Scoundrel Media Afghan Massacre Cover-Up
by Stephen Lendman
March 18, 2012
In
all US war theaters, troops commit unspeakable atrocities. Trained to
dehumanize enemies, their mission involves killing, destruction, and
much more.
Local
treasures are looted. Women are raped. Civilians are treated like
combatants. Children are indiscriminately harmed like adults. Prisoners
are tortured. Mutilations are common. Crimes of war and against humanity
are institutionalized. It's all in a day's work like taking out the
garbage.
Viciousness
defines US wars. No crime's too great to commit. Human lives are
valueless. Only winning matters, then on to the next war. Lies,
deception, unspeakable brutality, and cover-up define them.
Scoundrel
media are directly complicit, including claiming one soldier murdered
16 Afgans on March 11. Credible evidence suggests up to 20 involved.
Claiming a lone gunman defiles the atrocity's affect on living family
members, friends, and other Afghans victimized by numerous similar
incidents. More below.
During
America's Iraq invasion and occupation, reports suggested soldiers got
amphetamines and pornographic materials to incite ravaging women. More
than US troops were involved. According to Ernesto Cienfuegos, La Voz de Aztlan editor-in-chief:
"The
American people and the rest of the world are generally not aware that
the U.S. government has hired literally thousands of (mercenaries), many
with notorious war crime records."
"A
significant number of these are rapists, sodomites and murderers from
South African and Serbia. These vile individuals work for (the so
called) Security Service under contract to the Pentagon. Most....are
cronies of both Bush and Cheney and are owned by nefarious (individuals
with) ties to the Burbank, California pornography industry."
"Among
the Afrikaner war criminals hired by the Pentagon are Frans Strydom and
Deon Gouws, both with despicable atrocity records against South Africa
Blacks that sought independence. There are an estimated 1,500 South
Africans employed by ―Security Service (personnel) in Iraq, according to
the South African foreign ministry."
"Many
used their atrocities backgrounds during Apartheid to bolster their
credentials to the Pentagon. Many other hired mercenaries are Serbians,
known rapists of Muslim-Croatian women....The Military Police, including
Brigadier General Janis Karpinski,
said
cells where sexual torture took place were dominated by these
mercenaries in collusion with the CIA and Military Intelligence."
"Film
crews run mostly by mercenaries actually instigated rapes and sodomy of
the POWs inside the Abu Ghraib prison. The mercenaries had the full
cooperation of the CIA and Military Intelligence and perverted elements
inside Pentagon and the U.S. government. In addition, these mercenaries
trolled the Iraqi countryside for Iraqi women they could abduct, rape
and film."
Afghanistan
reflects similar abuses. Cover-up prevents information coming out and
prosecutions. Rarely are US forces held accountable. Commanders
routinely get off scot-free, including ones ordering troops to kill all
Iraqi and Afghan men on sight, combatants and civilians.
According
to US Major General James Mattis, "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll
be up-front with you. I like brawling." Murdered civilians are
repulsively called "collateral damage." Mattis isn't alone. Commanders
and enlisted troops are involved.
Afghan
combatant bodies are burned in violation of international law and US
military code. Culpable troops aren't punished. Civilians are killed for
sport. At times, their fingers and other body parts are kept as
trophies. Photos are taken as souveniers. Similar abuses are common in
all US wars. Lies and cover-up suppress them.
"Kill
teams" are deployed. Indiscriminate murder, sadism, and other
atrocities are committed, most often with impunity. It's done for sport
and lust. Celebratory high-fives follow.
Rarely
ever are soldiers like Jeremy Morlock punished. Others guilty like him
get off scot-free, especially commanders. His 5th Stryker Brigade
committed countless murders and atrocities. Cover-up involved staging
incidents to look like defensive actions against attacks. Pentagon
apologies ring hollow. Soldiers are trained to kill reflexively.
America's Tortured Past
US
history reflects atrocities. Native Americans were slaughtered,
starved, neglected, exposed to deadly pathogens, and virtually
exterminated.
