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Two things went down yesterday that will probably make us look horrible in the eyes of the world. Not just in the way our enemies hate us, but in the ways our allies and those who are on the fence look at us.
The first is the video above, of soldiers teasing young Iraqi kids -- who are clearly desperate for fresh water -- by making them chase after their vehicle for blocks before they toss them a small bottle.
The other was a plea bargain engineered down in Camp Pendleton. Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. was accused, among other things, of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy in relation to the murder of an Iraqi civilian, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, in April.
Awad, a retired policeman and father of 11, was dragged from his home, bound and gagged, and placed in a roadside hole and killed by Shumate and three of his squadmates under the orders of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins.
According to the NC Times, the men then "placed a stolen AK-47 rifle and shovel next to Awad's body to support the false report that he was an insurgent."
Shumate was originally sentenced to eight years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge, until yesterday, when he admitted that he knew at the time that their actions were illegal. His sentence was reduced to just 21 months, due, in part, to the fact that the incident happened during the 21-year-old's first tour of duty.
The prosecution had recommended that the judge give Shumate 10 years because even though the young man was not in charge, if he or any of the others had stopped the illegal behavior, Awad's life would have been spared.
LAist has great respect for our men and women of the military, but if the tables had been turned and the victim had been an American civilian ruthlessly and knowingly murdered by a squadron of Iraqis, there would be outrage if one of the soldiers who pulled the trigger got less than two years for his death.
Showing mercy on those who didn't show mercy on others is not, in our opinion, the right signal to send to our troops or the rest of the world.
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Tony, your piece is good and all... but why not concentrate on the giant terrorist pyramid scheme of forcing and servitude happening on HOME SOIL... called capitalism?
YOU SEE the pyramid scheme symbol on the back of the U.S. one dollar bill... just like the rest of us. Want to see the BIGGER representation of that symbol?
http://www.northlandposter.com/img/p636.jpg
Pretty, eh? SlaveCorp parents (bottom 1/3 of pyramid scheme)... kick their kids into "the great sharktank" when they turn 18 years old. Rich parents... build their kids a house on family land and start an account for them. tsk tsk. Some NICE equality we have going there, eh? What happened to freeing the slaves? When are we going to finish THAT project?
Maybe someday the Christian groups will notice the servitude in capitalism, and maybe someday we'll ALL remember a childhood farmyard lesson taught by gramma... about the weight-of-world and knees-in-back oppression of stacking children into pyramids... so that SOME may "get high". WE all know better than to act like children and do a tug-o-war over goodies called capitalism. We've all been caught with our hands in the cookiejar, and its time to own-up.
We just need the Center for Disease Control to ANNOUNCE the enjoyment addiction and the shopping addiction. That would help immensely. Then someone else needs to say "Hey, competition ISN'T HEALTHY AT ALL... and it is the OPPOSITE of a phenomenon called cooperation."
Just look at average nation-to-nation trade talks. "Cooperate to remain competitive" "Remain competitive in a cooperative manner" ???? That's not going to work. Smashmouth competition is really not conducive to loving cooperation. FENCES on borders??? Ever heard of churches and welcome wagon centers... and places to get some free sloppy joes and a cold lemonade... for our weary travelling migrants? WE USED-TO WELCOME visitors. Now we border them out, like we've done to each other with our yard fencing and security systems??
STOP PYRAMIDING, AMERICA!!! See the pyramids out in the dessert? Symbols, anyone?? PAY ATTENTION!! When you joined capitalism... when you "bought-into" the free marketeers.... you bought into a sham. And now there's a runaway compete-a-thon and enjoyment addiction going-on, and a distrust-a-thon, and a lot of forcing and servitudism. There's one HELL of a lot of materialism and self-absorbtion JUNKIES!!! Nice job, America! Real intelligent! Ever heard of rank-by-intelligence or or rank-by-morals.... instead of rank-by-gouging-abilities? pfft. Lost puppies of competing and bad-apple accusers. Could we all say "I mean, hey..." anymore? The line "I mean, hey..." almost YELLS a general "its not my problem" attitude USA-wide. Watch how many times American's say "I mean". Its embarrasing. WE're all playing football for blood. Death monopoly. "Pull your weight, measure up, earn your keep, not my problem." Sheesh! How competitive. How AmWay! (American Way) How pyramid. How mean.
