Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was a 4-day event from March 13-16 in DC that brought together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although the news media has unsurprisingly ignored the event much as they did its predecessor in 1971, this time we have digital media and the intertubes to document it and bring it to a wider audience.
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
In 1971, a courageous group of veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in an event called Winter Soldier. Once again, we will demand that the voices of veterans are heard.
Spencer Ackerman has had ongoing coverage of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan and much of it is beyond disturbing:
“That was the first time I’ve ever seen a six year old girl dead. And it was not drowning in a swimming pool, but because she had been shot by a bunch of teenage American kids. Not because we want to, but because it happens.”
and …
“My company commander personally congratulated me, “Turner continued. “That same individual said, ‘Whoever gets his first kill by stabbing them to death will get a four day pass when we get back from Iraq.”
Mike Prysner’s testimony was particularly revealing about military commanders’ deliberate use of racism as a tool to motivate soldiers to fight and “die to control the market of another country.”
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1 comment:
The guy telling his horrific story here serves in Iraq for 25 months, tells the truth and no doubt the republicans and stupid people will or already have dismissed him and called him a liar.
The media has.
This dismissal proves that there are a whole lot of Anti-Americans in this country.
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