In
the antebellum South, slaves were tortured by whipping, painful
restraints, prolonged isolation in sealed sheds with choking tobacco
smoke, and other punishments. Theodore Roosevelt defended water torture
(today's waterboarding) called the "water cure" to extract confessions
from Filipinos because "nobody was seriously damaged."
In
1995, Bill Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 39 (PDD-39).
It authorized extraordinary rendition for interrogations and torture.
In his book, "War Without Mercy,"
John Dower documented Pacific War atrocities by both sides. American
forces "mutilat(ed) Japanese war dead for souvenirs, attack(ed) and
(sank) hospital ships, sho(t) sailers who had abandoned ship and pilots
who had bailed out, kill(ed) wounded soldiers on the battlefield, and
tortur(ed) and execut(ed) prisoners."
Atrocities
included torturing and buying combatants alive. In the Korean War, mass
indiscriminate killings of civilians were commonplace. Entire towns and
villages were incinerated and their populations exterminated, including
women and children.
Combatants
and civilians were buried alive, burned, drowned, shot, stabbed, or
beaten to death. Women had their breasts, legs, and arms cut off. Others
were beheaded. Thousands of civilians were brutally tortured. One
family of six was hanged upside down from a tree and burned alive.
Another civilian was skinned alive, then burned to death.
Others
were murdered with bats, spears, stones, sticks, clubs, flails, and
pickaxes. Women were assaulted and raped. US forces massacred tens of
thousands of civilians systematically, ruthlessly, and brutally. Some
were disemboweled alive.
Vietnam
was similar. Atrocities were widespread and commonplace. They included
massacres, rapes, torture, mutilations, wanton mass destruction, use of
chemical and biological weapons, and much more.
US
forces got carte blanche to carpet bomb, incinerate entire villages,
burn people alive, fire freely on civilians, murder wounded prisoners,
beat them to death, throw them out of helicopters, torture sadistically,
gang rape young girls, and commit every other imaginable atrocity to
people General William Westmoreland called "worthless termites."
Operation
Phoenix death squads murdered thousands of Vietnamese. Some were
alleged high-value targets, others noncombatant civilians. Foreign
Service officer Wayne Cooper called the operation a "disreputable,
CIA-inspired effort, often deplored as a bloody-handed assassination
program (and) a failure." Before it ended, 80,000 or more died.
Throughout
the Iraq and Afghan wars, Special Forces death squads murdered
thousands of targeted subjects and others indiscriminately. Daily
killing field slaughter continues.
Bush
authorized them. So did Obama. Both approved global covert operations.
Obama OK'd killing US civilians. Sociologist Emile Durkheim once said,
"The immorality of war depends entirely on the leaders who willed it."
Nuremberg
prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson denounced "men who possess themselves
of great power and make deliberative and concerted use of it to set in
motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched."
International
and US laws are clear and unequivocal. So are US military standards,
including Army Field Manual 27-10. It incorporates Nuremberg and Law of
Land Warfare (1956) principles.
It
prohibits any military or civilian personnel to the highest levels from
committing crimes under international and US laws. It also requires
disobeying illegal orders.
Nonetheless, mass murder, torture, and other atrocities are committed like sport virtually daily. They define all US wars.
Richard
Nixon once told Henry Kissinger, "We're gonna level that goddam
country. We're gonna hit 'em, bomb the livin' bejusus out of 'em."
Kissinger approved, saying, "Mr. President, I will enthusiastically
support that, and I think it's the right thing to do." After all they're
just "worthless termites."
Major Media Scoundrels: Guilt by Complicity
Compared
to America's bloodstained history, killing 16 Afghan civilians on March
11 was a drop in the ocean. Yet it was too much for major media
scoundrels to provide truth and full disclosure.
Various reports, including Russia Today,
said up to 20 US troops were involved in the incident, not a lone
sergeant. He's been hung out to dry to absolve others, including
commanders who deploy them on missions, as well as top US military and
civilian officials who approve America waging lawless wars of
aggression.
