WinterSoldierEurope
March 14, 2009
Opening and first statements
Reality of war and Winter Soldier testimonials not covered by US television news.
It’s March 19 and Blogswarm Day! Here is a list of my posts on Iraq in the last few days. I’ll add more throughout the day today since I post on Iraq almost every day. Hopefully some good video coverage of the mass protest in Washington, DC today will be posted. ~ Lo Continue reading
Monday March 17th, 2008
Clinton vs Obama on Blackwater
Winter Solider: Jeremy Scahill discusses why no presidential candidate plans on fully leaving IraqJeremy Scahill is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, hundreds of US veterans of the war say the American military has been covering up widespread civilian killings in that country.
And Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman reports their sentiments aren’t necessarily getting a warm reception.
Friday March 14th, 2008
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) hold press conference in Washington, DC
This month, for four days in Washington, DC, beginning on March 13, there will be a second Winter Soldier gathering — 37 years after the first. Organized by the protest group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan since the 9/11 attack on New York will testify about their experiences.
They will present photographs and videos, recorded with mobile phones and digital cameras, to back up their allegations — of brutality, torture and murder.
The veterans are not against the military and seek not to indict it — instead they seek to shine a light on the bigger picture: that the Abu Ghraib prison regime and the Haditha massacre of innocent Iraqis are not isolated incidents perpetrated by “bad seeds” as the military suggests, but evidence of an endemic problem. They will say they were tasked to do terrible things and point the finger up the chain of command, which ignores, diminishes or covers up routine abuse and atrocities.
The horrible, honest reality of the American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan like you haven’t heard it before. Continue reading