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U.S. Army Starts Targeting Children
Image by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com.
Obama and the American military label all young men – between the ages of say 15 and 35 - who happen to be in battle zones as suspected insurgents who they can target and kill.
Under the Bush administration, children were tortured.
Now, the U.S. military is starting to target children for assassination in battle zones. As the Nation reports:
In a despicable article in Military Times, the US military says that children are legitimate targets in the war in Afghanistan because sometimes the Taliban and other insurgents use kids.
In the original incident, which I cited in October, The New York Times reported it this way:
The…case of three children allegedly killed in a coalition strike was reported by local officials in Helmand Province’s Nawa district. The officials said that the children were killed in a NATO strike on Sunday afternoon as they were gathering dung to burn as fuel, a common practice in the desert reaches of southern Afghanistan where there are few trees.
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The Marja governor said that NATO forces watched as improvised explosive devices were being planted, and targeted the insurgents planting them. “As a result two I.E.D. planters were killed and the shrapnel killed the three children who were wandering nearby,” he said. Other reports said that three insurgents had been killed.
A spokesman for the international forces, Maj. Adam Wojack, said that the coalition forces were aware of the allegations and that the episode was being investigated. “I.S.A.F. did conduct a precision airstrike on three insurgents in Nawa district, and the strike killed all three insurgents,” he said.
“None of our reporting shows any civilian casualties or any children.”
But on December 3 Gannett, which owns Military Times, ran an article headlined: “Some Afghan Kids Aren’t Bystanders.” It said:
When Marines in Helmand province sized up shadowy figures that appeared to be emplacing an improvised explosive device, it looked like a straightforward mission. They got clearance for an airstrike, a Marine official said, and took out the targets.
It wasn’t that simple, however. Three individuals hit were 12, 10 and 8 years old, leading the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul to say it may have “accidentally killed three innocent Afghan civilians.”
But a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were “innocent.” Before calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may have recruited the children to carry out the mission.
Shockingly, the article quotes a senior officer saying that the military isn’t just out to bomb “military age males,” anymore, but kids, too:
“It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion “Ced” Carrington, whose unit, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was assisting the Afghan police. “In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”
War crimes? It would appear so.
But the U.S. government exempts its own acts from the definition of terrorism, even as it labels others as terrorists for doing the exact same things.
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Actually, I can fault him for that. Would you go into your neighbors house with a gun if I told you to?
I rest my case.
Thankfully, you will never be a commanding officer.
Case dismissed with prejudice.
No .... but I know an unjustified war of aggression and endless military occupation by an imperialist power bent on endless worldwide intervention for the sake of the pathetic and twisted dreams of sociopathic power-hungry monsters when I see it.
Anyone "serving" in Afghanistan or Iraq (and soon in Iran?) is simply an active agent of perverted militarism and evil, whether they recognize it or not. I will NOT defend them in any way, nor bow to calling them "noble" or "heroes" --- merely by willingly taking part in this ongoing occupation and being there, they are occupiers, thugs, killers, and imperialist cannon fodder, nothing more. I spit on them.
big talk
those marines and seals would beat your face in or shoot your worthless ass
Oh man, decisions, decisions... should I beat your face in? Or shoot your worthless ass? I just can't decide.?!?!? I've got some really nice bullets specially designed for ass-shooting, but then again these new gloves are really great for face-beating...
those taliban would turn your ass out for a camel show.
why do posts of lasvegasdave even have the green arrow?
buzzardsluck asked:
It's analogous to a pile of shit drawing flies.
Yeah, and that's the essence of the problem here (and there), isn't it?
Blind obedience to immoral orders, thuggery and desensitivation to killing.
USA! USA! USA!
well, fuckin' DUH.
trained thugs, yer point??
"well, fuckin' DUH.
trained thugs, yer point??"
Once they finish their "training" in the middle east they will be called back to "maintain peace" in the US.
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That's why they're being conditioned to get used to murdering children over there. You don't just have them kill Americans from the start, you transition them into it.
I have to laugh at those who believe that US military troops would NEVER fire on American civilians, much less be used in the domestic sphere (which we all know is inevitable --- every tyrannical government does it eventually). They ignore the fact that these hired thugs already are programmed to demonize, dehumanize and then murder civilians in multiple other nations whenever they dare show any backbone against US imperialist aggression. As long as their commanding officers tell them that those who resist tyranny on home ground are "terrorists" and "extremists", they will blindly do as they are told, most of them probably quite happily and with great satisfaction at "preserving law and order and the American way of life".
