CodePINK Action: No Military Predators in OUR Town!

Seems to me that high school students aren't eligible, seeing how they lack the whole BA/BS thing.

I graduated from UC Berkeley in 1965 and went directly into the USMC in time to really get a full taste of the Vietnam War. Remember Mario Savio at Sather Gate? He's dead. Was a bartender, alcoholic, and addict. Great protester, even though he had no clue about the attrocities commited by Vietnamese against Vietnamese, and anyone that was in the local government, or medical services, or taught school.

It must have worked, you can still protest with impunity. Treason is allowed. Vietnam went backwards 50 years, and is now trying to become capitalistic, but not democratic. Anyone want to protest to violations of free speech, oppression, murder, racism, economic exploitation, slavery, intimidation, rape, etc, commited by the 'bad guys'.

I guess is safer to pick on the 'good guys'. They won't hurt you. Seems like they should get equal time?

We have an all volunteer military. Protesting an American's right to choose this path as a career stinks.

This country would be immediately oppressed by our enemies if not for our military. Be grateful that you are an American with the right to protest. You want your choices without interference, you should allow others to have the right to serve in the military without interference.

Take away our military, lose all our rights.

Proud American

American's,

As you launch another ridiculous protest against America's Heroes I want you to remember some things. 1st, if it were not for these VOLUNTEERS who are willing to die for you, you would be unable to protest, picket, block traffic and all the other ridiculous things you do. 2nd, lets hope that you don't create such a problem that the Berkeley Police has to show up; you would be wasting their valuable time and the time of the citizens they are charged to protect for an ignorant reason. 3rd, remember that if it were not for the valiant efforts of many a Marine Officer, the nation would be in British, Mexican, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean or Russian control. God Bless the United States and God Bless the United States Marine Corps.

Lastly, please remember that Marines do not volunteer to go into the Marine Corps for foolish reasons. They go in with a sense of duty to country and to be a part of something bigger than just one person. There isn't a single Marine (Officer or Enlisted) that goes into the Marine Corps today that thinks they are going to get to travel the world, go to college and never see combat. Today's Marine knows full well what failed liberal politics has created, an ongoing war against people that do not want America to prosper and survive. A true historian knows that war is a result of failed politics. In short, you have failed. Know that every Marine; past, present and future is looking at you and thinking, "It doesn't matter that my sacrifices allow these idiots to protest, I love my country and my Corps, and no one will change that".

Semper Fidelis! (figure out what that means...it is something sacred to us, you probably have no clue.)

A Retired United States Marine Officer

"Among all the Honors, among all the Postings, Promotions and Medals that have been awarded me, the one in which I take the most pride in - is to be able to say: "I am a United States Marine."
- Gen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC

... and wrote the last 4 comments by copying out of a recruiters' manual. If not, then why doesn't one comment bear a name, except for "Mike" -- not exactly a unique identifier! Or are these "brave" marines afraid of us mostly unarmed anti-patriots.

But let me tell you United Snakes chauvinists: The decent people of the U.S., and there are some, don't want you going around the world killing people so that we, especially our richer country(wo)men, can continue to consume an insupportable share of the world's resources.

Moreover, if you're such a believer in the right of people to choose their career, how about letting the FARC, Hamas, Hezbollah and the New People's Army also set up recruiting offices in Berkeley? They're certainly far more deserving of our support than any branch of the U.S. politico-military monster is.

Greetings,

I am glad to see that my gut was correct. You truly don't cherish the freedoms you are given. I am shocked that you would remove posts that were not in line with your views. Did it hurt a little? Did it make too much sense? What actually put a huge smile on my face was the fact that there were only a handful of protesters at today's joke/event. Of course the supporters far out numbered the protesters like 10 to 1, gee what a shock.

Look at what you have allowed to be posted on this site, "Moreover, if you're such a believer in the right of people to choose their career, how about letting the FARC, Hamas, Hezbollah and the New People's Army also set up recruiting offices in Berkeley? They're certainly far more deserving of our support than any branch of the U.S. politico-military monster is. " by Aaron Aarons (yup, that's a real name). Wow, have you lived a day in the real world? You listed KNOWN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS that even your precious Clinton Armada have stood up to fight (as hard as that may be to believe). The last time I checked, and believe me, I checked my Basic Officers Guide Book and my Green Monster (you see I was both an enlisted Marine and an officer in the Marine Corps) nowhere does it say we are to torture, rape, murder and sabotage innocent civilians or enemy combatants. Check the play books of your above listed organizations, I am sure you will see that is only the beginning of their tactics. Aaron, please know that the most junior recruit in boot-camp has more guts, courage and common sense than you will EVER attain.

