Vets' intentions were shattered in wartime horrors (Barf Alert!)

Seattle P-I ^ | June 1, 2008 | Lisa Stiffler

[jazusamo]

One former soldier recounted an interrogation of an Iraqi by his fellow combatants so brutal he likened it to "a frat house gang rape."

Another was still troubled not by his close brushes with death, but by the times he nearly shot innocent Iraqi civilians.

And a third was exasperated and puzzled by being asked to fulfill what he called "ridiculous" orders to harass Iraqi residents and was discouraged from helping those in distress.

He called the war "immoral and absurd."

All came together Saturday afternoon at Seattle's Town Hall to share their troubling and sometimes graphic war stories in the hopes that they will inspire and motivate a largely silent public to call for an end to the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a counterpoint to calls to continue the occupation, nearly a dozen U.S. soldiers, a military wife, the mother of a soldier and a doctor treating veterans with psychiatric problems told their anti-war stories to a respectful audience that filled the hall.

Former Army Sgt. Joshua Simpson served in Mosul with an intelligence team trying to get information about insurgent forces attacking Americans.

"Ninety-five percent of the people we arrested had nothing to do with the insurgency, but we were still told to interrogate them," Simpson told the crowd.

He'd scream and yell at the prisoners, sometimes reducing them to tears or self-abuse such as hitting their heads repeatedly against the wall. He saw prisoners horribly bruised and bloodied by Iraqi interrogators. He wants the war to end.

"We need to support the troops who refuse to fight," Simpson said.

The event was organized by the nonprofit Iraq Veterans Against the War, which is working for an immediate end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the payment of reparations to the Iraqi and Afghan people for harm caused in the wars, and full funding for the Veterans Health Administration to better provide medical care for returning veterans.

There didn't appear to be any counterprotesters at Saturday's Town Hall event, which was called Northwest Winter Soldier. It was modeled on the first Winter Soldier protest held in 1971 in opposition to the Vietnam War and also organized by veterans.

After the speakers finished, a march was scheduled through downtown.

The soldiers called on U.S. lawmakers to cut funding and force the Bush administration to stop what they saw as an unjust, unwarranted war.

"The longer we're over there," said Joshua Farris, a former Army specialist in Iraq, "the more it will inflame the violence when we leave."

Many said they went to Iraq hoping to help civilians, but found that often wasn't the case. U.S. troops frequently referred to all Iraqis and Middle Easterners as "hajji," an ethnic slur. In medical units, they became "range balls," meaning they were like the golf balls hit on driving ranges that are of low value and that you don't mind losing.

The veterans called for better medical support for returning soldiers, saying they'd see friends suffering from untreated post-traumatic stress, leading to suicide, domestic violence and divorce.

"Where is our government when they need them the most?" asked Tracy Malzan, who spoke along with her husband, Seth, who served as an Army sergeant. "We must talk about these issues every day ... until every service member comes home."

[jazusamo]

I think I’m safe in saying she didn’t check any credentials, that is not high on the list of the leftist antiwar writers. I also think that list just got longer.

[jazusamo]

You’re exactly right. When I was a kid we had some knock down drag out brawls. If that happens now though, either parents or teachers call the law and have them arrested. *shaking head*

[cll]

Is that you, Jesse?

[freema]

Winter Soldiers on Parade.

[metesky]

He wants the war to end.

Bill, it really pisses me off when these morons imply that people like us, people who support the war and the Iraqi people, don't want the war to end! We all want the freaking war to end! We just want it to end honorably for us and for Iraq and that means victory, not bugging out after giving these people a chance and then cutting their balls off.