi civilians. We can not witness murder and not take action without being complicit in the crime! —Tom Feeley, ICH

On March 23rd, the online independent news outlet Information Clearing House broadcasted a video depicting the brutal slaying of Iraqi civilians by U.S. occupation forces. At the end of the video, a disclaimer appears, that claims that “No unarmed people were hurt during shooting.” This claim, however, is not evident in the footage itself. This is certainly not the first time such killings have taken place in Iraq, nor is it the first time the mainstream media has chosen to ignore such war crimes.

Where the mainstream media fails, we must succeed and persist. What they refuse to report, we must refuse to ignore. Join us in subverting the information war being waged on the people of the world by the corporate media conglomerates. Help us expose the crimes being committed against the people of Iraq by the occupation forces. Join the people of Iraq, and indeed the world, in their struggle for dignity and peace.

In a recent email, Tom Feeley of ICH wrote:

Yesterday I posted a video showing the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. occupation forces in Iraq.

It is apparent that the actions of these soldiers is a war crime and should not go unpunished. I ask readers to view the video and to pass it to others in the hope that mainstream media will do it’s job and bring it to the attention of a larger audience.

Please contact your government representatives and demand that they call for an investigation in to this brutal murder.

Join Information Clearing House, Guerrilla News Network, and a global network of independent media activists in bringing greater attention and accountability to this brutal and unacceptable crime. Please view the video, post it on your website, send it to your friends and family, and alert your local media outlets, demanding that they cover this war crime. Contact your representatives and demand an investigation into this crime, and the bringing of those responsible to justice. Better yet, get out on the streets and do something.

The people of America and the world need to know about this killing, and others like it. The people of the world have a right to know, and a responsibility to bring those accountable to justice, from the top of the chain of command to the bottom.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice contains a clause that legally obligates any solider or officer to disobey any order that is in violation of international law. Therefore, every U.S. armed forces personnel in Iraq has the legal duty to abandon the battlefield immediately. We do not support you in your complicity and cooperation with this illegal and imperial war. We do, however, support you in your legal and moral obligation to lay down your weapon and refuse to fight. We will support you when you refuse to be cannon fodder for empire.

One Big War Crime: Through Inaction, We Are All Complicit

America is more than four years into this illegal war. There have been more than 3,503 coalition deaths, and between 655,000 and 1,000,000 civilian Iraqi deaths. This industrial conversion of the living to the dead has cost the American people more than $412,450,947,641, with no sign of slowing down or stopping of its own volition any time soon.

How much longer will the American people, and the people of the world, tolerate this human tragedy? How much longer will we placate our consciences with ineffective and State-sanctioned dissent before we realize our true power, as workers, to shut this war machine down? How many more people will have to die?

The real question, however, might be, how long are we going to continue living in a way that requires the use of military force to acquire resources from other parts of the planet? So often the anti-war “movement” forgets that our very way of life and standard of living necessitate the use of military might to dominate others. This is not to justify war, but rather to denounce our own irresponsible and unsustainable way of living.

A shout out to U.S. troops in the Gulf: You are all being forced to fight an illegal war for the rich and powerful, a war that is opposed by the entire world. The moral thing for you to do is to disobey orders and do everything possible to keep yourself and your buddies safe so you can return home to America. The Chickenhawks in Washington think of you as cannon fodder, but we’d like to see all of you return home safely. An underground railroad and network of safe houses is waiting to welcome you into the global anti-capitalist resistance. Your skills are needed to help stop this death machine. Stay safe and Harass the Brass!

“After a war, a hero is just a man with one leg.“ —Anonymous

• click here to view the video » » »

• click here for a snippet of html that will allow you to place this video on your website.

_GNN contributor and blogger Nathan Coe is a guerrilla journalist and activist residing in the mountains of Occupied Aztlan, Turtle Island, where he has infiltrated the higher educational establishment, and is working on his Major in Humanities while subverting the intellectual status quo. He can be contacted at free_world_alliance@yahoo.com._

Posted by ShiftShapers
Welcome to (A)utonomous Resistance, GNN’s exclusive one-stop infoshop for radical resources and information. This blog primarily serves as a vehicle with which to bring greater exposure to repressed and marginalized voices and ideas. Much of what I post here is collected...

Disclaimer: Statements and opinions expressed in articles published on this site are those of the authors and not of the staff or editors of GNN, unless otherwise stated.

RECENT COMMENTS

“An underground railroad and network of safe houses is waiting to welcome you into the global anti-capitalist resistance. Your skills are needed to help stop this death machine. Stay safe and Harass the Brass!”

where is this underground railroad? I would like to find out how I can live there, asap.

hands @ 04/02/07 21:02:53

Yes, you get to think it will be a cold day in 50 years time, before the american people realise their power as workers.