As I am typing this reply I wonder why I waste my valuable time to do this, then I remember something I learned long ago, "never stop fighting until the fight is done". My fight against ignorance in the United States (and that is the United States Aaron) will never end. I will continue to educate people, promote the United States Marine Corps, its traditions and value systems and fight against all who would do harm to my brothers and sisters in the Corps.

Remember this, it is not the liberal wacko that fights for your rights, it's the soldier, sailor, airmen and Marine!

Lastly, to the protesters that shouted to the parents of my fallen Marine brothers that they, "died for oil", we know why they died. It is why Marines have been dying for hundreds of years and that is; Unit, Corps, God and Country. What do you know about that? Have you ever relied on someone for more than a handout, a paycheck or a charity? Have you ever risked your life for anything? Think about it....

Semper Fidelis!

Respectfully,

A United States Marine Corps Officer

"Among all the Honors, among all the Postings, Promotions and Medals that have been awarded me, the one in which I take the most pride in - is to be able to say: "I am a United States Marine."
- Gen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC

....no need to post a name, I know I speak for millions. Your site couldn't hold the list of names that would sign any post I put here. Yes, Marines are brave. We've been proving it for 232 years.

Semper Fidelis!

Respectfully,

A United States Marine Corps Officer

"Among all the Honors, among all the Postings, Promotions and Medals that have been awarded me, the one in which I take the most pride in - is to be able to say: "I am a United States Marine."
- Gen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National city Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

I hope the editors DON'T censor the posts by "Marine Officer" because these posts show how shallow and mechanical the thinking of these people really is.

"You listed KNOWN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS that even your precious Clinton Armada have stood up to fight"

Anybody who resists the massive violence of U.S./Israeli imperialism with a little violence of their own is going to be labeled "terrorist" by the U.S. government and its allies. But it is the U.S. government that is a "KNOWN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION" in the eyes of the majority of the world's people, especially the great majority outside the imperialist countries.

By the way, I'm pretty sure that most people associated with indymedia consider Bill and Hilary Clinton to be imperialist scum who differ from Bush and Cheney only in secondary characteristics. You're not dealing with a bunch of liberals here!

" ... to the protesters that shouted to the parents of my fallen Marine brothers that they, "died for oil", we know why they died. It is why Marines have been dying for hundreds of years and that is; Unit, Corps, God and Country."

So they die for (1) their gang (small and large), (2) an imaginary being, and (3) the particular geographic entity they happen to have been born in.. But the capitalists who send them to kill and die aren't such fools. They know where the oil is, and they know how profitable any war is for them. The blood of their troops is only important to them if enough of it is spilled to weaken support for their wars among the troops and their friends and relatives back home.

You can read the entire text of War is A Racket by Smedley Butler at a number of web sites, e.g., http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm or
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

Good Job! You are starting to motivate me. It is too bad that, while the Great Smedley D. Butler did write about the political drive of war, his viewpoints were more along the lines of main stream and hardline republicans today (your first mistake in quoting him). His idea was to restrict the access of immigrants into the U.S. and protect the U.S. from attackers by defending the homeland. Then, gee go figure, 12-7-1941 occurred. Like many of the Generals of that day no one could fathom an attack on U.S. soil (because you probably don't know that was when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred). Remember, Major General Butler had been dead for over a year when that strike occurred. Had he been alive he would have seen his doctrine had failed.

I wish, like 99% of society wishes, that we would not need war. I wish that all service men and women could serve their country, get a free education and health care and never aim a weapon at an enemy combatant. But, like soo many of us realize, there is no way to stop the tyranny of evil men, except by swift and immediate action. The world has been at war for years, and sadly, that will never change.