Here's a last note on pyramid structures...
http://www.winternet.com/~wingnut/text/capitalism.htm
I noticed lots of "us" and "them" and "our" in YOUR posts. Do you have an "US versus THEM" thing going in your mind? GOOD, cuz that's the way the government wants you to think. Actually, WE are all part of the same group... the species called mankind, and maybe when the crew of this spaceship called Earth.... can get-along with each other... then maybe WE can ALL learn to pilot this craft. 9-11 wasn't an attack on America... it was an attack on the WTO and Pentagon for foreign policies (whoring folks with money). It was payback for the WTO going into Saudi Arabia with buckets of trading money, and whoring all of its people to build military bases and pump oil. It was an attack on two organizations, not on a country. Neat how the USA government railroaded Americans, though, eh? Americans believe almost any "paint job" anyone puts on something... because Americans... are too busy rat-racing for position on a pyramid scheme of survival goodies... to have time to do any investigations or critical thinking. Yikes.
Here's another stinger if anyone's bored with status quo...
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=40214
I'm not necessarily a Chavez fan, but if a leader has the balls to try something MUCH LESS ANTI-CHRISTIAN than capitalism, I can't fault the man. He's trying for a society like I had when I was a member of the U.S. Air Force. Air Force society is socialism... and I tell ya folks, it wonderful. Folks in the military take care of one another, talk and share more, make/support MUCH better products than civilians, and its just plain WARMER! I recommend it.
In the civilian world... the poor are falling off-of the bottom of "the giant bridge-o-humans across the ravine" as others run across it to "set for life" land. Its bad.
"We" MUST stop forcing people to serve the rich, thru pyramiding. We MUST let people be free to NOT have-to join the free marketeers (get a job/serve profiteers). Profiting causes inflation, and that's that. Folks must be free to serve mankind, and not just serve bosses and store shelves.... on the pyramid of servitude and controlism.... called capitalism. Fix the fighting over money FIRST, and then see what OTHER fighting is left to be done. I think once we stop the giant enjoyments and money tug-o-war, we'll find that folks just generally get along better, especially cross-border.... including the border called a yard fence. One ownership is abolished... is there a need for that fence?
Wingnut
Anti-Capitalist and REAL Christian
Minneapolis
Afilliation: MaStars - Mothers Against Stuff That Ain't Right
Because I like capitalism.
one can still have capitalism and not have murder
There will be war crimes during war...but this obsession with how the "world" views us is what eventually makes you bow down at the feet of the "world". The United States wasn't founded on a "Global View" and those that are trying to give collective oral pleasure to the world will eventually suffer the consequences of your much sought after lower Socialist standards.
Come on.... get real! The Arabs and others don't hate the West because of a few sick individuals and because of soldiers who make the kids sweat for water.... as bad as it all is....
They have had generations of being continually abused in every way possible by almost every leader they have ever had as president or king, with hundreds of thousands being tortured and killed by their own.... they have an ongoing history of unrest, up to now where their own people are attacking, maiming and killing thousands of them without any sort of mercy whatsoever in the daily kidnappings, beatings, amputations and murders which happen amongst themselves every day!
Without wishing to minimise in any way the seriousness of what the allied forces have done to them, it all pales into insignificance in relation to what they have and continue to experience at the hands of their own fellow muslim on a daily basis!
The only difference is that the western media who want to sell papers and airtime, continuously highlight what the west does as the west has a conscience, but they also know that what the arabs do to each other is hardly newsworthy as it is ongoing. Albeit infinitely more sick and vicious than we could ever do to them!
So.... sure, lets speak out, but lets not lose perspective and turn on ourselves when the truth is that in many ways we probably care more about them and their future than they or their own leaders do!
Moron, they are not running after the soldiers because they're thirsty, but because they're having fun. There's generally no shortage of water in Iraq.
Absolute nonsense! Which is worse, beheading a captive victim or throwing water to exhausted children teased to run for it? The terrorists hate us because of our superiority, our religion, our wealth, and our correct support of Israel. If we think that these Muslims do not have an agenda of displacing us in the world for their crazed, Satanic, and ungodly way of life we need to look again at their treatment of their fellow Muslims, their men, their women and their children.
