Washblog || "They kept Iraqi brains in a fridge for trophies."

"They kept Iraqi brains in a fridge for trophies."

By Pen
Wed Jan 31, 2007 at 07:02:08 PM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Military

That's what former Navy hospital corpsman Chanan Suarez-Diaz testified to at the Citizens' Hearing On The Legality Of U.S. Actions In Iraq: The Case of Lt. Ehren Watada, January 21st, 2007 at Evergreen State College in Tacoma Washington. Suarez-Diaz was stationed with 2nd Battalion 5th Marines, the most decorated battalion in the marine corps. He was attached to weapons company. He was referring to a platoon of his company, whiskey two platoon.

There was this platoon, Whiskey Two, which was very notorious in the company. They lost two of their marines from IEDs. This platoon went crazy. They lost two of their buddies and they wanted revenge. And there's one thing you need to understand in the military now: there is a lot of ingrained racism now towards arabs and they indoctrinate that while you're going in. While you're going through bootcamp, through whatever training that you're doing. You are to refer to Arabs, whatever nationality, you're to refer to them as "haji". And this platoon, they used to call themselves the MM"s, Mauers(sp?) Murderers after their Lt. he was 25 he authorized them to basically unleash hell whenever because when you're in war you can justify anything especially if you have your friends there and everyone complies.

Nice guys those "murderers". Great leader they got there. Unleash Hell. Whenever. That's all, just whenever.

I remember doing a nightsweep and when I got back on the base at Hurricane Point we got back really late and the guys on this platoon were bragging how they shot up innocent people and they bragged about it, how they just shot up, that night, innocent people and it was kinda like a joke. They were saying 'Look at that guy, I shot him in the stomach and he was running.'
This platoon used to have brain matter from people they had killed from .50 Cals. They used to grab brain matter and bring it on the base and put it into the refrigerator. They literally went crazy. I know this isn't an isolated incident, this happens everyday in Iraq. The news doesn't catch it. No one's going to confess to these things unless they get caught.
The Rules of Engagement got so bad in Iraq that if you did get engaged you just opened up on the city. The day I got wounded we went, in reaction to whiskey two platoon, they were in the marketplace, the souk, and they had one or two pop offs from an AK and they just completely opened up on the whole market. And I remember driving through in the humvees checking out the area and I remember seeing bodies on the sidewalks, broken glass and blood everywhere. At that, at...(he is trying to control his voice)...it's, it's difficult when you see things like that.

Families trying to shop gunned down in cold blood. Imagine if China invaded the U.S. Wouldn't you fight against them? Imagine Chinese troops opening fire on your family while they were shopping at the mall. wouldn't you join the insurgents?

Imagine if they kept your kids brains in a fridge for a "trophy".

Would you EVER stop trying to kill them? Even if they left? Wouldn't you rightfully cry out for justice? I'd try to sneak into China just to get revenge on the motherfuckers. Wouldn't you?

Chanan Suarez-Dias testified to further injustices witnessed in Iraq.

I saw this really beautiful Iraqi family. They were caught up in an engagement. The Mujihadeen attacked a convoy. There's Iraqi's trying to live a normal life, because they can't over there, just walking down the street and a marine just completely mowed down one family, a complete family. All of them. And there was another family next to them. This 13 year old girl was shot in the stomach and her mother was shot two times in the leg. This was from .50 Cal. I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a really long, it's a big bullet and the exit wound was huge.
That was an everyday thing over there in Iraq.

I wanted to post this last week. I just couldn't. The whole thought of this story just made me freeze up inside. I couldn't write for a week. I knew I had to pass on his story. I just didn't want to.

I want to wrap this up with some smartass, snide comment, but I just can't. I'm sickened by my countrymen. I'm sickened that any politician can argue with a straight face that we shouldn't pull out of Iraq today.

We need to leave Iraq YESTERDAY.

< Feingold's Iraq Redeployment Act: What do you think? | New study on payday loan stores with interactive map >

"They kept Iraqi brains in a fridge for trophies." | 2 comments (2 topical)

This story was recommended on DailyKos yesterday

HERE and it deserved the attention.

I'm reminded of stories of tragedies and atrocities that I heard from my Vietnam vet friend decdes ago, but I won't repeat those, because then you all would have to think about them too.

But writing or even commenting on such a story is risky, as I'm sure Pen understands. We don't want to cause more pain to military families, for one thing.

At least one Kos poster demanded the story be removed from the Recomended list, and several questioned Pen's motives in posting it. Was it meant to provoke a "Hate the Troops" thread that right-wingers could point to in order to smear Daily Kos? Is Pen a right-wing troll? Were the sources reliable or fictional? Is Pen a Spit-on-the Troops kinda guy?

It's hard to wrap our heads around such anecdotes because they conflict with "American Myths" that most people learned as impressionable children, and they still resonate, even if they decided otherwise during the Vietnam years:

Americans are the Good Guys and the Strong Guys, like in World War Two when we saved the world for Democracy and triumphed over fascism.
A U.S. servicemember in uniform symbolizes patriotism and national pride.
Our fighting troops are brave and heroic.
Troops are fighting and their families are sacrificing to defend our freedoms.
The troops are vulnerable, idealistic "kids" and "our children".
Criticizing the troops means you hate America.

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These myths conflict uncomfortably with other facts, such as:

The military is now accepting recruits from the bottom third of the aptitude test.
The military is accepting recruits with a history of petty crime or membership in hate groups.
9/11 brought out violent racist and vengeful motivations in many people who then enlisted.
Dehumanizing the "enemy" occurs in all wars.
Military training (or "indocrination" if you prefer) brings out the worst in some people.
Being pawns in a senseless mission and immersed in senseless violence brings out the worst in some people.
Being forced to return to combat duty repeatedly brings out the worst in almost anyone.
Some active duty troops are mentally unstable because of constant stress and PTSD.
Some troops are given permission by their commanders to kill anyone in sight who might be a threat.
Even a normal person will sometimes participate in senseless violence and cruelty if other, more aggressive members of his group are doing it and encouraging it.

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by dinazina on Sat Feb 03, 2007 at 10:13:26 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

WTF? by Real Marine, 04/13/2007 05:48:52 PM PST (none / 0)

"They kept Iraqi brains in a fridge for trophies." | 2 comments (2 topical)