Unit, Corps, God and Country....You are right. The Marine Corps is a gang. Ask any Marine or anyone who has had the fortune to be saved by one. Travel to the countryside in France, like I have, to be greeted by people young and old who remember what the U.S. and the Marines did to save their lives. We are a gang devoted to helping people in a time of crisis when no one else can. We have our own colors and we carry guns (as much as I am sure you wish all guns were banned), yup we are a gang. When humanitarians are shot at for delivering food and care, who gets called to action? The Marines do, not for some political agenda, but to help those in need.

Thank you again for quoting the great Marine Hero Major General Smedley D. Butler. I wish we could use his doctrine to ensure stability and peace for the United States. It was tried and failed. Try again, there are better anti-war Generals to quote than Major General Butler. Unfortunately, you just showed me how weak your research and real-life common sense knowledge is. You see, most of us hate war and what it does to innocent lives and families. We all wish that the politicians and protesters could just come to a consensus and agree to disagree, but that, my lamb, will never happen.

I'd also like to thank you again for requesting the folks at Indy Media to not take my posts off. It seems they, like you, only wish to listen to their side. I like to know your solutions to stop war, this should be good.

Semper Fidelis,

Marine Officer

"Among all the Honors, among all the Postings, Promotions and Medals that have been awarded me, the one in which I take the most pride in - is to be able to say: "I am a United States Marine."
- Gen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC

Gentlemen,

I have been reading the post on you web site and I would have to agree with the Marine Officer's point of view. I, like many other verterans of foreign wars, agree that war is a horrible, often necessary, tool.

In the current state of war we (the United States) are in has several different political/nationalist motovations. The motovations, in no particular order, are the economy, global security, and pride.

Pride is the easiest one to explain so I will start with that explaination. 9/11 brought the US to it's knees. We, as a nation, had wrapped ourselves in the false notion that we are immune from terrorist attacks or any attack for that matter. For years our geographic location in the world has kept us safe from harm. With the lacks-a-dasical attitude we had towards national security we were ripe for the picking. We were plucked.

Now our national pride has been damaged and we want to exact our revenge on the perportrators. We invaded the Afghan nation. We dismatled the Taliban regime and have disrupted a nation of terrorists. While we still have not found Osama bin Laden, he is almost been rendered inaffectual.

Still licking our wounds, we, as a nation, decided that striking a state that sponsored terrorism would be the best course of action. What better middle east state than Iraq. Saddam had flaunted global interests of security for years, vis a vis weapons inspectors and had committed several attrocities, against his own people, that are beyond most human comprehension. So, here we are in Iraq.

Pride is one factor that put the US at war.

Economically the US is tied to the oil industry. Like it or not, that is the reality. Being the second largest consumer of global commercial goods we need a way to transport those goods. Shipping from the far east to the US burns oil, then from the port to the distribution center burns oil, then from the distribution center to the commercial sales center burns oil, then from the commercial sales center to your home burns oil.

You can vary the theme from t.v.'s to carrots.....it all comes out the same. We, as a nation, are dependent on oil. To keep our economy and public works services going one must face the fact that consumtion equals tax base which equals burning fuel e.g. we need oil. If you don't like good roads, sewage systems, and education don't accept oil as your friend. If you drove you car to a protest or used public transportation you love oil. Admit it.

That being said, Iraq has alot of light sweet crude and we want/need it to keep the US economy going. If by going to war to get it will keep us from economic collapse and utter ruin...I am all for it. I like my electricity and flush toilet.

Security should be a no brainer however, it isn't. To keep the average american safe we consume a ton of fuel. If people would look past their noses they would see that the only thing keeping the terrorists/Muslim extremeists from attacking US soil, besides our geographic location, is our standing military and intelligence network. Which comsumes alot of fuel.

I must go to work now, I know that is a four letter word for protesters, so I will finish with this statement. Leave the recruiting centers alone. The young men that want to help protect our nation from ruin are doing the average citizen a favor. They are wiling to sign a contract that is made payable to the US citizen that includes their life if need be.

Are you willing to make such a sacrafice for the country that has educated you and kept you safe from harm?

Code Pinko is a communist organization that is so out of date it belongs in the former USSR. I am so glad to see a well balance organization that can turn boys into men rather than boys into girls. The Marine Corps is the finest organization in the "free world." Code pinko can be proud that the streets are guarded by United States Marines.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who opined, "No one likes war less than someone who has been in one.'' I served just South of Hue in the IIIMAF before, during, and after Tet offensive 1968.

