by Emma Kaplan
Today when I went to read my email, I saw on my front home page "U.S. Soldier held in shooting rampage that killed 16 Afghans, officials say.
I feel disgusted. I am disgusted because I know that were probably women and children who were killed.I know that these were people who posed no threat and were probably unarmed. I know that after the kicking down of doors and the terrifying screams of the children, there is nothing left that documents the horror except a trail of blood, a pile of bodies and eternal nightmares for those who are still living.
I click on the link to the article.
Immediately I see a picture of an elderly man sitting inside a van, with two small bodies covered in blankets. He has such a look of pain, and agony on his face that I want to scream for him at the top of my lungs. Part of the caption reads: The dead included women and children, as least 5 others wounded in the attack.
The Washington Post recounts what Fazal Mohammad Esaqzai, the deputy chief of the provincial council witnessed.
"Esaqzai, who said he saw the 16 bodies, provided the following account. About midnight, 11 people, including three women; four children whose ages ranged from 6 to 9; and four men were executed inside the home of a village elder.
‘They entered the room where the women and children were sleeping, and they were all shot in the head,’ Esaqzai said, adding that he was doubtful of the U.S. account suggesting the killings were the work of a lone gunman. They were all shot in the head.’ "
I didn’t predict these details because I am a psychic, I predicted this because these atrocities have been the rule not the exception to the wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq.
This is rampage is already being spun as the act of one "rogue" soldier who was not following "protocol." Once again, the lie that this was just a fluke accident or a rare incident is being repeated by the politicians and the mainstream media.
Barack Obama said, "This incident is tragic and and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan." Marine Gen. John R. Allen and Leon Panetta expressed "shock" and the U.S. embassy said that they will make sure justice is served.
I could go on for hours detailing the evidence and stories that show that this is bullshit from the Afghan Kill Team, to the bombing of wedding parties to the Haditha Massacre. But just consider this: (1) Wikileaks revealed that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have been consciously covered up and lied about by those in highest levels of the U.S. government. (2) Iraq and Afghanistan war era veterans have come forward to testify that these atrocities are daily occurrences and are inherent to the overall character and protocol of the U.S military. (3) These types of atrocities were ORDERED from the Bush Administration and the Obama administration went to great lengths to make sure those war criminals were protected from any kind of prosecution.
What does this tell us about the nature of these wars and the nature of the U.S. government that represents this system?
The powers that be know very well that this country’s wealth was built on slavery and the genocide of Native Americans. The powers that be know very well that this wealth has to be expanded via coups, assassinations, massacres and illegal invasions. They will keep going until a mass movement of resistance and protest forces them to stop.
You are seriously delusional if you think that a war on Iran will not unleash the same (or worse) death and destruction on civilian populations, the same way the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and all wars for empire do.
It is long past time that those who run this empire are called out for the monsters that they are and that these monsters are stripped of their right to run the world.
We must get out to the public visibly soon to say that these wars are NOT IN OUR NAME. The U.S. needs to get out of Afghanistan now and Stay the FUCK OUT OF IRAN!
The gruesome murder of 9 children, 3 women and 4 men makes me sick, but I was sick of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and protested against them before they were started. I saw the same kinds of atrocities done in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The only winners were the CEO’s of war industries. We have to get out now and stop invading third world nations. I cannot be proud of my country. I cannot salute the flag or sing “God Bless America” because of the atrocities we commit all the time.