Friday, April 9, 2010

Iraq Rules Of Engagement / Fire At Will

IRAQ RULES OF ENGAGEMENT / FIRE AT WILL






This frame grab taken from a video shot from a US army Apache helicopter gun-sight, posted at Wikileaks.org, shows a group of men in the streets of the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad just prior to being fired upon by the helicopter July 12, 2007. Among those killed in the attack were two Iraqi journalists working for Reuters ~ Photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver Saeed Chimagh. Two children were wounded. Video Clip ~ http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/06/iraq.journalists.killed/?hpt=T2

Many Iraq War veterans tell of civilian atrocities which were seemingly justified by constantly changing Rules Of Engagement ( ROE's ) which eventually justified indiscriminate murder: Allen L Roland

It was Albert Einstein who said this about war ~ " how violently I hate all this, how despicable an ignorable war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

President Obama has just widened the rules of engagement regarding murder to include Americans who are considered a threat. Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, told a House Intelligence Committee hearing in February that the CIA can assassinate Americans abroad suspected of being involved in terrorism ~ "Those are the factors involved," Blair said. "We don't target people for free speech. We target them for taking action that threatens Americans or has resulted in it."

What happens, if it most likely has already happened, when a US citizen here in America is targeted by the CIA, with the President's permission, to be taken out for taking some action that the CIA determines is threatening ?

With this top down mentality ~ is it a surprise that an Iraq veteran recently said "We Were Told to Just Shoot People, and the Officers Would Take Care of Us"

Dahr Jamail reports Wednesday ( Truthout ) on the Rules of Engagement ( ROE ) in Iraq which eventually became mass murder ~ Hurd said the situation deteriorated rapidly while he was in Iraq. "Over time, as the absurdity of war set in, individuals from my unit indiscriminately opened fire at vehicles driving down the wrong side of the road. People in my unit would later brag about it. I remember thinking how appalled I was that we were laughing at this, but that was the reality.... Other soldiers Truthout has interviewed have often laughed when asked about their ROE in Iraq.... Jason Wayne Lemue is a Marine who served three tours in Iraq ~ "My commander told me, 'Kill those who need to be killed, and save those who need to be saved'; that was our mission on our first tour," he said of his first deployment during the invasion."After that the ROE changed, and carrying a shovel, or standing on a rooftop talking on a cell phone, or being out after curfew [meant those people] were to be killed. I can't tell you how many people died because of this. By my third tour, we were told to just shoot people, and the officers would take care of us."
http://www.truthout.org/iraq-war-vet-we-were-told-just-shoot-people-and-officers-would-take-care-us58378

And now, this ~ The head of the Afghan Ministry of Interior investigation said publicly for the first time his investigators had accepted the testimony of family members of the victims of the Feb. 12 night raid by U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) that the U.S. troops had dug bullets out of the bodies of their civilian victims in an apparent effort to cover up the killings and that Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal had agreed with the team's conclusions.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25157.htm

Is it any wonder that over 40% of the Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD ~ which I maintain and have proved is Post Traumatic Heart Dysfunction. When we kill or murder indiscriminately we kill or main our own soul and our innate loving connection to all living beings ~ which makes it almost impossible to give or accept love.

This is just more proof that our ongoing illegal and needless occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are emotionally crippling our military and driving us into both financial and moral bankruptcy.

Allen L Roland
This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover ~ call (707) 935-1908.

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is also available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations (allen@allenroland.com )
ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

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