''War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their own free choice - is often the means of their regeneration.'' [The Contest in America] ~~ John Stuart Mill

Lincoln said something like, "Those who would deprive others of the liberties they so freely enjoy deserve them not. And, under a just God, will not enjoy them long.'''

Those who would deprive volunteers from freely talking with a recruiter are evil. They are thieves, living free at the expense of those who have voluntarily offered themselves to secure our National freedoms, as well as the freedoms now enjoyed by some 50 million Iraqis and Afghanis. They had forgotten the wisdom of Winston Churchill: "Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case; you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

Shame on you!
And yes, I will echo the sentiment of the Marine who said there are thousands of us who would sign for him.

Kevin,

Thank you for your service to our country. Our country owes you debt we will never be able to repay. From one Marine to another, Semper Fi!

Marine Officer

"Among all the Honors, among all the Postings, Promotions and Medals that have been awarded me, the one in which I take the most pride in - is to be able to say: "I am a United States Marine."
- Gen John A. Lejeune, 13th CMC

Just as back in the mid to late 60's when Hanoi Jane was parading around with the NVA and She and John Kerry were Calling AMERICA War Mongers and Much worse at the Paris Peace Talks, You Carry on! by Dragging the NAME of your Son and The Admiration the Soldiers he served with and Volenteered to save and Unfortunately Lost his Life so Another Could LIve, YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY with the assistance of Sarazan, Fonda(once again),Penn,Murphy,Reid,Pelosi,Hollywood NoGOODS, who haven't the slightest Idea what the Pledge of Allegence is and I dare say Neither do you! SO SINCE YOU DON'T LIKE AMERICA, DON'T LIKE THE WAY WE DO THINGS HERE, DON'T LIKE OUR MILITARY,DON'T LIKE OUR FREEDOM'S--- LEAVE----PLEASE LEAVE---WE DON'T WANT YOU--WE WON'T MISS YOU---WE WANT YOU TO GO!!!! VIET-NAM 1964-1971 SEMPER FI

on't believe the Hollywood version of military training in America, y'all. Recruits in the movies always break under the fierce regimen of boot camp and become respectful, highly disciplined team players. They'd do anything for the guys in their unit because, by golly, they're all in it together.

In Bush's all-volunteer army, it's a different script. A CBS News special report and an article in Stars and Stripes (a military newspaper) shed light on the rise of gang activity and crime in the military. The evidence comes from an FBI investigation into gang-related violence inside the army and Marines. The FBI study calls gang allegiances "a threat to law enforcement and national security."

Marines who form gangs that exclude other Marines? What about Semper Fi ?

Chris Grey, chief of public affairs for Army CID, said most of those cases involved misdemeanors. “It’s important to keep the numbers in perspective,” Grey said.

But among the cases are the murder of a soldier during a fight outside a nightclub at Fort Campbell, a murder charge against a soldier related to a robbery near Fort Bragg, a rape by a soldier at Camp Taji, Iraq, and five drug possession and dealing cases.

"It's obvious that many of these people do not give up their gang affiliations," said Hunter Glass, a retired police detective in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. He has been keeping watch on gang activity at the base and across the military.

Gang activity clues like graffiti are appearing in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. The soldier who took photos of the graffiti for CBS News said that he's been warned he's a dead man if he ever returns to Iraq.

One army official explains the phenomenon like this: "We represent America – our demographics are the same – so the same problems that America contends with we often times contend with," said Colonel Gene Smith of the Army's Office of the Provost Marshal.

I thought that military training was supposed to make our armed forces BETTER than the streets of America. I believed that white militia gangs and black inner city gangs would, once in the same uniform, link hands to fight the common enemy and take orders from a common superior officer.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Goodbye-Semper-Fi-Gang-Violence-Rising-in-the-Military&id=666882

Two sergeants are among five American soldiers charged in the alleged rape-murder of a young Iraqi woman and the killing of three of her relatives, the U.S. military said Monday in releasing the identities of the suspects.
...


According to an FBI affidavit filed in Green's case, he and at least two others targeted the young woman and her family for a week before the attack, which was not revealed until witnesses came forward in late June.

The soldiers drank alcohol, abandoned their checkpoint, changed clothes to avoid detection and headed to the victims' house, about 200 yards from a U.S. checkpoint in the "Triangle of Death," a Sunni Arab area south of Baghdad known for its violence, the affidavit said.

