Jonn Lilyea continues to blog from the “Winter Soldier II” conference.
Link: http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=1350
Just a sample of some of the clownish antics from the participants:
John Michael Turner (Burlington, VT – fourth from right) tears off medals and tosses them to loud applause from crowd. Showed videos of Marines celebrating effective use of firepower and pictures of destroyed buildings (nothing about casualties). Shot people with .50 cal. Troops had no respect for dead bodies as a matter of policy. Enjoys showing grotesque pictures that have nothing to do with the panel. “I shot a guy I call the fat man. When I didn’t kill him with the first round, I shot him again”. Was congratulated for first kill – was promised a four day pass if he could kill someone with a knife.
He has pictures of his confirmed kills (we’re up to number three – a man on bicycle). When reporters were embedded, ROE changed drastically – “by the book”. The implication is that the media isn’t getting the whole story.
Some blather about a bracelet and his “choking hand” which was somehow part of the ROE. Shows video of destroying a minaret “because we were angry and taking out our aggression”. “There are many more stories that I don’t have time to tell them all.” “I’m sorry for the hate and destruction I’ve inflicted on other people.” “I’m no longer the monster that I once was.”
Logan Laituri Army 82d Abn. Volunteered for Afghanistan. Went to Iraq w/1/14th INF 25th Infantry Div. from Hawaii. “Came to my faith and applied for Conscientous Objector status”. Claims he was infantry, but that his duty was that of Forward Observer in Iraq. Claims “no concrete ROE”. Didn’t know that Willy Pete couldn’t be used against personnel. Claims commander instructed that an unarmed dead body would be given a weapon – two troops charged with murder had charges dropped. Blames combat triage policy for death of an Iraqi. “I’m here because I love America”
Oh, no you don’t.
James Gilligan (second from left) marines – no unit given. (Sorry I missed the story – we got jerked out for a minute and I missed it). Complains that Afghan police had a private weapons cache. His first sergeant threatened with a pistol a young Iraqi boy who’d hit an Iraqi girl. Stopped a scavenger and was ordered to make his vehicle inoperable. A picture of him in his boxer shorts in the desert (WTF?). Troops stole gold coins and made crank calls to wives of troops deployed. Claims he witnessed waterboarding (he might want to read the news ). “We ignored procedures”.
Garret Reppenhagen (1st on left) 2/63 Armor “Scout Sniper”. Killed two unarmed guys with .50 cal. for being out after curfew. Claims used 40mm on personnel, too. Claims was never clear on ROE for entire tour. Claims all headquarters pogues are derelicts – “thrown out of their units”. An inexperienced intel major commanded his security detail to shoot a couple of civilian vehicles who turned out to be body guards of a deputy minister. “This kind of confusion goes on every day in Iraq”. “The war is the atrocity”.
Videos from Iraqis inserted here with subtitles – I’m sure whoever took the videos were looking for good stories about the troops from among the millions of Iraqis and not just a few disgruntled civilians.
What we have here, is a collection of tantrum-throwing kids with an ax to grind.
As evidenced by the idiotic, shameful behavior on the part of the children on the ‘panel’, they’re a group of miscreants who either fucked up in their units or were kicked out of the military. Either way, it’s obvious they blame their own screw-ups and guilt trips on “the chain of command”.
If, as they’re announcing to the world, they committed ‘war crimes’, why don’t they just turn themselves in to military authorities for prosecution?
Seems to me that all of these outlandish tales are being told by attention whores for the sole purpose of creating shock value to an audience of sympathetic moonbats.
I am so glad they’re out of the military. They can no longer be a liability to their units, and the only detriment they can do now, is to their reputations; which were flawed to begin with.
From Eric (active duty):
Eric Says:
March 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
John,Thanks for sticking up for us active duty guys. Slurs like this hurt our mission and could affect morale. They don’t to me and the majority of our guys. Simply put, I see this nonsense as lies. None of the stories sound accurate. I can speak firsthand only about one Sailor that I knew who went to the media. Great at his operational job, but one of the worst Sailors Navy-wise that we had in our rating. And I saw him on 60 Minutes ranting. So I don’t place much credence with this new set of bozos. Thanks again for your service, then and now.
Note to Eric:
A lot of us on here (like myself)have been to Iraq. We know you’re doing a fantastic job. Don’t let these little punks with an ax to grind, demoralize you. You have our support 110%.
Duty, Honor, Country
SFC MAC
Kudos to Jonn for his patience. There’s no way I could have restrained myself from letting these punks have it; verbally or physically.