TylerMC/iraq

I find the comments by others on this rather disturbing because it shows the level of ignorance in America as to the dramatically elevated incidents of suicide of our troops not being reported in the American press. Project Censored covered this in their TOP 25 Most Censored Stories of 2007. In fact simply spend some time on the Winter Soldiers website or Veterans for Peace and you'll discover this is an epidemic.

This is really going to be hard to watch but people need to see it. It's the result of Americans using DU (Depleted Uranium) which they don't mention but we know was used in Fallujah), White Phosphorus shells and other weapons in Iraq. It's the children, born since we invaded, that are paying.

I just finished the Josh Turner segment of this and I've got tears streaming down my face. The good news is, our soldiers are figuring out what they're doing. The bad news is, what they are describing, the war crimes and crimes against humanity our soldiers are committing in pursuit of 'democracy' and 'freedom', neither of which we are killing for or promoting, continues today and everyday. Leaving me to ask, who are the real monsters in the Middle East? Who are the real terrorists in the world? One of my reviewers chastised me for having a 'bias' against Judaism and then indicated a few words later that he equates Israel and Judaism and his real issue with me is that I criticize Israel. First of all, Judaism and Israel are not the same thing. Other than the assertion that the political entity is 'Jewish', there is very little Jewish about Israel if one reads the Torah and compares it to Israeli society. Its lack of God's principles in its actions is part of its problem.

However, Yes, I have a bias against Zionism, the political ideology behind the subjugation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies of the nation state of Israel. I'll keep that bias thank you. Just like I'll keep my bias against Nazism, white supremacy, racism, elitism, militarism, lying, murder, neoconservativism, war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are healthy bias and we are meant to have bias against certain things which are harmful to us physically, emotionally and morally. Each of the above listed feeds off of each other and justifies things and actions that human beings, absent of propaganda and manipulation would not do.

Case in point: This special report on the Winter Soldiers shows what happens to normal people when they come under control of people seeking power at any cost whether they be American and British soldiers killing Iraqis and Afghanis, or Israeli soldiers killing Christians and Muslims in Palestine. If we all held on to a bias against evil, the actions of evil and the rationalizations justify it. If we ceased making excuses for it, perhaps we'd find a way to stop killing and start working with people toward a common good.

Sick. And Americans wonder why we're hated.
When I lived in Brazil and didn't speak Portuguese very well, my friends enjoyed a few jokes at my expense. I used to get headaches. The correct phrase for 'I have a headache is, "Eu tenho uma dor de cabesa." What they told me to say was, 'Estou menstruada' which means, 'I'm menstruating'. It took me about 2-days to figure that one out. I was embarrassed, but not humiliated. I understood it was in good fun and it taught me a lesson. It also forced me to learn the language quickly so they couldn't pull any more pranks on me.
Most people watching this are infuriated by the last scene with the puppy, and they should be. What amazes me is how the callous disregard for humans demonstrated in this video plays second to the torture of an animal. Have you noticed that about Americans? We can kill a whole family and be angered, but when we kill the dog on top of it, suddenly we're outraged. What does that say about us as a civilization? What does that say about us as a people?
Most reviewers have this listed as humor. I can't do that. I don't consider the humiliation of anyone because of who they are to be funny, even if packaged in satire. This shows how low Americans have sunk and none of us should feel proud that we through our tax dollars and complicity support this.

Mohammed is right in the middle of all this. On Monday night, the 53 year old man we just finished a story on called Al Jamal died because he couldn't get the medication for his cancer. His sister died for the same reason, age 44 in October. As we were finishing up our latest article on Annapolis, Peace Preached Not Reached Mohammed was sending me hourly updates on Israel's latest assault. We were at 11 dead yesterday since Bush Arrived in the Middle East. Today this article shows 6-more.

We finished our article, (publishing in Norway next week and the US in Febrary) on the Palestinian and Gaza impression of Bush's vists with the following comments:

JUSTICE = HUMAN RIGHTS & INTERNATIONAL LAW
President Bush came and left without a making a single promise or improvement to the situation. Rather he posed ambiguously for the camera promoting "peace talks," then promptly vanishing with the media. His lack of quantifiable and actionable suggestions left the majority of Palestinians asking, "What kind of peace is Bush really talking about?"

What kind of peace? This question goes to the root of failure in each previous negotiation.

For peace to occur there must be justice. Justice requires the violations of human rights on all sides be addressed. Human rights are defined and agreed upon within international law. Yet throughout each previous peace proposal, four words remain consistently absent: human rights and international law.

History has taught Palestinian people that when leaders speak about a 'Peace Process' absent justice, these leaders are not seeking solutions.

Past experiences have demonstrated that if the architects and negotiators fail to use international law as a guide in defining a just settlement, they are not seeking peace.

Therefore if previous attempts demonstrate the omission of human rights and international law as the foundations of a just settlement are not the primary guidelines of resolution, no matter what leaders call it. The process isn't about peace. It is about positioning. It is about posturing. And it is about pillaging.

Dr. Pappe in the Italian Media speaking about Israel's ethnic cleansing.

I'll let my letter to CBS say what I think:

Thank you for airing the segment on Iraq's Christians. I just filed a story last night on Gaza's Christian Community and was happy to see this segment given America's ignorance to the dynamics of the Middle East.

What I found missing in your story is the connection between the persecution of Christians in the Middle East by Muslims and the activities of the Christian Right in this nation. When our President says he's on a crusade. When Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Benny Hin call for the destruction of Islam. When the World Bible Society states on Radio that 1.6 million Muslims must die and when the Scofield Bible writes into the footnotes of Evangelical Bibles that Muslims are the eternal enemies of Christians, one has to wonder why anyone who is Muslim would trust Christians within their midst.. Especially when the nation responsible for the deaths of over 1 million people through concocted sanctions and at least one half million through bombing, invades their nation and does so under the battle cry of a `Christian Nation'..

This wasn't covered in your story. Based upon the interviews and research I've conducted in the Middle East, this is the root cause of the persecution of Christians by Muslims in countries where a 'Christian Nation' is attempting to overthrow them, politically protects and supplies the weapons that kill them or supports those persecuting them. Without this piece of information, it looks like the Muslims are doing this for no reason. And thou I disagree with their actions, I find it difficult to lay blame for a logical reaction given the policies and activities of the US Government coupled with the fanatical assertions of the blood thirsty so-called Christian Right.

Your story paints the persecution as irrational and without cause. There is a motivation. The motivation is immoral, wrong and it violates Islam, but people in war zones don't always think clearly, especially when they've been starved for nearly 15 years. Given what they've seen from the `Christian' USA, who wouldn't suspect a minority of loyalty? Don't we do the same thing here...with Arabs?

The number of journalists killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is approaching 190. The New York Times lost another this week Khalid Hassan, a Palestinian who's family fled to Iraq during Israel's 1948 ethnic cleansing campaign.