The affidavit estimated the rape victim was about 25. But a doctor at the Mahmoudiya hospital gave her age as 14. He refused to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Green is accused of raping the woman and killing her and the three other family members, including a girl estimated to be 5 years old. An official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Green set fire to the rape victim's body in an apparent cover-up attempt.

....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/10/iraq/main1789544.shtml

IF YOU CAN'T RAPE AND KILL 12 YEAR OLDS WHY BOTHER JOINING THE MILITARY...
IT WAS FUN IN VIETNAM AND IT'S STILL FUN IN IRAQ TODAY....

-SEMPER FI

The four accused Marines had completed counterterrorism training with Filipino troops and were on liberty at the time of the alleged rape Nov. 1.

Witnesses say Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith raped the alleged victim while three other Marines and their Filipino driver cheered or did nothing to stop the rape.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/03/op/FP601030310.html

A Japanese court has sentenced a US marine to three-and-a-half years in prison for raping a woman on the southern island of Okinawa.
...
A run of crimes committed by US soldiers, including the rape in 1995 of a local schoolgirl by three US servicemen, has led to some calls for the removal or scaling down of the American presence, though other residents welcome the US military's importance to the local economy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3102414.stm

Corporal Scott, then 25, was convicted in the abduction, sodomy, rape and attempted murder of the wife of a fellow marine at the Quantico, Va., marine base. The attack took place between 8 P.M. and 9 P.M. on April 20, 1983 - a time when Corporal Scott said he was elsewhere.

On May 24, Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, made a quickly arranged flight to Iraq to deal with the growing political fallout from a series of criminal investigations into the murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines.

According to an "amended" copy of his speech that appeared on the Marine Corps Times Web site, Hagee stressed what he called the "core values" of Marines in combat. "We do not employ force just for the sake of employing force," Hagee said, in his speech titled "On Marine Virtue."

"We use lethal force only when justified, proportional and, most importantly, lawful...This is the American way of war. We must regulate force and violence, we only damage property that must be damaged, and we protect the non-combatants we find on the battlefield."

It is, of course, difficult to take Gen. Hagee's statements seriously given the widespread destruction wreaked on Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion and occupation more than three years ago. The "American way of war" has produced, to name a just few highlights: the wholesale destruction of cities like Falluja, the deaths of well over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and the creation of Shiite deaths squads.

This is much more in line with the definition of Gen. Fred Weyand, one of the architects of the Vietnam War. "The American way of war," Weyand said, "is particularly violent, deadly and dreadful. We believe in using 'things'--artillery, bombs, massive firepower."

* * *

GIVEN THE level of misery and suffering brought to Iraq by the U.S. military, homilies by a commanding Marine general about "respecting human life" and "regulating force and violence" may seems like a macabre stand-up comedy routine.

Yet there is something deeper going on. "The emerging details of the killings [in Haditha] have raised fears," according to the New York Times, "that the incident could be the gravest case involving misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq."

Now, military investigations are clearly revealing the tip of the iceberg of the extent of war crimes committed by the U.S. forces--especially the Marine Corps--in Iraq.

The most important of these investigations so far has focused on the massacre of two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in the small city of Haditha, west of Baghdad--an atrocity reported in Time magazine in March. The Marines involved in the massacre at Haditha could face capital murder charges under the Uniform Conduct of Military Justice.

A second investigation has opened up into whether the Marines' superior officers engaged in a cover-up by filing false reports claiming that the civilians died in crossfire or were killed by a makeshift bomb.

The circumstances of the Haditha massacre and the cover-up that followed may remind many of the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. How the Army handled the case after it became public tells us much about how the Pentagon officialdom deals with war crimes.

In March 1968, members of Charlie Company of the Americal Division entered the village of My Lai and murdered more than 400 elderly men, women and children, including babies, over a period of four hours.

Among the dozens involved in the killings, only one man, Lt. William Calley, was eventually found guilty and sentenced to life at hard labor.

Calley was found to be personally responsible for the murder of 20 people. However, President Nixon ordered him released from the stockade after his guilty verdict. Calley's sentence was reduced to 10 years by the Secretary of the Army, and he was released from custody (most of the time spent in his apartment on base at Fort Benning) after three years.

