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The Other War: Iraq Veterans Speak Out on Shocking Accounts of Attacks on Iraqi Civilians

Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-07-12 19:33.

By DEMOCRACY NOW!

The Nation magazine has published a startling new expose of fifty American
combat veterans of the Iraq War who give vivid on-the-record accounts of the
US military occupation in Iraq and describe a brutal side of the war rarely
seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts. The
investigation marks the first time so many on-the-record, named eyewitnesses
from within the US military have been assembled in one place to openly
corroborate assertions of indiscriminate killings and other atrocities by
the US military in Iraq. We speak with the article¹s co-author, journalist
Laila Al-Arian, and four Iraq veterans who came forward with their stories
of war.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/12/1335208

* Iraq War Vets Describe "Brutal Techniques" Used by U.S. Military Against
Iraqi Civilians *
Two Iraq war veterans, Sgt. John Bruhns and Spc. Garett Reppenhagen recount
their experience in Iraq, particularly describe the brutal house raids they
conducted on a regular basis in Iraq. Spc. Reppenhagen says, "You could see
the frustration on [the Iraqi's] faces, the anger, the sadness, the worry,
the fear. You know, it was very hard to see the faces of the Iraqi people
when you took their family members away...especially when you know most of
the time you have bad intelligence and you are raiding the house that
usually the people inside are innocent."
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/12/1726251

* If Soldiers Came From Another Country And Did This To My Family, I Would
Be An Insurgent Too -­ War Vet Describes Iraq House Raid *
Staff Sergeant Timothy John Westphal, who served in Iraq for one year,
recalls raiding a sprawling farm on the outskirts of Tikrit in 2004 and the
screams he can still hear of the man he woke up inside. Sgt. Westphal says,
"He was so terrified and so afraid for his family. I thought of my family at
the time and thought 'If I was the patriarch of the family, if soldiers came
from another country and did this to my family, I would be an insurgent
too.'" We also speak with Sgt. Dustin Flatt who describes unarmed civilians
being shot or run over by U.S. military convoys.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/12/1726248

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