Make me laugh.
I would never say NEVER my friend but here I think you are underestimating both the ethics and the training of our military leaders. If the training now is anything like it was in my time, officers are enjoined and obligated to refuse to obey unlawful orders and are trained pretty extensively in ethical considerations as described by Mikey above. By painting all in the military with a broad "hired thugs" brush you are exposing your own ignorance of the facts/reality.
I'd rather suggest to you that it is the brownshirts for hire (those who formerly were known as "Mercs" now "Contractors") we should be concerned about. They will be the ones doing the missions against civilians you're talking at home in the US one day.
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Tell it to Bradley Manning.
The duty of the US military is to defend the Constitution. But hey, defend, defame, there can't be that much difference, right?
Just following orders...
I appreciate your comments, Jam Akin, but I have to ask you: where were all the ethical, conscientious US military personnel who refused to take part in the grossly unjustified, aggressively militaristic, utterly shameful invasion of Iraq? I have never heard of ONE such person, even though they were, and are, already in violation of almost every ethical and moral standard (aside from blind obedience). And even if there were any such conscientious objectors, do you think that the media, much less the military leadership, would want or allow the American citizenry to know about it?
Likewise, where are all the cops who refuse the grossly thuggish, illegal and unconstitutional orders to unjustly harass and arrest peaceful protestors, or who have refused to immorally confiscate money and property from those not even ARRESTED for any crime, but merely "suspected" of one? No, I am sorry, I do not for a minute believe that more than a very tiny fraction, if that, of US military and law enforcement personnel would refuse to disobey virtually ANY order if given by "legal authority". They are both wolves and sheep rolled into one.
Actually, they were following what they perceived to be lawful orders that their civilian leadership gave them for the Iraq invasion. The civilian leadship is to blame for that and I include General Powell in that group. I generally enjoy and agree with what you say but in this case I'm afraid you really are overreaching. Are there some bad eggs in the basket - no doubt - but there are many good conscientious people in our military as well. Would love to engage this at greater length with you but have to go attend to some family matters now.
I would like to further this discussion as well, as it is one that has been on my mind quite often for the last ten years.
You say that there are "many good and conscientious people" in the US military, and maybe by conventional, present-day standards there are, but how good are they really when they willingly (and I still say blindly) follow grossly unjust, unconstitutional orders in service to an evil foreign policy of aggressive war and militarism fundamentally no different from that of Nazi Germany or the USSR under Stalin? "I am just following my orders" does NOT cut it.
Thanks for replying.
They would not be doing ANY of that had you not been there as part of an invading, occupation force. I was very lucky to serve during peacetime, never having to choose what the limit of a "lawful order" was, so I can't say I would've done any better at the time.
I do know, though, that it is this dilemma which is responsible for more US troops currently dying by their own hand than are killed in combat zones. To think, many would rather die than admit the truth that they've been had.
sometimes the truth is hard to live with.
and maybe, for some, the dissonance between what they saw and experienced, and the constantly being told "thank you hero" was just too painful to bear.
it's important to tell the truth, and help prevent both the volunteering, and perpetuating the fairy tales.
“Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.”
Henry Kissinger
That's Mr Nobel Peace Prize Winning Henry Kissinger Master of the Universe 2nd Class to you.
Fuck him anyway...
The bastard was a public servant who also was complicite in the coup against the Chilean government plus the "killing, injury and displacement" of three million people during Vietnam War. He's not special...Noble PEACE prize; for WHAT? Semen Recruit maybe.
Fuck Henry...
"We are a country founded by ass kicking, deal with it or get the fuck out. But while you are getting the fuck out, do some research an go some place that has never been fought over."
Dire_effects
There are many, many good and honorable men and women serving in the armed services. We need you on the side of we, the American people.
But then some view their job as “Out-Terrorizing the Terrorists” ... Indeed, by objective standards, America may be the World’s Largest Sponsor of Terrorism?