BetterRed @ 04/02/07 21:18:05

The REAL Face of War: The images that the media won’t show you: Wars can be depicted as noble only by those who are too naive, too young, too deluded, too corrupt, too sociopathic, or too stupid to understand the obscenity that killing in such an organized fashion represents.

ShiftShapers @ 04/02/07 23:52:56

I emailed that (the ICH video) to something like 50 people, nearly all genuine real-life friends of mine. I didn’t get a single reply regarding it. This is normal. People really don’t like having their comfort zone invaded.

I guess it’s silly to ask, but I assume plenty of people have made reserve copies of that video and posted them around, right? There should be an organized operation by a group of people to push it out as far and wide as possible using YouTube and all the rest of the popular services (in all major countries too). It’s a lot more compelling than that friendly fire killing a Brit footage that all the big networks were showing repeatedly a couple weeks ago.

I agree with the principle that people should be shown the true meaning of war through pictures and video in order to try and counter the horrible effects of blind flag-waving, symbolism-propaganda-driven, nationalist righteousness that most everybody seems to think is some innate characteristic of normal humans.

So let’s nominate Michael Phelps to go serve in Iraq. Bring back the draft. This “war” may end, but the same stinking gamers behind the scenes will find a sadistic way to segue into the next one.

The psychology is bizarre. I don’t even watch many political anti-war videos. I’d rather do other things. But I saw the Abu-Ghraib videos and Jarheads, and that was enough for me. The shoot-em-up footage in the ICH video is exactly what I imagine is the normal reality. It doesn’t surprise me. Can some people actually watch that and still think “supporting their country and their troops” is the most important thing. It’s weird how the anti-war movement needs to stoop to a pretty low position just to get majority support. “Support the troops by bringing them home.” Why not, “Bring them home, confiscate their videos and investigate them all for Geneva Convention violations?”

Beagle17 @ 04/03/07 05:41:05

this is terrifying… and sadly has been going on for a while, I think.

I remember, a couple of years after the war had begun, reading an article about “coalition soldiers” shooting at participants in a wedding in Afghanistan… it makes me sick to type this… why is this allowed to continue? how can anyone mindlessly chant “support our troops”? I feel like I’m surrounded by them. ask one of the supporters to read about this and they will either react defensively (“Oh, I can’t read that, it’s too disturbing” as though it didn’t disturb us to read it) or incredulously, as though it is the minority of soldiers who are acting this way, as though these are minor “accidents,” and “friendly fires.”

but look at the military’s method of advertising itself these days; in the States, slogans like “accelerate your life,” and free shoot em up video games on download.com are the norm (I am serious, I saw this a couple of weeks ago, I will post the link when I find it).

I once heard an army recruit say that the reason he was joining was to test out the new, all to cool weapons; to get a chance to use them. it’s enough to make you want to move to the moon. the more public we can make the ugliness of this war, the better; and the more people that can understand what is truly going on and why it must stop, the closer we will be to ending this stupid epidemic of violence and sheer stupidity…

and I think I will go vomit now…

mkddi @ 04/06/07 09:26:35

who am i to witness?

rifles speak of innocence
while red hot guilt
travels so fast
it cannot be seen

only felt

metal coffins on wheels collide
a body convulses
as metal judgment
passes silently
through his warm body

the only sounds
come from the mouths of weapons
& the barrels of soldiers throats
unleashing conversations of death

bazooka speaks last
with harsh words
& eternal, red silence

me?
i wasn’t there
who am i
to witness?

through the cold
impersonal glow
of my computer screen

safe
distant
removed

let the words of the weapons
& the automatic sounds of men
turned into machines
speak for themselves

Nathan Coe, 4/11/07

ShiftShapers @ 04/11/07 14:11:54

more war crimes:

Report shows civilians killed by marines: In a new blow to America’s reputation abroad an investigation by the US military and an Afghan human rights organisation has found a platoon of marines went on a shooting rampage after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

ShiftShapers @ 04/19/07 18:41:26

‘Trophy‘ video exposes private security contractors mercenaries shooting up Iraqi drivers: The video of Aegis Defence Services, shows security guards opening fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on ‘‘route Irish’‘, a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

ShiftShapers @ 09/20/07 23:17:10

Nobody believes your lies except for the far left who generally don’t really care whether they are true or not anyways. A far leftist is not a critical thinker. A far leftist is a political activist with an extreme ideology.

We know that in your dingy dong world, US soldiers kill babies by the millions and terrorists don’t exist, let alone commit depraved acts of violence. We have heard it all before.

There is only one issue in Iraq and you are not in the debate. The critical question is : Is it worth our effort to liberate people from evil environments, if so, to what cost and in Iraq what should the exit strategy be?

This US soldiers killing babies is just farcical silliness that nobody in the debate takes seriously.

hitlabeshi @ 09/21/07 08:12:33

apparently the video has been removed (?????)

ShiftShapers @ 05/15/08 14:44:04

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