"I Killed Innocent Civilians For My Government"

today I stood with Veterans for Peace downtown. There was a marine in uniform who had returned from Iraq and been honorably discharged for PTSD (after being diagnosed by military doctors, it took a lawyer to get discharged)

He held a sign that read: "I Killed Innocent Civilians For My Government"

You could see some of the people in passing cars were stunned.

There where some negative remarks but many more honks and peace signs from the passers by.

Hats off.

Those are the troops I support. :thumbsup:

:shrug:

saying, those who speak up about the criminal actions the government has forced soldiers to commit.

Indy Media or if you have a small Indy Weekly there in Ashville would be important. It's very sad. Who knows whats going to happen with some of our returning soldiers...the kind of brutality they've seen. Some of it might not even hit them until years later.

do an interview. He spoke on stage March 20, and was quoted in the local paper. I will probably see him again next week.
From what I remember of some of what he said on the 20th, he was extremely traumatized by the experience of having shot civilians and hearing a dying man say something like, "but I didn't do anything!"

as a matter fact we have a great local indy paper, www.agrnews.org and a wonderful brand new low powered FM radio station www.wpvm.org (streaming on-line also)
I think both would be happy to do interviews. You have inspired me to pursue this further.. I'll keep you posted. :-)

but vote for Al Gore, and "I Got Caught up in a War, too."

Amazing. How we "little folks" get caught up in these wars made by old "grey beards" (died or shaved) and we are the ones who pay the price for their dying dreams. Ugh...:-(. Wolfowitz, Perle and their "new" recruits to their cause.

Congrats to all of you and the brave veteran for speaking out. It is indeed time to march again to end this madness.

thanks leftchick :-)

What sand to do that. That's courage.

And I believe many voices will join him. Many more voices will speak up. I believe it. The voices of the men and women who have been there can wake our country up from its narcosis. When they do, we can turn the tide.

The soldiers returning need to be asked. They need to be supported when they return. They need to be treated like American heros for telling the truth for the world to hear. If more come forward, maybe we can awaken the humanitarian conscience that was once at the heart of American spirit that Whitman and Emerson once spoke about.



"I am the man. I was there. I suffered."
--Walt Whitman

and this person by being so courageous helps open the door for others. Obviously it's not easy. At one point today a young guy who looked about twenty yelled that he was a Marine also and had returned from Iraq. He went bonkers and drove around the block a few times yelling "you are a traitor" and "once a Marine always a Marine".
Our friend shouted back at him "how many did you kill?"
You could see this young man was literally short circuiting because his programing was so ingrained and it was being challenged. I felt sorry for him because you could see his pain so clearly.

which is The People .. needs to say "for whoosh*" "PNAC" "neo-cons" ...

but supported by the Congress and payed for by the people.

and the right-wingers blasted him for "admitting to war crimes".

That takes a lot of courage to come out and say that kind of stuff.
It takes a lot of cowardice to attack these guys.

and he was absolutely right.

"I thought dying for your country was the worst thing that could happen to you," he told The New York Times, referring to how he felt before he went to Vietnam as a 25-year-old lieutenant.

"I think killing for your country can be a lot worse. Because that's the memory that haunts."

"I killed innocent civilians for my Company."