The record during the current Iraq war is worse in many ways. Take the case of Army Capt. Rogelio Maynulet, who was found guilty of the "mercy killing" of an Iraqi civilian. "He was sentenced with dismissal from the United States Army...there will be no confinement time," a military spokesperson said.

In May 2004, when U.S. troops were pursuing suspected militiamen supporting Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr near the Iraqi city of Najaf, Maynulet fired on a car, wounding the driver and a passenger. Maynulet said he then shot the driver, a local garbage collector, dead. His reason? "He was in a state I didn't think was dignified," Maynulet said. "I had to put him out of his misery."

On January 21, 2006, Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, a U.S. Army interrogator, was convicted of causing the death of Iraqi Major Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush during a questioning in November 2003. Welshofer killed him by putting a sleeping bag over his head, sitting on his chest and covering his mouth.

A court-martial jury decided that Welshofer was not guilty of murder but negligent homicide. He faces a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment.

* * *

DESPITE HAGEE and other commanders' claim that these actions are an aberration from the "training" that Marines and Army troops receive, these atrocities are directly attributable to a war for conquest--and the racism that flows from it.

It has long been a recognized military strategy that the most effective way to get soldiers of a conquering army to kill their opponents is to dehumanize those opponents. Racism is the most effective tool to accomplish that.

One Vietnam War veteran said that during basic training, "The only thing they told us about the Viet Cong was they were gooks. They were to be killed. Nobody sits around and gives you their historical and cultural background. They're the enemy. Kill, kill, kill. That's what we got in practice. Kill, kill, kill."

William Calley's initial psychiatric report revealed that he did not feel he was killing human beings at My Lai, but "rather that they were animals with whom one could not speak or reason," an Army psychiatrist wrote.

Racism against Arabs and Muslims pervades the U.S. military today, despite the hot air about "cultural sensitivity" training for soldier heading to Iraq. "Raghead," "camel jockeys" and "sand niggers" are just a few of the racist hate spewed at the people of Iraq by American soldiers.

The Marines, with their cult-like worship of death and destruction, always add an extra dose of fanaticism to any situation.

A short time ago, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq, made this clear. "Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know," Mattis said. "It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling."

In the 1930s, retired Marine Gen. Smedley Butler described his activities as a soldier invading one country after another throughout Latin America as being a "high-class muscleman for Wall Street." Despite what Gen. Hagee may claim, such musclemen are not known for their virtues.

Joe Allen is the son and nephew of Marines--his uncle, a veteran of the Vietnam War, died from cancer as a result of his exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange. He can be reached at: joseph.allen4 [at] att.net

If you want to understand why the war is going so badly in Iraq, it may help to examine the recent reaction to "Hadji Girl," the videotaped song about killing Iraqis by U.S. Marine Corporal Joshua Belile. The song became controversial when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) discovered it on the internet and objected to its lyrics. "Hadji Girl" tells the story of a soldier "out in the sands of Iraq / And we were under attack":

Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
And I knew it was love at first sight.

And she said...
Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

Hadji girl I can't understand what you're saying.

The girl says that she "wanted me to meet her family / But I, well, I couldn't figure out how to say no. / Cause I don't speak Arabic." They visit her home, a "side shanty" down "an old dirt trail," and as soon as they arrive,

Her brother and her father shouted...
Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

They pulled out their AKs so I could see

... So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me.

As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally

Then I hid behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M-16
And I blew those little fuckers to eternity.

And I said...
Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They should have known they were fucking with a Marine.

The song is gruesome, to be sure, and CAIR complained that it celebrated the killing of Iraqi civilians. The video shows Belile performing the song before a laughing, applauding audience of fellow soldiers at their base in Iraq. Recognizing that the song could only bring bad publicity, U.S. military officials promptly issued a statement saying that it was "clearly inappropriate and contrary to the high standards expected of all Marines." Belile also apologized, saying the song was intended as "a joke" and that he didn't intend to offend anyone. Pro-war pundits, however, actually rallied to the song's defense. The conservative Little Green Footballs weblog thought news reports about the video controversy were the "mainstream media disgrace of the month." There's nothing wrong with the song, the Footballs said, because it doesn't actually describe a soldier killing civilians: "the people who kill the 'little sister' in this darkly humorous song are -- not the Marines -- but her father and brother, as they attempt to perpetrate an ambush." Some of the comments on LGF even called it "a wonderful song," and attacked the "nutless Pentagon star-chasing bastards" for their "capitulation." Here are some of the other comments about the song, from Little Green Footballs and elsewhere:

* "Damn it, we are in a fucking war! Nobody whined about 'insensitivity' to the fucking Japs and Jerries."

