Two former soldiers from "Collateral Murder" video apologize in open letter. - Polidicks

[url]http://lettertoiraq.com/[/url] [quote=Open Letter]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[/quote] Awfully nice of them.

We need more people like that. They actually feel bad for what they've done.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;21450214]We need more people like that. They actually feel bad for what they've done.[/QUOTE] As long as it's former soldiers, or such, fine with me. But for soldiers actually in the field? No time for feelings there.

Why hasn't the Army done this yet?

[QUOTE=Hoboharry;21450433]As long as it's former soldiers, or such, fine with me. But for soldiers actually in the field? No time for feelings there.[/QUOTE] And thats why things like this happen.

[QUOTE=Hoboharry;21450433]As long as it's former soldiers, or such, fine with me. But for soldiers actually in the field? No time for feelings there.[/QUOTE] Because Soldiers aren't allowed to have Humanity, right? They must be seen as mindless killing drones or they won't get the job done... /sarcasm

Watch this apology fall on deaf ears.

And it starts again.. Good for them apologizing, but it really doesn't mean anything tbh. What has done has been done, no reversing or making amends for that.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;21450596]Because Soldiers aren't allowed to have Humanity, right? They must be seen as mindless killing drones or they won't get the job done... /sarcasm[/QUOTE] Thinking about all the lives you've taken will probably make you insane. And doing that while being bombarded by the enemy will probably get you killed.

[QUOTE=MR-X;21450641]Good for them apologizing, but it really doesn't mean anything tbh. What has done has been done, no reversing or making amends for that.[/QUOTE] Pretty much this.

Good on them for apologizing.

[QUOTE=MR-X;21450641]And it starts again.. Good for them apologizing, but it really doesn't mean anything tbh. What has done has been done, no reversing or making amends for that.[/QUOTE] IMHO It's never too late to apologize, no matter what you do.

sounds like they actually understand what happened.. wow

Just so you know guys; This is not the Gunship crew, these are from the soldiers who arrived on the ground afterwards to clean up the mess. We need more people like these.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;21450214]We need more people like that. They actually feel bad for what they've done.[/QUOTE] For doing their jobs. Sure, the van didn't need to get destroyed, but it sure looked like they were holding weapons.

[QUOTE=Bllasae;21452140]For doing their jobs. Sure, the van didn't need to get destroyed, but it sure looked like they were holding weapons.[/QUOTE] Even cats and dogs pack AKs over there.

[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;21451376]IMHO It's never too late to apologize, no matter what you do.[/QUOTE] Of course it isn't. But rarely does an apology change things under the circumstance.

At first I was like "How can you call those weapons?", but in all honesty some of them were carrying what looked like assault rifles. Hell, the guy peeking around the corner shortly before they opened fire looked like he was trying to shoot at them, although it's hard to say if he had an RPG. Unfortunate...but its a war zone, this kinda shit will happen.

[QUOTE=MR-X;21450641]And it starts again.. Good for them apologizing, but it really doesn't mean anything tbh. What has done has been done, no reversing or making amends for that.[/QUOTE] They weren't the ones who did it, they were apologizing on behalf of the company and of the US army, these guys had nothing to do with the killings.

Apologies always come AFTER the public turns against you.

Yet again, they were not the killers in the video.

God damn doom, we know that. People are just speaking in general.

[QUOTE=MR-X;21452855]God damn doom, we know that. People are just speaking in general.[/QUOTE] This is Facepunch, I expect the worst here.

Where they exactly in the video.

they were the in the group that showed up after the whole thing was over. [editline]02:41PM[/editline] when they found the children.

[QUOTE=MR-X;21450641]And it starts again.. Good for them apologizing, but it really doesn't mean anything tbh. What has done has been done, no reversing or making amends for that.[/QUOTE] Yeah, but I guess it shows some sort of sorrow for their actions I suppose it might be some kind of comfort for the friends and families of the victims that the people who killed them felt sorry for what they done.

The pilots of the fucking plane/helicopter that caused the whole thing should be apologising, not those soldiers.

[QUOTE=Billiam;21452224]Of course it isn't. But rarely does an apology change things under the circumstance.[/QUOTE] 100% agree. [QUOTE=B-hazard;21453519]The pilots of the fucking plane/helicopter that caused the whole thing should be apologising, not those soldiers.[/QUOTE] For a moment, I thought they were the chopper pilots... I'ma rate myself [I]Bad Reading[/I] :/

Guys who provided intel should also write an apology and feel really bad. They weren't just randomly patrolling area, they knew thats something fishy is happening there. Sad thing is, no matter how much they want to fix everything, horrible image of US army will stay as it is now.

Fuck those people who said "It's just a warzone and people die". Ugh.