Haditha planned by Al Qaeda

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

... by the New York Fucking Times

It is called FISHing. Throw in a grenade. Then charge the home to discover who was killed. Shoot anyone who moves or runs. Alternative consequences are dead Marines. We created this unwinnable situation. We listened to a wacko mental midget. Now Undertoad wants to defend this president? Or does he justify routine massacres as acceptable?

Marines never wanted to be in that impossible situation when deployed to An Bar. Never forget Blackwater's part in changing Marine tactics - and the 7000 mile screwdriver who ordered this military strategy; in direct contradiction to what Marines wanted to do. Haditha (and Blackwater tactics) are situation normal when, well, 85% of all problems are directly traceable to whom? Same person who Undertoad believed about Saddam’s WMDs even after George Jr admitted there were no WMDs.

Haditha was a massacre. Apparently not severe enough to justify legal prosecution. Justified in part because American soldiers routinely discovered Iraqi 'friends' were really enemies - deja vue Nam. Put the soldier in such unwinnable situations and numerous Hadithas occurred. UT would defend these massacres only because civilians are far game? Or because the 7000 mile screw driver could not be wrong - as forced upon soldiers? That is what UT has just posted.

UT completely ignored the underlying point of those Haditha posts. Such massacres occur when troops are forced into unwinnable situations - because George Jr is so dumb as to even conform to another’s definition of 'evil'. Haditha was not the only massacre. Such deaths are documented repeatedly meaning so many more have occured.

The death of Paliwoda had left the unit in a mood for revenge - and they knew how to exact it. When the sun went down that chilly January night, soldiers from the 1/8 set out to kill some specific Iraqis. ... The third vehicle was a white pickup truck. Its two occupants were handcuffed, driven to the Tigris, forced from the ledge of a pump house into the river, a drop of about six feet. One of the men, Zaidown Fadel Hassoun, age nineteen, drowned, according to the other, Marwan Fadel Hassoun, twenty-three, his cousin.
When the 1/66 Armor learned of the incident and passed word to Gen Odierno, he tried to check it out but was lied to by his subordinates, he said. "I went to 1/8, and they said, "Didn't happen," he recalled ... "The bottom line on the Sassaman case is .... he directed a cover-up of an incident, and didn't come clean until he realized the CID had figured it out."
Sassaman's soldiers at first insisted that they had released the men - without mentioning they had "released" then into the river. Pressed, they subsequently said they'd seen both men swim to shore and emerge. That was a lie, Saville later testified. In fact, he had one out that night with an order from his company commander Capt Matthew Cunningham. "I understand he was directing me and my subordinates to kill certain Iraqis we were seeking that night who were suspected of killing the company commander in our unit," he testified .... "I understood that the order meant that if they were captured, regardless of the circumstances of their capture, they were not to return alive." That order was given twice that night, he added. Saville also testified that his company commander had given him a list of five Iraqis who "were not to come back alive" ....

Haditha is only one in a long list of examples; what happens when troops go to war without a smoking gun, without a strategic objective, without an exit strategy ... and because top management - the president is a liar. This is what happens when people such as UT supported the scum bag president - even denied the lies about WMDs. Whole units even become involved in coverups. Deja vue Nam where a frustrated army would routinely kill people for no reason but emotion – anger.

Largely unseen and unnoticed by reporters and other observers of the war, these convoys were a major cause of friction with Iraqis as they traversed Iraq. … Soldiers from another unit, when convoying through his area, ‘were shooting at passing cars without provocation, the officer reported. Rudesheim responded, “Oh shit, those guys come into my sector and do it, and their own leaders don’t stop them.”
Official reports describe a lack of fire discipline in the conduct of convoys. “The British sector … is relatively free of anti-Coalition attacks, Yet American convoys moving north from Kuwait … have fired at British contractors who drove near the American Vehicles on a major highway,” noted the Center for Army Lessons Learned. …
Despite the improvements, trigger-happy convoys would continue to undercut efforts to win over the populace. The number of Iraqis who died this way is unknown. Lt Col Todd Wood, a battalion commander in the 3rd Infantry Division, complained to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle about troops passing through his area of operations on Iraq’s Highway 1. “Seems like I pick up a lot of people’s pieces around here,” he said. “These … patrols that drive around and shoot people have been a thorn in everybody’s side all year.”
His senior NCO, Sgt Maj Samuel Coston added, “I hate the fact that American soldiers ride around killing civilians. All you got to say is, ‘I felt threatened, the car was driving aggressively’, and you shoot. They have no remorse. They just keep driving.”

UT would have us believe innocent people were not killed? UT continued to insist that Saddam had WMDs even after George Jr admitted that was a lie. Haditha is simply a symptom of American leaders who lie. Deja vue Nam.

UT also told us Iraqis overwhelmingly welcomed Americans. Whole towns could watch insurgents setup for American attacks and say nothing for an obvious reason. Obvious? UT insisted that Americans were warmly welcomed by Iraqis – which was even obvious by the so few who came out to tear down Saddam’s statue. Once we eliminate the propaganda; Saddam was undesirable. But Americans were widely despised (for invading) and were not trusted. Obviously Iraqis had good reasons to not trust Americans - because of what happens when war is not justified AND created by a wacko extremist (lying) American government. Deja vue Nam, the lessons from My Lai, and Americans who still deny those realities.

Somehow UT (and TheMercenary) tells us that Americans do not do massacres? Of course. It happens when our leaders are crooks – just like Nixon.