* "I expect more from the Pentagon. The State Dept & the CIA are just a bunch of cucumber sandwich eating fools. The Pentagon USED to be about waging war on our enemies. Now they just want to kiss up to them."

* "I'm Proud of my fellow Marines in that video. That is EXACTLY the espirit de corps needed, the HIGH MORALE needed in the middle of a combat zone where those self-same jihadists are trying to kill those Marines every single day.

* "Insensitive? Marines insensitive? God I hope so. We need them to kick ass and follow orders but we don't need them to be particularly sensitive. A sensitive Marine Corps will be the death of this country."

* "One of the things CAIR didn't like was the phrase 'Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad, Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah' which makes fun of the Arab language. To hell with CAIR and to hell with the Arab language. ... And the Islamist pigs can keep going to hell."

As these comments illustrate, defense for the song quickly turns into traditional conservative anger at what they see as censorious "political correctness." They have a right, they insist, to be insensitive and hostile to Arabs and Muslims. I would argue, in fact, that this cultural xenophobia is the main theme of the song and that the violence in it is a secondary byproduct.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/38084/

This article was written mere weeks before the Haditha "massacre." Amazing what a little bit of context can do.


Under US noses, brutal insurgents rule Sunni citadel


Guardian gains rare access to Iraqi town and finds it fully in control of 'mujahideen'

Omer Mahdi in Haditha and Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Monday August 22, 2005
The Guardian


The executions are carried out at dawn on Haqlania bridge, the entrance to Haditha. A small crowd usually turns up to watch even though the killings are filmed and made available on DVD in the market the same afternoon.
One of last week's victims was a young man in a black tracksuit. Like the others he was left on his belly by the blue iron railings at the bridge's southern end. His severed head rested on his back, facing Baghdad. Children cheered when they heard that the next day's spectacle would be a double bill: two decapitations. A man named Watban and his brother had been found guilty of spying.

With so many alleged American agents dying here Haqlania bridge was renamed Agents' bridge. Then a local wag dubbed it Agents' fridge, evoking a mortuary, and that name has stuck.

A three-day visit by a reporter working for the Guardian last week established what neither the Iraqi government nor the US military has admitted: Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel.

That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed. They are the sole authority, running the town's security, administration and communications.

A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to.

Haditha exposes the limitations of the Iraqi state and US power on the day when the political process is supposed to make a great leap - a draft constitution finalised and approved by midnight tonight.

For politicians and diplomats in Baghdad's fortified green zone the constitution is a means to stabilise Iraq and woo Sunni Arabs away from the rebellion. For Haditha, 140 miles north-west of the capital, whether a draft is agreed is irrelevant. Residents already have a set of laws and rules promulgated by insurgents.

Within minutes of driving into town the Guardian was stopped by a group of men and informed about rule number one: announce yourself. The mujahideen, as they are known locally, must know who comes and goes.

The Guardian reporter did not say he worked for a British newspaper. For their own protection interviewees cannot be named.

There is no fighting here because there is no one to challenge the Islamists. The police station and municipal offices were destroyed last year and US marines make only fleeting visits every few months.

Two groups share power. Ansar al-Sunna is a largely homegrown organisation, though its leader in Haditha is said to be foreign. Al-Qaida in Iraq, known locally by its old name Tawhid al-Jihad, is led by the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There was a rumour that Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted militant after Osama bin Laden, visited early last week. True or not, residents wanted to believe they had hosted such a celebrity.

A year ago Haditha was just another sleepy town in western Anbar province, deep in the Sunni triangle and suspicious of the Shia-led government in Baghdad but no insurgent hotbed.

Then, say residents, arrived mostly Shia police with heavyhanded behaviour. "That's how it began," said one man. Attacks against the police escalated until they fled, creating a vacuum filled by insurgents.

Alcohol and music deemed unIslamic were banned, women were told to wear headscarves and relations between the sexes were closely monitored. The mobile phone network was shut down but insurgents retained their walkie-talkies and satellite phones. Right-hand lanes are reserved for their vehicles.