This is why they hate us? Interesting, because I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that terrorism and Islamo-Fascism were in existence before we stepped foot in Iraq. There's no question that video's, like this one, shed a very negative light on the actions of some in the US military, but these actions are not condoned by anyone, especially those who wear our country's uniform. The capitalism post is laughable at best. Capitalism is what drives this great nation...never forget that. The reason we are able to give billions in aid to countries all over the world is solely dependent on our economic system. Those at the bottom of the economy have the ability to become whatever they want, and it turn, earn and attain their dreams. No one is stuck in a class. No one is denied an education. The important thing to remember is life is not fair. Those born into money have a greater chance at success than someone born in an inner city ghetto, but where you start, and where you end up, is entirely up to you. Why does it always seem the lazy, and the failures of the world, are the one consistently slamming the system. If you believe the system is broken...move, their are millions of people throughout the world dying to take your place. One less government leech, is another dollar in the pocket of the working man.
Chávez is a nut job and so are you Wingnut. Go down to Venezuela if you like him so much. I don't like your government much, but after visiting several third world countries I've seen how bad it can really be (and you Americans are really wasting some golden opportunities for being a “leader” in the world).
Even before World War I, there were countless acts of violence and ignorance against the local populous which did more to hurt the military than help. So what is happening now isn't any thing new. The Americans are repeating the same mistakes the Germans, Chinese, French, Moguls and British (and countless other powerful governments) did thousands of years before this Iraq mess.
The biggest problem with the American government is that they don't learn from the past. When will these ignorant monkeys finally figure out that violence doesn't work? It should be mandatory that all politicians watch a DVD called “Why we fight”, it should be mandatory for all your children to watch; it should be played in all your schools.
I'm waiting for the collapse of the American government, which I hope will happen in my life. They will slit their own throats because they choose to remain ignorant and not treat all people of the world equally; they speak of democracy and freedom as if it were a gift to be handed out, but it must be desired and then earned or else it has no meaning to the country you are forcing it on.
The American government refuses to respect other belief systems; you hear these ignorant remarks from the religious right wing Christians who believe their religion is the only religion; that their “god” is the only god; they sound off on what is right and wrong, yet they don’t practice what they preach.
The American government chooses war to fight “terror” but only create terrorists rather than extinguish it; for every one terrorist they kill, ten more are created because their ignorance.
Years ago a Roman citizen could go anywhere in the world and if they were accosted they would say halt. I am a citizen of Rome. And the attackers would halt. This was true of Americans up to Jimmy Carter and the Iranian hostage crisis. The real shame is that we didn’t level the Afghans. We should have went into Iraq under violations of the Cease Fire from Gulf I and laid waste with every weapon we have to accomplish that goal. Use our advanced weapons and not our sons and daughters.
Iran, Syria, N Korea would have all come to the table with their collective heads in their hands.
Instead we blame our selves and take stories, albeit horrible, of our soldiers misgivings and instead try to make it a statement about the whole US population. What they did was wrong and they were prosecuted for it. What more do you want? Now that justice has been served and you don’t agree with the judgment you want to whine? Hey I did after OJ got off so I guess we both do it, just for different reasons.
Wow, wingnut, you would probably be much happier on Mars, where the government hasn't blinded the inhaitants to the great pyramid scheme yet. We are all now dumber for having read any of your post.
I'm saddened to read the coarse and revolting responses of some who couldn't care less for human life unless it is their own, as such, their lives are indeed meaningless. "We hold these truths to be self evident" are merely words to these animals. The same animals take great pleasure in denying the basic rights we enjoy to others. If these are Americans sworn to uphold the constitution, then their conduct is nothing less than treason. However their excruciatingly low IQ prevents them from reaching such conclusion.
Obviously this nation is in decline, and it is at the hands of exactly such creatures, such felons. The rest of the world no longer means to tolerate such ugliness and increasingly is turning its back on us and demonstrating that we, with all our military strength are in fact irrelevent. Wake up! Stealing from those who have considerably less than us is pathological. Leave them alone. We have diddled the Arabs for 70 years, is that not enough for you? It is, evidently, enough for them! Looking at some of the comments it becomes remarkably clear that some do not get it, and refuse to get it. I'll not clasp my hands in prayer for them for the simple reason that they do not possess an immortal soul.
