Yes leefeller

As sad as those stories are, they are not unusual occurrences at all.  I once wrote a commentary entitled “Not all soldiers are Heroes.”

Some acted in a vile rage that I would say such a thing, but my point was that people can quickly become sadistic when they hold others life in the balance.

To murder a person for “sport”?  How could a civilized person do such a thing?  Or to bring about the destruction of millions of lives to gain a profit or to to build power politically - how could civilized people do this?

We have politicians in charge of our Nation who gives not a damn if an innocent life is taken to gain the politician profit.

These people are the enemies of Morality.  The people of Egypt rose up against a Dictator propped up by us, and waiting in the wings, backed by those who would kill for gain is an Egyptian who ran the Renditions and Torture chambers for Bush.

Our Media in parrot harmony are advocating that we should put him in power and prop him up because if we don’t then that dastardly Muslim Brotherhood will get in.  A good person, be he Muslim, Jew, Christian, or something else, becomes, and is, a good person by his deeds.

I am my brothers keeper.

Cliff Carson,

It seems the military doesn’t seem to care or respect and protect its own female personal from rape among their own ranks, why would they care about other people?

It should be known individuals or small groups of military have preformed heinous actions both in combat and out. I only hope they are a minority rather than a majority. Possibly within the military, such heinous actions are a reflection of actions committed within our own society as a whole?

Morality seems lacking in our society, but lacking only to people who may be aware or have morality. I would add, there appears to be a lack of integrity and accountability which is tethered to this lack of motility, one needs only look at our governments actions of insanity.

On March 12, 2006 four soldiers went to the Mahmaoudiya , Iraq home of Abeer Qassim Al-Janabi , a 14 year old girl who lived close to a check point they manned.  They had seen her around and fantasized about raping her.
They took her into a back room and raped her while keeping her mother and father and 8 year old sister at gun point in the next room.  One of the soldiers shot them in the head during the rapes, and then Abeer was shot through the head.  The soldiers arranged the bodies, poured gasoline around the house and on the bodies, riddled the house with bullets, and set it all ablaze.  They reported a firefight resulting in the killing of 4 insurgents.
Months later, three soldiers from the unit they were in were kidnapped and beheaded.  A note was left saying the beheading was for the murder of the Al-Janabi family.  One of the four rapists was so distraught about what he had caused that he went to his Chaplin and confessed what had been done.
The cover-up began but leaks finally forced the murderers into the light.  All the soldiers were finally tried and sentenced to lifetime sentences.  One of the four, will get his appeal sometime early this year.  He may beat the rap.  In his only interview he said he didn’t think of Iraqis as humans.
In Afghanistan, a similar experience occurred when about 10 schoolboys the youngest age 10, were rousted out of their dormitory, handcuffed, taken into the village square , and executed with a bullet to the head.  Even though over a hundred witnesses saw the massacre, early press reports portrayed the incident of a savage battle with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, with the soldiers finally prevailing and killing 10 insurgents.  I don’t think any of these have been charged.
Of 12 soldiers currently charged with murder in Afghanistan, five are charged with murder of Afghans for sport and seven are charged with helping to cover up the crimes that took place over two years.
None of the 12 had anything to do with the thousands murdered in the convoy of death, nor the schoolchildren, nor the hundreds possibly thousands of very similar incidents that has happened in this lengthy war. This is how over a million innocent people have died so that the Corporations that profit by War can build their fortunes.
If we have any morality as a Nation left, please let us salvage what is still there and get out of the business of killing people for profit.

Stop these immoral wars.

. . . come to think of it:  Let me know when the sons and daughters of ALL
members of Congress who voted for these wars . . . join up.

Let me know when Chelsea joins up ... OK ?

Lafayette seems to be sure someone has been arrested for the Afghan Convoy to death.  But try as I might, I just cant find anyone charged for that crime.  Can you help me Lafayette?

I did find several accounts where the blogger referred to the massacred as “prisoners”. I don’t believe they were.  Seems I recall they were former soldiers who had been promised amnesty if they would lay down their arms. 

I guess they believed the wrong people.  But as I said before, if the murder was to intimidate the Afghan people, I’m sure it did.  I am equally sure that as long as they are alive, two things are certain: 1) They will never again trust an American, and they always and forever will be enemies of Americans. 

Gonna take a lot more killing for our Corporations to get those mineral riches in Afghanistan.  But that is their Goal.

Sad story Lafayette.

Unregistered Member: Know of any American Soldiers, etc charged with anything for this massacre?

