US/Iraq: Rules of Engagement ‘Thrown out the Window’

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

by Dahr Jamail

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/15/7709 /

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“My commander told me, ‘Kill those who need to be killed, and save those who need to be saved’, that was our mission on our first tour,” he said of his first deployment during the invasion nearly five years ago.

Lemue continued, “After that the ROE changed, and carrying a shovel, or standing on a rooftop talking on a cell phone, or being out after curfew were to be killed. I can’t tell you how many people died because of this. By my third tour, we were told to just shoot people, and the officers would take care of us.”

John Michael Turner served two tours in the Marines as a machine gunner in Iraq. Visibly upset, he told the audience, “I was taught as a Marine to eat the apple to the core.” Turner then pulled his military metals off his shirt and threw them on the ground.

“Apr. 18, 2006 was the date of my first confirmed kill,” he said sombrely. “He was innocent, I called him the fat man. He was walking back to his house and I killed him in front of his father and friend. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes, so I looked at my friend and said, ‘Well, I can’t let that happen’, and shot him again. After my first kill I was congratulated.” . . .

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. Kick for a bit of Sunday afternoon exposure. nt

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. My Lai Probe Hid Policy that Led to Massacre

by Gareth Porter

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/17/7727 /

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WASHINGTON - For decades, it has been generally accepted that the My Lai massacre of as many as 400 Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army troops on Mar. 16, 1968 was a violation of official policy directives on the treatment of civilians in South Vietnam.

That was the conclusion reached in the most definitive official account of why My Lai happened — the final report by Gen. William Peers, who investigated the question of responsibility for the massacre in late 1969 and early 1970 for the Department of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff.

Documentary evidence from U.S. army archives shows, however, that the Peers report misrepresented a key directive from the top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, describing it as calling for a blanket policy of humane treatment of civilians in villages controlled by the Communist movement.

The directive in question, a copy of which has been obtained by IPS, makes it clear that the policy of humane treatment did not extend to civilians in areas which had been under long-term Communist rule, as was the case with My Lai. That revelation would have placed the responsibility for the orders on the My Lai operation squarely on Westmoreland’s shoulders.