‘That’s me, a marine, a murderer of civilians’

[donsu]

http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1125648.htm


-snip-

The following interview of U.S. Marine Jimmy Massey by Patrizio Lombroso of Il Manifesto appeared the day before Giuliana Sgrena was released and shot. It’s an interview not calculated to win love and friendship in official Washington circles.

‘Yo, un marine asesino de civiles’ (‘That’s me, a marine, a murderer of civilians’)

“I’ve seen the horror that we were causing every day in Iraq. I have been part of it. We are all just murderers.

“We kill innocent Iraqi civilians all the time. That’s the way it is. I believe they need to withdraw all foreign military troops in Iraq right away. And I say this about other soldiers: to avoid punishment or reprisals by the military, they don’t want to talk and admit that killing terrorists is not our mission. It’s to kill innocent civilians.”

That’s the way the Il Manifesto interview with Jimmy Massey went. He’s from the little town of Waynesville, North Carolina. He has decided to draw back the veil of silence from the “noble mission” in Iraq. Discharged from the Marine Corps for medical reasons, he has written a diary, “Cowboys from Hell,” which will be published at the end of the summer.

-snip-

“You are now a member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War?”

“Yes, I went to Iraq initially with the idea that weapons of mass destruction had to be eliminated. But soon my experience as a Marine made me understand that the reality was something quite different. We were ‘cowboy murderers.’ We killed innocent civilians.”

“You admit having killed innocent civilians?”

“Sure, and lots of them.”

“You admit that during your mission you carried out executions on innocent civilians?”

“Yes, my platoon also opened fire on civilians and I too killed innocents. I too am an assassin.”

“How did you react after these operations when you thought about the innocents you had killed?”

“For a while I kept on going. In my own mind I denied the reality of me being a murderer and not a soldier who somehow could tell the difference between who is right and who is wrong. Then, one day I woke up and there was a young kid inside my head.
-snip-
----------------------------


put the criminal bushgang in prison NOW

bring the troops home NOW

when the book comes out I'll buy it.

[juslikagrzly]

1. OMG, what heartbreak and destruction we have wrought

with this ill-begotten 'war'.

I am just sickened. And don't expect this to be covered by the media, except maybe to paint the marine as "un-american".

[OKNancy]

2. His interview/ opinions and the Sgrena

shooting only tie in loosely. The timing has nothing to do with her.

cached page from May 2004 - sorry link didn't work.

Google his name. You will see several old articles.

Another edit:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6201.htm

[Goathead]

3. Man... this is just horrible.

I could feel a lump in my chest developing as I was reading that. It wasn't anything that I didn't know or suspect on my own. It's just reading an admission by one of the perpetrators that is so fucked up.

[wtmusic]

4. Suspicious

"Our mission is to kill innocent civilians"?

Come off it. Perhaps "enhanced" in translation.

[neebob]

5. Why is that so hard to believe?

If they say the mission to hunt and kill terrorists and then paint everyone as a terrorist, the mission is to hunt and kill civilians. No?

[wtmusic]

6. Our mission is to kill anyone

who doesn't knuckle under. I'd be surprised if he phrased it that way.

[bpilgrim]

11. yeah, the main reason is STEALING the oil...

and DEATH to WHOEVER gets in the way.

but it IS an EXCELLENT sound-byte for the ignorant masses, doncha think :evilgrin:

peace

[ultraist]

7. If that interview is credible, good for him for speaking the truth

MANY innocent civilians HAVE been killed. That is a fact we cannot deny. We do need to GET OUT NOW.

[CHIMO]

8. Interview on Democracy Now

Ex-U.S. Marine: I Killed Civilians in Iraq



STAFF SERGEANT JIMMY MASSEY: Yeah. I'd just like to say to the Marines, you did a great job. You did what your country asked you to do. Unfortunately, the rules of engagement and the Geneva Convention weren't used. But it's up to you to look within your heart and do the right thing. You know who you are. Don't be scared. Come out. The American public, they need to know. You're not the only one. There are other people out there that can help you to heal. There are other people out there that can help you to get on with your life. Don't feel ashamed. Don't feel embarrassed. Did you a great job, however, you know, the Command -- they didn't give you the right tools for you to carry on with your mission. Just do the right thing, marines.

AMY GOODMAN: Who do you hold most responsible for this?

STAFF SERGEANT JIMMY MASSEY: The president of the United States. He's the win that authorized it. He's the one that said there were weapons of mass destruction. He's the one that gave the case to us for going to war. We went to war backing him, however, the intelligence reports that we were getting hindered our ability to make Iraq a free democracy. You know, it's hard to tell a middle aged or middle -- you know, young man in his 20's -- say 20 to 28 years old that just watched his brother die by the hands of Americans. It's hard to tell him, you know, what, hey, we're sorry. All right. He's just a casualty of war. Now, this young man has taken revenge or is acting in revenge against the United States in Fallujah, in Karbala. He's picking up that R.P.G. because he's mad. He's mad at the Americans. We were supposed to go in there and set up a democracy. All we did was cause chaos and have a genocidal mindset. So, they're mad. They have every right to be mad. I know if somebody killed my brother, you know, indiscriminately and laughed about it and said, well, sorry, wrong place, wrong time, I would be mad, too.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/24/148212&mode=thread&tid=25

Transcript plus audio and video available at the site.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Amazing

I'll buy it! He tells the truth and is knowing first hand what goes on.
All these soliders who are seen rallying against Bush are his right-winger paid people or something. This poor guy and his soul. I hope he someday finds peace in him. It's disgusting what Bush is doing. He doesn't have any power does he?

[peacetalksforall]

10. Fact or fiction? Take all the little pieces especially deductive ones and

it is difficult to say that he is exaggerating.

Exactly what have you heard come out of a neo-con cabal mouth that makes your heart know that they care about the people - there is never a concerned word about the ancillary deaths, they don't know who the enemy is, they bomb neighborhoods to get at one house, they throw people in prison to gain information whether there is cause, they allowed their (and the world's) heritage to be looted, destroyed, and to become a profit center for collectors and dealers.

Oh yes, they built some schools and rebuilt some of the infrastructure we destroyed. Right?

They also created chemical messes for ours and theirs. This past week, one writer said that when there is a birth, the first thing they do is count the toes and fingers for a reasons they didn't have to deal with in the past.

We always make a mistake in naming a very limited number of people as the source of our problems...millions of Americans are perfectly willing to substitute Hussein for bin Laden and direct all their hate to Muslims, even the innocent.

That soldier, that jounalist are only pieces of this. The American people are to blame for the deaths of all the innocent people because of what they choose to believe and choose to ignore. The soldier is not out there alone in the blame.

People...we don't learn. We prefer hate over love. Whether Vietnamese or Iraqis...they are only foreigners - inferior people.

Get back to buying guns and making sure the laws protect the guns. Get back to saving fetuses. Full term and grown fetuses are meant to kill foreigners for Christ.