Honor the Soldier … Scorn the Chickenhawk
George, I understand your argument but want to put forward an example of stuff that occurs. A buddy of mine was in Iraq when he and his fellow soldiers saw a little girl running at them with a backpack on...she was crying hysterically. What would you do? They fired warning shots and one grazed the little girl and she hit the ground. a dozen soldiers swarmed the little girl to protect her by ripping the bag off of her and chucking it into a ditch nearby. Medic started taking care of the little girl (minor leg wound) and the terp (interpreter) asked her why she did what she did. Little girl advised that some men had taken her family hostage and told her they would kill her family if she didn't run towards the soldiers and hug one. The bag contained an IED that was to be remote detonated....they little girl got close enough so their jammers stopped the signal. That little girl led those soldiers to her family home and those same soldiers rescued that little girls family and killed every single one of those men who had made that 7 y.o. little girl do what she did. That's a real story and some of the crazy shit soldiers have to make oh shit split second decisions on. I am not sure what i personally would have done but I know one thing...that little girl would have never came near me or my soldiers with a bomb. I would have had her stopped....hopefully non-lethally but those are the kind of split second decisions a soldier has to make. That doesn't happen very often....but it happens enough to give you nightmares. I personally had a little girl get killed because I had my gunner throw candy to her. A Taliban piece of shit shot and killed her as she was picking up the candy. He didn't survive long thereafter. Geroge I understand the argument you are trying to make but rest assured NO SOLDIER....US or otherwise as a rule will ever just shoot at kids. It takes a horror situation when one has to make such a split second decision....one that will undoubtedly give any soldier...much less one like me with young children nightmares for life.
Mikey said: " I personally had a little girl get killed because I had my gunner throw candy to her. A Taliban piece of shit shot and killed her as she was picking up the candy. He didn't survive long thereafter.
you are right............ this really really bothers me. On the one hand I pray a lot about why Christians feel the need to support the troops and keep insisting that if all the Christians here would condemn the wars that we wouldn't have enough troops to go on these misadventures............. maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there aren't enough Christians who still know the ten commandments to care........ or even matter. Each time I make my way back to a church though (now the intervals are as far apart as a year or more) i swear I cannot get through a service without them praying for the troops.
It's just disturbing. When you start understanding the matrix and the fact that we are conditioned that it is all just "OK", to think we are SUPPOSED to be constantly in foreign countries invading them and interfering there with them.......... nevermind that this puts us into the position of being seen as the INVADERS of that country and leads the people of that country to want to defend themselves. Isn't this what we at home here would do if foreign troops showed up and started shooting. The thing I cannot, no matter how hard I try, and i have TRIED, believe me, do is convince myself that we are justified being there in the first place. I cannot find the reason that we are in a foreign country killing and maiming people when we are not directly defending our home turf.
Can Anyone answer me this without the MSM mantra of "better to fight them over there than fight them over here". ?????? ANYONE..
I may not answer your question to your liking, but I'll give it a try.
the Christians pray for the troops because in their minds is the planted myth that they are god's chosen, and amrka is god's chosen land, just for them, a gift.
god bless amrka, land that I love, stand beside her & guide her with the Light from Above, that sort of mythology.
they also pray for the military because many of their children "serve" - such a noble calling, yellow ribbons, send 'em boxes of cookies, toys for the troops kidz this time of year, etc.
most cannot even fathom of "other nations" with mothers, fathers, children, etc. - most think of everything outside of the red, white, & blue land as heathens, devil worshipers, whatever. definitely god wants to punish the evil-doers, so best get on with the duty.
that you've clawed your mind out of the clutches of a powerful mythology is commendable - but remain vigilant, because the verbiage is just about to be ramped up, and re-taking sides will be dangerous to your humanity, and soul.
Sir, it is the middle of the night in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
If you are, indeed, a front line fighting soldier, then I have enormous respect for you.
If you are instead an information specialist ... not so much
He referred to his previous service in the military - not present.
Thanks.
american soldiers should not be in any of these countries... these wars were created to feed the fascist beast, nothing more. the wars have also been used to destroy the United States...
It is almost comical, in the most grimly pathetic kind of way, to see the lengths to which some of these former minions of empire, er, "servicemen", er, "HEROES", will go to justify their former or current participation in unjustified military aggression, occupation, war, and endless butchery on behalf of power-hungry monsters pursuing their sick dreams of empire. And they must try to justify their participation in it all, if only in their own minds, if they have any conscience whatsoever, or they would in many cases be driven to hopelessness, guilt, grief and suicide. For myself, though, I have a hard time finding much sympathy for those who voluntarily, and knowingly, joined to take part in these unjustified and morally bankrupt imperialistic wars and occupations.
Let me axe some of you judgemental ***ks if you have cable or Sat TV or watch any of Hollywood's shit?
If so you are as bad or worse than anyone serving in uniform. You have a choice but by watching, paying and supporting the beast with your Fiat $$$ - you are even bigger hyprocrites.
You support The Matrix with your viewership and monthly cable and sat TV subscription. You support the brainwashers who protect the elites with your money and viewership.
