[Politics] I'm gonna keep documenting the war crimes....

[holzman_tweed]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-03-025019.asp?reg=MIDEAST

"In a tactic used by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but new to Iraq, a bulldozer was positioned in front of the house ready to destroy it. The translators, minority Turkmen, Kurds and Assyrian Christians, were getting nervous.
''Where's he going to go?'' someone asked unit commander Major Andrew Rohling. ''He's gonna go with his son who's building the bombs,'' Rohling barked back.
Then Bushra, her hands covered in traditional red henna, offered some information. Adel came and went from their home, but he was maybe at his brother's place, she said.
''OK, I'm not gonna destroy the house. Just the front, as a show of force,'' Rohling announced, at which the bulldozer brought down the front wall of the compound and Bushra was bundled into a Humvee."

ps headed off in search of Adel, public affairs officer Major Doug Vincent, whose job is to win hearts and minds, handed out fliers apologising for any inconvenience.

Collective punishment of a civilian population in occupied territories is a violation of the Geneva conventions. Someone more familiar with it will have to comment on whether it is a violation of the UCMJ. Destruction of the homes of a civilian population is an act of genocide.

I do not support Major Andrew Rohling or Major Doug Vincent, who is an accomplice to Major Rohling's crimes. Nor do I support any officer under their command, nor any soldier who failed to protest Major Rohling's unlawful orders, nor any officer to whom Major Rohling reports, nor to any officer who is aware of Major Rohling's crimes who does not seek his arrest and court martial, as well as the arrests and courts martial of all his accomplices.

Who the hell's idea was it to model the occupation of Iraq on Israel's occupation of Palestine? Didn't we have a more successful model back there somewhere? Or is it simply that Bush's intentions towards Iraq is similar to Sharon's intentions towards Palestine?


I document all this because I have friends and family in the military, and the military's honor is therefore their honor. Therefore, in addition to the investment every American should have in it from sheer patriotism, I've got a personal investment in the honor of the United States military.

One thing that has been consistent whether I've spoken to an enlisted soldier or officer, Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine, what have you: The honor of the United States military, and the honor of every unit that composes it rests on the shoulders of each and every member of the military or unit. Every time a soldier commits such an atrocity, the honor of the United States military gets a bit more tattered. Every time it goes unpunished, the damage is compounded.

It's painful to watch, both as a citizen and as someone who loves a bunch of soldiers.

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

And it's painful to watch because it could for the most part be avoided.

It's painful to watch because there is this weird assumption I do not comprehend that the life of Joe Muhammad who runs the vegetable stand across the street from Hussein's palace is worth less than the life of an American soldier (or George Bush's, or mine or yours).

It's painful to watch because someone killed by 'friendly fire' or accident or terrorism or bad orders is just as dead as someone whose family gets a medal in the mail.

And yeah. The honor thing. I have no idea what that means anymore. I have some ideas of what I think it means, but we don't have a solid cultural definition we can all agree on, do we?

[holzman.livejournal.com]

I have some ideas of what I think it means, but we don't have a solid cultural definition we can all agree on, do we?

There's alot of variation on the specifics, but I think there's a general understanding of the root principle.

Sort of like with the Wiccan Rede. OK, bad example. :)