An
Afghan parliamentary investigation team contradicts Pentagon lies. Two
days were spent collecting eyewitness accounts, including from
survivors. Investigator Hamizai Lali told Afghan News:
"We
are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two
villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most
have been killed by the two groups."
He
believes up to 20 soldiers were involved. Half their victims were
children aged two through 12. He appealed for international help to
disclose the truth and assure those responsible are punished in Afghan,
not US, courts.
Investigatory
team head Sayed Ishaq Gillani said witnesses reported seeing
helicopters dropping chaff during the attack to hide targets from ground
attacks.
Villagers
said victims offered no resistance. Nonetheless, they were gunned down
in cold-blood. Night raids like this are commonplace. Despite public
outrage, US commanders said they'll continue. Innocent civilians are
murdered repeatedly.
One surviving family member said:
"I
don’t want any compensation. I don’t want money. I don’t want a trip to
Mecca. I don’t want a house. I want nothing. But what I absolutely want
is the punishment of the Americans. This is my demand, my demand, my
demand and my demand."
His
brother died in the slaughter. The Pentagon named one gunman, now
identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. He was whisked out of
Afghanistan, flown to Kwait, then to army prison at Fort Leavenworth, KS
Friday.
Afghan
army head General Sher Mohammad Karimi said US military officials
"ignored and blocked" his attempt to investigate the incident. They also
prevented Afghan officials from interrogating Bales.
In lockstep, US media scoundrels regurgitated Pentagon lies. Outrageously, the Washington Post
quoted Captain Chris Alexander, Bales' platoon commander, saying he's
"hands down, one of the best soldiers I ever worked with."
In
fact, he like other death squad members are cold-blooded killers. The
Post also quoted Bales commenting on his participation in a 2007 Iraq
battle, saying:
"We
discriminated between the bad guys and the noncombatants and then
afterward we ended up helping the people that three or four hours before
were trying to kill us. I think that’s the real difference between
being an American as opposed to being a bad guy, someone who puts his
family in harm’s way like that."
The
quote's so deplorable it sounds like someone made it up, but Post
scoundrels made it look legitimate to portray Bales more as hero than
cold-blooded killer.
A
Pentagon statement said Bales received over a dozen medals and badges
for combat service and good conduct. His wife Karilyn was quoted, saying
"all of the work Bob has done and all the sacrifices he has made for
his love of his country, family and friends."
The
Post suppressed evidence that up to 20 US soldiers were involved, or
that numerous other atrocities like this occur regularly.
The New York Times
was just as shameless. Cover-up and denial suppressed vital truths.
Bales alone was mentioned. The article said he was injured twice in
previous deployments and cited his lawyer calling his military record
exemplary.
How
much more blood has he on his hands? For sure plenty, but this was the
first time he got caught. Moreover, The Times, like the Post,
characterizes him as heroic, not villainous.
In
medium security confinement, he's yet to be charged a week after the
incident. The Times said Pentagon officials found no clues explaining
what "motivated the killings."
They lied, saying:
"When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues. He just snapped."
Bales'
lawyer, John Henry Browne, dismissed allegations of family problems and
drinking. He said his family hoped he'd avoid this deployment after
three previous ones. He also called him "mild-mannered."
In
lockstep with other US media scoundrels, The Times article suppressed
what readers most deserve to know - the full truth about death squad
killings as policy, and the many thousands of noncombatant Afghans,
Iraqis, and earlier victims affected.
Blaming
this incident on a lone gunman suppresses the gravity of what goes on
routinely and the responsibility up the chain of command to Joint Chief
heads, Defense Secretary Panetta, and Obama.
It
also defiles the pain and suffering of surviving family members,
relatives, friends, and others victimized by similar incidents.
Nothing
compensates for their loss. Afghans want US occupiers out of their
country immediately. After over a decade of daily atrocities, they want
what no one should endure finally ended.
It's
their country, their lives, and their right. It's true everywhere
America shows up. Death, destruction, and vicious occupation follows.
Iraqis and Libyans feel the same way. Can you blame them?
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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