Oh I know - you like to watch college ball, NFL, the fat chick with the juggs on that dumb Advertising drama or the history channel and you love your HD brainwashing. F***** morons.
Unless you yank the plug - you are just talking sh*t.
They are a bunch or corporate pawns who got fed a batch of kool-aid called "patriotism" and were stupid enough to drink it and believe it.
Too many action movies and video games have made people desensitized to the idea of killing.
Consider how sick and warped our society is; you can show all the killing you want on prime time network television, but you cannot show a woman breast feeding her child. That fairly well DEFINES Amerika; Killing is entertainment and breast feeding is obscene.
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You gotta start the indoctrination when they're young, and continually reinforce it through the schools, the churches, the media, and pop culture. Don't tempt them with thinking or they might figure out that they're actually fighting against their country.
John, I can honestly say I don't know of any soldiers that like to go-to war...much less leave their families. I assure you I did not want to go. I am a soldier...that is my duty to go where sent and to act with honor. I had a standing order my soldiers had to keep at least a box of MRE's in their trucks because otherwise all of these soldiers with families at homes would see all of these starving kids and empty out their trucks...to give to the locals. Those are stories people don't hear about. We always stocked up our trucks so we can hand it out....we were never told to do that. It is what we did as men who saw innocents suffering.
When the SHTF - who's side you gonna be on gunny?
Our dear mullah in the white hut has them overseas on chickenshit because they are the best and bravest. See the movie Gladiator or Rome.
The Roman Army is away on BS while the Roman senators are destroying Rome. They did not want the Roman Army there asking questions. Our mullah does not want American troops at home. He cares more about sh*t like Hassan. American troops on bases should have had sidearms at all times. If I had been an MP at Fort Hood - Hassan would have been swiss cheese.
Your duty should have been to your conscience first, to the US Constitution second, and only THEN to your commanding officer and the CIC. I have no respect for anyone who violates the first two in order to blindly serve the third.
"I was only following my orders" is the refrain of the moral coward and the amoral sociopath.
The Nuremberg trials were supposed to put an end to "I was only following my orders".
But as the Milgram Experiment shows, and the results are consistent, about two-thirds of people will kill you, not for any reward or to avoid punishment, but simply because someone in authority ordered it.
Yeah, that sounds great. "Hey kid, sorry we killed your mom, dad, 5 sisters, 7 brothers, 14 cousins, and your dog...but here's a can of SPAM. Merry fucking Christmas". Yeah, no doubt that made it all better.
Sorry, I can't understand what you're saying... I'm wearing a moron filter.
sorry man, but you and the rest of your brothers and sisters in arms were lied to and used. regain your honor, turn against the machine.
It's pretty obvious he loves the machine and his role in it. Some people just like to kill. Put a military uniform on Henry Lee Lucas and I have no doubt they'd call him a hero also.
uni-formed.
*nods*
and btw, every US taxpayer bears some responsibility to educate themselves and try and do the right thing to stop the evils that are being done in the name of the American people... we all have been used, but we our labor and wealth is being used/stolen to enslave ever greater parts of the world. we all have the moral duty to demand justice and an end to the immoral conduct of those in control of the United States government and its allies.
... we all have been used ..
Of course we are being used. That has been the role of powerless people throughout history. When has society ever been any different, that you should be so bothered about the way it is now? Curse the stars for not being born into a more elite family if you wish. But the way it is now is the only way it has ever been. The powerful always use the powerless. The only defense against that truth throughout history has been to become powerful yourself. Absent that, there is always suicide. Or work on learning to like grass. (Sheep; grass; get it?)
RichardP, your kind disgust me. You're the type who would volunteer to be the prisoner guarding other prisoners. You'd lick the hand of your master and murder your brothers and sisters for an extra day of life.
Stop with the sheep, sheep dog, and wolf analogy too. You're wrong there as well. A lot of you consider yourselves sheep dogs, but you're fucking wolves instead. If you were a sheep dog, you'd be defending liberty, you'd be getting out of the military, you'd be resisting the fascist corporate government that has taken over our country, and you certainly would not be defending wars fought to secure corporate objectives.
You are extrapolating my comments to situations I was not addressing. Not good on your part. I was responding to a specific comment up-thread - that has nothing to do with the comments both of you have just made.
That's your excuse for murder? That's your excuse for being a hired gun for a corporate oligarchy of traitors? You do realize the government you serve is the enemy of We the People, right? I guess you're working hard to get in good with those elite to secure yourself a better stall in the barn, ehh? That makes it all okay, right?