I don't know if this is why everyone hates us, but it is totally appalling. Anyone who makes a child run for fresh water is totally sick.
A major part of the problem are the evangelical wingnuts who believe the destruction of Iraq and the rest of the middle east is a good omen foretelling the return of Jesus Christ. They are the Judas of our generation. In exchange for their version of prophecy, they will sell out an entire generation of Iraqis, and by their reconing - Persians and Syrians... because the only thing left in prophesy after the creation of the state of Israel is the destruction of these places.
The other problem are the secular intellectuals who ignore the first problem as if it doesn't exist.
So we stand by and watch our democracy being savaged by evil-televangelist influenced politicians and masses who are unable and unwilling to see the log in their own eyes while pointing to the splinter in their neighbor's eyes.
The dirty secret of "why they hate us" is that "they" don't hate "us". Millions of "they" live with "us", and in fact are "us". When given an opportunity to succeed in America, Muslims and Arabs are far ahead of the curve. Millions more love "our" culture and what America represents, or used to represent-- freedom from tyranny.
Unfortunately, our foreign policy has been driven by Oil and Israel above reason, common sense, truth, and justice. This causes many of "them" to hate "our" leaders.
My husband just returned from Iraq last month. I showed him this tape and he raised three points those of you watching who have never been to Iraq should remember :
1) Iraqi kids aren't dying of thirst. They have water. If this video was shot in the heat the kids wouldn't be wearing cold weather clothes
2) Iraqi children will chase American soldiers forever for the candy, pens and toys they routinely throw from their vehicles. The sight of a military vehicle is like the bells of an ice cream truck. They may assume that the soldiers have candy or the like
3) The world hates us because we drive our military vehicles on their streets without permission and all of the small good deeds we do, like playing with the children, giving them candy and teaching them 'high fives' will not win their hearts and minds so long as we are invaders.
Jill,
you raise some good points, and i'm very happy to hear that your husband has come home safely.
and surely he knows better than i, since he was there, but i had heard a variety of reports that there were indeed parts of iraq whose sewage got into the water supply due to the war, and thus water was at a premium.
either way, we appreciate his service to this country and im sure he knows that we know that most of our military do the right thing.
tenthirtyfour....you r nuts! You cant wait for our government to fall?! Those people dont need any reason to hate the US...they make up excuses for the killing they do...to look justified to thier own people. They fail to tell thier people that the US spends a ton of our freaking money building and rebuilding towns and hospitals and schools and serving up food to them and many other countries...while thier own people go with out. Everyone is the US doesnt have it good..there are homeless people here and families struggling to just get by with no medical insurrance..but we can build them free hospitals. I dont think for one minute any person over there appreciates a damn thing..they are using the US to get as much as possible..and will turn on us as soon as they get a chance. They DO NOT value any life period..especially us. These people would slaughter an american baby if given the chance so they could have a parade with it staked to an american flag. And our soldiers being there so long are starting to snap and act like those people that they are exposed to on a daily basis. We need to shut off all assistance to any country other than our own..worry about ourselves...because no other country will be worrying about us..unless they need a carcass to put on a flag pole for a parade or something. America wise up...your putting food in the mouths of enemies to grow em strong so they can take out any american that crosses the street. Whos the evil country? Must be those fool americans that have regard and value for human lives...thats what they dont like about us. We dont ENJOY killing and celebrate it. That is thier influnence on our people. If that kid running behind that army truck would have had a gun or bomb on him...he would have took the water, thanked him, then shot him in the face if given the chance. Yea I sound synical and uncaring...it must have been those beheadings and corpse abuse and abductions of missionaries..or health care workers and abuse of people trying to help others...that has hardened my heart. I now have no compassion for that part of the world any longer...I can only care about mine. And the passports for all is a great idea...a better one would be no one gets in the US any longer from that part of the world...period. Thats my opinion.
This conversation would be more appropriate on Baghdadist.
Why's that matty? There's not one state that has more soldiers in Iraq than California, and the soldiers who murdered the father of 11 are based out of Camp Pendleton which is about 90 minutes south of LA.
Get your head out of your ass, bro.
Who cares if they hate us they are muslim.