Yes, there have been several court-martialed and one is presently in a Pakistani courtroom being tried on charges.

Know what “Seagull Commentary” is? It is posts by people who fly in, drop their sh*t, and fly away.

Stick around and take the heat of adversarial debate. It’s a two-way street - see what it feels like.

The Afghan Army that the US is supposedly “training” is probably incapable of defending all areas outside the major population centers.

Both the Taliban and al Qaeda have every interest in backing off, waiting for the US to get out, and set themselves back to “work”.

The Afghan Government is corrupt and no longer has a large support amongst the population. Many government officials, benefiting from corruption, have bought apartments in Dubai and at the first sign of trouble, they will be on a flight to that destination.

Our people are dieing for this crowd of bandits? Or is it the mean estimates of 15.7 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.6 billion barrels of oil - or 0.6% of total world oil reserves.

Must be the oil?

Amerikka has no right to be ‘speaking words’ about
human rights or civil rights to any other country.
Our country has slipped off the precipice and into
the abyss of totalitarianism and is fast sinking into
the depths of outright fascism. This is a state of
large and multi-national corporations, it is no
longer the land of the free and the home of the
brave. But we are now and are fast becoming the land
of the enslaved and the home of the corporations.
We the people, no longer have a voice, our Congress,
the elected representatives that are supposed to
speak for us, instead speak for their masters, the
corporate oligarchy. We now have a system of ‘fake’
elections wherein, the people every 2 years, select
the candidates that have already been chosen to go to
Congress. Once every 4 years, we select, in a totally
rigged and already known results, ‘selection’ the
figurehead who will be ‘president’ for the next 4
years. This is to placate, we the people, so that it
seems we do have some say in our ‘selectoral
process.’
Undoubtedly, Amerikka, is no longer a land of free
speech and freedom of the press, i.e. the Fox
Channel, mouthpiece of the Republican Party. Since
they spew nothing but the propaganda of the Neo-
Conservative branch of the Republican Party, they
cannot be considered a news organization.
As for Hillary Rodham Clinton, she cannot be
considered a leader of foreign policy, since these
policies are no longer for the purpose of engaging
the nations of the world for the American people. The
main purpose of the Secretary of State, is so the
corporate oligarchy can let the rest of the world
know what countries Amerikka considers its friends
and enemies.
No one from any branch of government should be
chiding the nations of the world for any supposed
infraction of ‘human rights,’ as this nation cannot
and should not be considered a leader of nations by
their own admission of guilt for major infractions of
human rights and civil rights.
Sadly, the American people have been hoodwinked by
the 2 party system into believing that one or the
other party is for the people. Our selections in
Congress no longer represent us, but have been bought
lock, stock and barrel by the corporations which fund
their electoral campaigns.
Shame on any representative of this government for
voicing any displeasure with any country, for a
supposed violation of civil or human rights.

Referred to “down thread” by another commenter
...
The actions of the American Military makes 911 nothing in comparison ...

“Afghan Massacre: the Convoy of Death “

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWPDZhgISdw

Well, that should answer any doubts folks had as to the outcome of our Afghan war against the Taliban. Since our brave Secretary threw down the gauntlet, ‘THEY CANNOT DEFEAT US’...and we have proven over and over for the past ten years that ‘WE CANNOT DEFEAT THEM’...looks like a stalemate. So Clinton has promised an endless war. Doesn’t seem like a very diplomatic thing to do. But hey, she never claimed to be a diplomat, she’s a presidential contender. And if she marries whoever wins the 2012 election, and gets some more White House experience, she might have a shot in 2016.

Then she can run on the slogan, ‘I told the truth about Afghanistan’. Unless, of course, the Afghanis whip our butts and throw us out in the meantime. Or we decide to do something intelligent with the treasure and lives we’re wasting over there.

If one defines decline, the USA has been on a mission which declines to make sense, so why start now? We should have been out of Afghanistan a long time ago, but what do I know, I don’t wear a red dress!

The masses must be kept in ignorance, it just works better that way!

Accountability and integrity must stay absent, damn that Wikileaks. Now everyone thinks our government is a bunch of ass holes. How about this, I knew they were before Wikileaks and I suspect so did everyone else!