From attacks on US and Iraqi forces it is clear that other Anbar towns, such as Qaim, Rawa, Anna and Ramadi, are to varying degrees under the sway of rebels.

In Haditha hospital staff and teachers are allowed to collect government salaries in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, but other civil servants have had to quit.

Last year the US trumpeted its rehabilitation of a nearby power plant: "The incredible progress at Haditha is just one example of the huge strides made by the US army corps of engineers."

Now insurgents earn praise from residents for allegedly pressuring managers to supply electricity almost 24 hours a day, a luxury denied the rest of Iraq.

The court caters solely for divorces and marriages. Alleged criminals are punished in the market. The Guardian witnessed a headmaster accused of adultery whipped 190 times with cables. Children laughed as he sobbed and his robe turned crimson.

Two men who robbed a foreign exchange shop were splayed on the ground. Masked men stood on their hands while others broke their arms with rocks. The shopkeeper offered the insurgents a reward but they declined.

DVDs of beheadings on the bridge are distributed free in the souk. Children prefer them to cartoons. "They should not watch such things," said one grandfather, but parents appeared not to object.

One DVD features a young, blond muscular man who had been disembowelled. He was said to have been a member of a six-strong US sniper team ambushed and killed on August 1. Residents said he had been paraded in town before being executed.

The US military denied that, saying six bodies were recovered and that all appeared to have died in combat. Shortly after the ambush three landmines killed 14 marines in a convoy which ventured from their base outside the town.

Twice in recent months marines backed by aircraft and armour swept into Haditha to flush out the rebels. In a pattern repeated across Anbar there were skirmishes, a few suspects killed or detained, and success was declared.

In reality, said residents, the insurgents withdrew for a few days and returned when the Americans left. They have learned from last November's battle in Falluja, when hundreds died fighting the marines and still lost the city.

Now their strategy appears to be to wait out the Americans, calculating they will leave within a few years, and then escalate what some consider the real war against a government led by Shias, a rival sect which Sunni extremists consider apostasy.

The US military declined to respond to questions detailing the extent of insurgent control in the town.

There was evidence of growing cooperation between rebels. A group in Falluja, where the resistance is said to be regrouping, wrote to Haditha requesting background checks on two volunteers from the town.

One local man in his 40s told the Guardian he wanted to be a suicide bomber to atone for sins and secure a place in heaven. "But the mujahideen will not let me. They said I had eight children and it was my duty to look after them."

Tribal elders said they feared but respected insurgents for keeping order and not turning the town into a battleground.

They appear to have been radicalised, and condemned Sunni groups, such as the Iraqi Islamic party and the Muslim Scholars' Association, for engaging in the political process.

The constitution talks, the referendum due in October, the election due in December: all are deemed collaboration punishable by death. The task now is to bleed the Americans and destabilise the government. Some call that nihilism. Haditha calls it the future.

· Omer Mahdi was in Haditha for a Guardian Films project before security precautions forced it to be suspended.

I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO LET ALL THE INSURGENT GOUPS SET UP A RECRUITING STATION IN DOWNTOWN BERKLEY AND COMPETE WITH THE MARINES.

IT SHOULD DO TWO THINGS: ONE, IT SHOULD SUCK UP ALL THE ANTI-MARINE LIBERALS AND TWO, SERVICE AS AN INSURGENT WOULD GIVE ALL THE SNOTNOSE WIMPS A TASTE OF THE REAL WORLD.

PUT YOUR BODY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!!

I am so sorry that the people that feel the Marine Corps is the threat are again filled with mis information. I support their right to protest and do so everyday since I was a yougg man. I spent 8 years in the Marines as a sergeant and now serve my country as a police officer in Texas. I only ask that if you protest about the war check your facts before you attack those fine young men and women that want to support this country by joining the military. I remember when I first wnet in the military in the early 80's and had people spitting at me and other Marines at a baseball game in San Diego and calling us Baby killers and we were not even at war at the time. This could have shaped my outlook on people, but it only strenghtened my desire to serve my country to be able to have free expression and voice my opinoin. I do not always agree with everthing that is done, but I still enjoy the freedom's that we have oin this country. So remember that person you are protesting may some day give his or her life so that you can continue to protest. Sgt of Marines 80-87