Posted on 03/10/2005 4:48:07 PM PST by SkyPilot
Jimmy Massey, a former Marine sergeant who served in Iraq, is speaking out against the war during a series of talks today in Syracuse.
Massey, of North Carolina, says he witnessed Marines shoot unarmed civilians at road checkpoints during the onset of the Iraq War in 2003. He says the acts amount to war crimes.
Massey was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and discharged from the Marine Corps in 2003. Syracuse University and the Syracuse Peace Council co-sponsored Masseys visit that brought him to the Thursday Morning Roundtable at Drumlins this morning and Onondaga Community College at noon.
He also was scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. in Syracuse Universitys Kittredge Auditorium and 7 at South Presbyterian Church in Syracuse. For a full report on Massey's visit to Syracuse, see staff writer Pedro Ramirez III's story in the Friday Post-Standard.
Kicking of a DNC political career?
bttt
of => off
Beat me to it.
Is he being paid? He knows the universties and other groups will welcome him and he'll get lots of coverage in the media. But there have always been soldiers like him... Think of Kerry!
Didn't work too well for his predecessor so good luck to him.
Now, let's see... where's that picture...?
Dan
U.S. Army Deserter Seeks Canadian Asylum (Massey testified men in his unit "psychopath" ARG) (Dec 9th, 2004)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1297522/posts
I thought it worked GREAT!!! ;)
Ok time for a records check on this ahem Ex-Marine with PTSD. Is he real or is he a BX-Warrior?
It seems the left could be taking advantage of a soldier suffering from post-trumatic stress disorder to further their own political agenda.
Courage!!
Jimmy Massey, a staff sergeant who was in the Marines for 12 years and served three months in Iraq before being honorably discharged with post-traumatic stress syndrome, made the allegations before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board on the final day of an asylum hearing for Army Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 26.
Massey, 33, of Waynesville, N.C., said his 7th Marines weapons company killed more than 30 civilians during a 48-hour period in April while stationed at a checkpoint in the southern Baghdad district of Rashid. The victims included unarmed demonstrators and a man who drove up in a car and raised his hands above his head in the universal symbol of surrender.
"I know in my heart that these vehicles that came up, that they were civilians," he said. "But I had to act on my orders. It's a struggle within my heart."
The orders, he said, were to shoot at anyone who drove into what is known as the "red zone" surrounding the checkpoint because they could be suicide bombers.
Massey told the tribunal he got caught up in the frenzy and shot at civilians as well.
"I take full responsibility for my actions," he said. "We deliberately gunned down people who were civilians. I became so concerned because I felt that Marines were honestly enjoying it. I saw plenty of Marines become psychopaths. They enjoyed the killing."
Hinzman fled Fort Bragg, N.C., to Canada weeks before his 82nd Airborne Division was due to be deployed to Iraq. He had served three years in the Army but applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002.
Is going to run for the senate any time soon. ?
Why even post this idiocy? We need not bother ourselves with this trash journalism. Stories like this are (by definition) wrong and politcally incorrect.
As far as I'm concerned - As an NCO, he had an obligation to stop it or, at a bare minimum, report it. I wonder if he did either.
Maybe he, like Kerry, is speaking for his own actions and attempting to drag the rest down with him?
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