Posted on 11/01/2006 2:48:26 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
![]() |
Speaking to launch McGills interdisciplinary media studies program last Wednesday, Hersh said he had seen video footage of atrocities in Iraq. Jennifer Bartoli / The McGill Daily |
During his hour-and-a-half lecture part of the launch of an interdisciplinary media and communications studies program called Media@McGill Hersh described video footage depicting U.S. atrocities in Iraq, which he had viewed, but not yet published a story about.
He described one video in which American soldiers massacre a group of people playing soccer.
Three U.S. armed vehicles, eight soldiers in each, are driving through a village, passing candy out to kids, he began. Suddenly the first vehicle explodes, and there are soldiers screaming. Sixteen soldiers come out of the other vehicles, and they do what theyre told to do, which is look for running people.
Never mind that the bomb was detonated by remote control, Hersh continued. [The soldiers] open up fire; [the] cameras show it was a soccer game.
About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day, he said.
If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said.
In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation, he said. It isnt happening now, but I will tell you there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.
Hersh came out hard against President Bush for his involvement in the Middle East.
In Washington, you cant expect any rationality. I dont know if hes in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didnt do it, or because its the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program, he said.
Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a neo-conservative agenda and dictate the U.S.s post-September 11 foreign policy.
You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The military is going to do what the President wants, Hersh said. How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?
Throughout his talk Hersh remained pessimistic, predicting that the U.S. will initiate an attack against Iran, and that the situation in Iraq will deteriorate further.
Theres no reason to see a change in policy about Iraq. [Bush] thinks that, in twenty years, hes going to be recognized for the leader he was the analogy he uses is Churchill, Hersh said. If you read the public statements of the leadership, theyre so confident and so calm
. Its pretty scary.
I think the Mongols were a tad more "assertive" when they passed through Iraq.
bump
About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day, he said.
Those of us who have been in the military and those of us who have seen movies about the American military, know that from time to time when the environment is quiet for a while, members might lay down their weapons and engage in an impromptu game of football or some other type of entertainment. Would enemy combatants have refrained from firing if they had come upon such a situation?
Another thing bothers me about Hersh's recounting; if I imagine myself playing football within line of shooting sight of an explosion that destroys a military vehicle, would I ignore the event and proceed with my football game?
...and then, where was this camera person who is recording these scenes from angles that show the explosion, and the troops deploying, and the soccer game joyfully and innocently proceeding?
Were there credits on this video? Who did the video, the editing and the special effects?
The article fails to mention that Hersh also wrote that Clinton bombed an aspirin factory in the Sudan in the list of reports they attribute to him.
If ANYTHING, we haven't stacked enough of them like cord wood,razed their strongholds, violently crushed them day after day, extracted their leaders, dropped enough MOABS, broken their spirit, sent a message, or put the fear of the holy lord in them.
Pershing is one of my greatest heroes! So is Patton.
Hersh is off his meds Fur Shur. I think he's been watching that Turkish movie too ~ do they let him go outside often these days?
Yet if a person say Oliver North went there that has the opposite view, they would be attacked on stage.
He seems to have missed out on what happened there ~ Kerry screwed up the delivery and it came out as a poor joke.
This is not Klinton's meals on wheels military.
A military where the troops have NO ammunition in their weapons when they stand guard. Such as the sailors on the deck of the USS Cole.
Hersch as usual has his head stuck up Kerry's butt.
Another objective journalist weighs in.
a college in Canada... don't forget the Canada part.
This POS probably doesn't recognize borders. And he would said the same thing in Ithaca, Georgetown, Durham etc.
President Bush has said that "Sy Hersh is a liar".
There is no other interpretation to this passage but that he approves of the abuse toward Vietnam veterans--cursing at them, spitting at them, calling them war criminals--and that the same behaviors need to be repeated with Iraq vets.
Beyond despicable. But Hersh is only being honest; there are a lot of people on the Left who think this way, but they know to keep their mouths shut.
Why would he bother, he makes his own up as he goes along.
Bashing America since (at least) the '60s.
In Washington, you cant expect any rationality. I dont know if hes in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didnt do it, or because its the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program, he said.
Or maybe Bush drew the same conclusions as: John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Ted Kennedy, et al.
All of whom saw the eventual need to deal militarily with Saddam's Iraq. George walked the walk, instead of just talking the talk.
This media hack would probably complain on behalf of the Nazis' menus during the Nuremberg trials.
He would probably blame America for the civilians the Japs murdered on the islands.
He's so predictable.
He's a lunatic. That said, I am happy he is not within arms reach, or I would gladly throttle him.
one would hope so .... what is the purpose of an Army at war but to kill? The more "insurgents" they kill the better!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.