Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia
Titolo: US Vets Break Silence on War Crimes

Vets Break Silence on War Crimes 
 
by Aaron Glantz 
US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are planning to descend on
Washington from Mar. 13-16 to testify about war crimes they committed or
personally witnessed in those countries.
"The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous
it is for reporters to cover it," said Liam Madden, a former Marine and
member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. "That's left a lot of
misconceptions in the minds of the American public about what the true
nature of military occupation looks like."
Iraq Veterans Against the War argues that well-publicized incidents of US
brutality like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire
family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha are not the isolated incidents
perpetrated by "a few bad apples," as many politicians and military
leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the group says, of "an
increasingly bloody occupation."
"The problem that we face in Iraq is that policymakers in leadership have
set a precedent of lawlessness where we don't abide by the rule of law, we
don't respect international treaties, so when that atmosphere exists it
lends itself to criminal activity," argues former US Army Sergeant Logan
Laituri, who served a tour in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 before being
discharged as a conscientious objector.
Laituri told IPS that precedent of lawlessness makes itself felt in the
rules of engagement handed down by commanders to soldiers on the front
lines. When he was stationed in Samarra, for example, he said one of his
fellow soldiers shot an unarmed man while he walked down the street.
"The problem is that that soldier was not committing a crime as you might
call it because the rules of engagement were very clear that no one was
supposed to be walking down the street," he said. "But I have a problem
with that. You can't tell a family to leave everything they know so you
can bomb the sh*t out of their house or their city. So while he definitely
has protection under the law, I don't think that legitimates that type of
violence."
Iraq Veterans Against the War is calling the gathering "Winter Soldier,"
after a quote from the US revolutionary Thomas Paine, who wrote in 1776:
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but
he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
Organizers say video and photographic evidence will also be presented, and
the testimony and panels will be broadcast live on Satellite TV and
streaming video on 
ivaw.org
.
Winter Soldier is modeled on a similar event held by Vietnam Veterans 37
years ago.
In 1971, over 100 members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in
Detroit to share their stories with fellow citizens. Atrocities like the
My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political
and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions.
"Initially even the My Lai massacre was denied," notes Gerald Nicosia,
whose book Home to War provides the most exhaustive history of the Vietnam
veterans' movement.
"The US military has traditionally denied these accusations based on the
fact that 'this is a crazy soldier' or 'this is a malcontent' – that you
can't trust this person. And that is the reason that Vietnam Veterans
Against the War did this unified presentation in Detroit in 1971."
"They brought together their bona fides and wore their medals and showed
it was more than one or two or three malcontents. It was medal-winning,
honored soldiers – veterans in a group verifying what each other said to
try to convince people that these charges cannot be denied. That people
are doing these things as a matter of policy."
Nicosia says the 1971 Winter Soldier was roundly ignored by the mainstream
media, but that it made an indelible imprint on those who were there.
Among those in attendance was 27-year-old Navy Lieutenant John Kerry, who
had served on a Swift Boat in Vietnam. Three months after the hearings,
Nicosia notes, Kerry took his case to Congress and spoke before a jammed
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Television cameras lined the walls,
and veterans packed the seats.
"Many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in
Southeast Asia," Kerry told the committee, describing the events of the
Winter Soldier gathering.
"It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit –
the emotions in the room, and the feelings of the men who were reliving
their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what
this country, in a sense, made them do."
In one of the most famous antiwar speeches of the era, Kerry concluded:
"Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be – and these are his
words – 'the first president to lose a war.' We are asking Americans to
think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die
in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Nicosia says US citizens and veterans find themselves in a similar
situation today.
"The majority of the American people are very dissatisfied with the Iraq
war now and would be happy to get out of it. But Americans are bred deep
into their psyches to think of America as a good country and, I think,
much harder than just the hurdle of getting troops out of Iraq is to get
Americans to realize the terrible things we do in the name of the United
States." 
(Inter Press Service)
 
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Il presidente della repubblica italiana, il comunista Giorgio Napolitano 
  ha detto:
No all'antisemitismo "anche quando esso
si travesta da antisionismo".
"Antisionismo", ha detto il capo dello stato, "significa negazione della 
fonte ispiratrice dello stato ebraico, delle ragioni
della sua nascita, ieri, e della sua sicurezza oggi.