[News] Soldiers apologize for 'collateral murder' in Iraq

[Anti-Imperialist News]

<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2724>http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2724


AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE

A newly released Wikileaks "Collateral Murder" video has made 
international headlines showing a July 2007 shooting incident outside 
of Baghdad in which U.S. forces wounded two children and killed over 
a dozen people, including the father of those children and two 
Reuters employees. Two soldiers from Bravo Company 2-16, the company 
depicted in the video, have written an open letter of apology to the 
Iraqis who were injured or lost loved ones during the attack that, 
these former soldiers say, is a regular occurrence in this war. You 
can view the Wikileaks video here: 
<http://wikileaks.org/>http://wikileaks.org/ and you can view the 
Press Release 
<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/t/9615/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=2491>here


AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE
 From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military

Peace be with you.

To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 
2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the "Collateral Murder" Wikileaks video:

We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that 
our words and actions can never restore your losses.

We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. 
Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when 
doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber 
was in the same company but was not there that day, though he 
contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many 
other occasions.

There is no bringing back all that was lost. What we seek is to learn 
from our mistakes and do everything we can to tell others of our 
experiences and how the people of the United States need to realize 
we have done and are doing to you and the people of your country. We 
humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.

We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what 
was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering 
we have created. From our own experiences, and the experiences of 
other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in 
this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature 
of how U.S.-led wars are carried out in this region.

We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones 
as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried 
out in the name of "god and country". The soldier in the video said 
that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but 
we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to 
your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would 
not want done to us.

More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done 
in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many 
times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy 
hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the 
acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.

Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. 
It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically 
injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your 
country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of 
our nation's leaders no longer represent us. Our secretary of defense 
may say the U.S. won't lose its reputation over this, but we stand 
and say that our reputation's importance pales in comparison to our 
common humanity.

We have asked our fellow veterans and service-members, as well as 
civilians both in the United States and abroad, to sign in support of 
this letter, and to offer their names as a testimony to our common 
humanity, to distance ourselves from the destructive policies of our 
nation's leaders, and to extend our hands to you.

With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept 
our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from 
the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the 
wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and 
your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any 
steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.

Solemnly and Sincerely,
Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army
Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army



Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20100417/515d2a78/attachment.htm>