As I recall, General McCrystal, when asked how many Al-Qaeda there is in Afghanistan, stated to his TV audience:  “about 100”.
And if recall correctly, the Taliban is an organization that was given birth by the United States as a proxy force to fight the Soviets - originally over the ownership and routing of an oil pipeline to the Persian Gulf.
And it seems to me that since over 6,000 Afghans have died due to Predator launched Hellfire missiles, and the majority killed have been women and children, and if McCrystal is right about the 100 Al-Qaeda, then would my third grade math reveal that 5,900 of those Afghans who died - - were not Al-Qaeda?
Seems to me that who we are fighting in Afghanistan is the Afghan people, the innocent people that is, and if McCrystal is correct, it’s either that we are killing people we organized to fight the Soviets for us, or innocent people who weren’t fighting anyone until we arrived.
Before our invasion of Afghanistan our Moral? Government sided with the Northern Alliance and their General Dostum , who along with the U S Special forces, offered amnesty to the Taliban forces after a lengthy battle for control of Afghanistan.  If I recall correctly the Northern Alliance War Lords were best known for their Opium Poppy business supplying about 80% of the Worlds opium supply, something the Taliban had almost completely eradicated, - this was the fuss between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban.  The Amnesty offer was accepted by thousands of the Taliban and they gathered as instructed, laid down their arms , whereupon they were loaded into 18 wheeler vans-“to be taken to a processing center” said the Northern Alliance , but when the vans were full the van doors were closed then welded shut, and the vans of Taliban seekers of Amnesty were driven to a site and parked for three weeks - with the doors still welded shut. Almost none survived.  For more Google Afghan Convoy to death.

That is what we are doing in Afghanistan.  It is also why 80% of the Afghans want us gone and will fight to the death against superior weapons and forces, because Hillary, you and people like you, claim the high Moral ground while you definitely know better.

We need to get out of Afghanistan right now.

Eisenhower once said “Beware of the Industrial Military Complex”, and equally important he also said “America is Great, because America is Good, If American ever ceases to be Good, America will cease to be Great”

Is America’s Greatness on the decline?

Portion of a longer documentary that looks at the alleged true nature of the global
“war on terrorism”, etc. What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuHB8mdZO_o

I know many of you TDers will be disappointed to hear this, but I believe firmly now that it’s time to end our involvement in AfPak. Andrew McCarthy, no liberal by any definition, wrote a persuasive article which shows that we haven’t been fighting “terrorists” for years. Instead we have been fighting and dying to preserve a nation whose ostensibly “democratic” constitution is dedicated to Islam and sharia. It is a political and social culture with which the West and the US in particular share very little in common.

It is a cliche that Afghanistan is where empires go to die. The US should come home while it is merely gravely wounded.

Isn’t Hillary wearing the same red dress she had on the evening Bill came home after loosing his cigar?

Hillary should wear a Birka when she is addressing the Taliban.. Do the Taliban even know what a woman looks like, unfortunately, now they will never know! Maybe Lady Gaga should be doing Hillarys job, I know I would be more interested. Am I being a bit sexist?

Yeah Taliban, this is a warning, I mean a real warning, not like those warnings you have heard for the last umpteen years…... This is the mother of all warnings!

Presidential housewife to Secretary of State- Nepotism at its finest. This confused arrogant pipsqueek makes puppets look human.

Gee, now what could Hillary threaten the Taliban with that we haven’t done to them already, except make peace.

****************

Whowee. Old hillbillyhillary sure wants the presidency. This
never was about winning or beating anybody, was it
hillbillyhillary? Just like VietNam, it only needed to be sustained
and by ‘george’ you’ll see to that. You’re a disgusting sea hag
unworthy of lacing the boots of nancy pelosi. I will be a dark sad
miserable days as long as you along with slick willie moving
round in the background until a way to get you in your white
house happens.

gerard:

Now only is she blond, in a red suit, but she’s obviously whistling in the dark.

Right now the US military would be hard pressed to win a war against Costa Rica.

Can you imagine how it must impress the Taliban to have a blond woman from America in a red dress telling them what to do?

The stupidity and insensitivity of the U.S. power structure never ceases to amaze me:  Don’t bother to think of the right thing to do in the right way.  Just bumble along for years, doing the wrong thing in the wrong way. No matter.  You’ve got more money than they have, and bigger weapons.

That’s a pretty good picture Hillary. Your face seems a little softer, than it usually does,
with that finger pointing grimace you usually wear.

No Hillary, you Moron. The Taliban isn’t trying for a military victory. What they want is to
bankrupt this country so we will be forced to withdraw. Their almost there.

So in that sense they can win.

As usual the military could win the war if it wasn’t for the Democratic party kissing the
ass of the crooked bankers who are running this country into the ground. Pretty soon we
won’t even be able to pay our soldiers.

What then Hill?  More jive talk from OJama?

“They” cannot defeat us, because our elected officials have already done it for them.