I say that with all reverence, and shame at being an American right now. I’ll find some way after a while to talk myself into some semblance of hope, since it seems that there’s always evil, but this is SICKENING.

The story is from Seymour Hersh, who broke the “Massacre at My Lai” story back in the 70’s , and has written “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib”

Eric’s Tasty Morsels of Thought – Seymour Hersh Brings More Horrific News

Seems there was an American platoon hanging out , and nearby was a granary where several Iraqis seeking work had been hired to guard it against insurgents, who had made some trouble, but relatively little in this area as compared to other places. So this platoon was chilling, and several of the Iraq guards and the American soldiers had made friends.

Hersh: They were a couple weeks together, they knew each other. So orders came down from the generals in Baghdad, we want to clear the village, like in Samarra. And as he told the story, another platoon from his company came and executed all the guards, as his people were screaming, stop. And he said they just shot them one by one. He went nuts, and his soldiers went nuts. And he’s hysterical. He’s totally hysterical. And he went to the captain. He was a lieutenant, he went to the company captain. And the company captain said, “No, you don’t understand. That’s a kill. We got thirty-six insurgents.”

Eric:This depressing shit always happens in war. Why the hell do people keep supporting these atrocious things? Those massacred people sure are enjoying their “democracy” and “freedom” now, aren’t they? Sure is “messy,” isn’t it?

People support it because they’ve allowed their sould to be stolen so that they believe a lie, and a continuous lie, and they curse the bearer of the news and call them liars; refusing to believe.

One week in Iraq; maybe even only a few hours, and people would come around in droves, but they have placed their trust in an instrument of Satan, and being tolod it is of God. God, Forgive themn, they don’t know what they’re doing.

Makes me feel quite in spirit with the way Bruce Cockburn when he wrote and sang:

“If I had a rocket launcher, some son of a bitch would die”. God be with that soldier and his unit that had to witness this.

Hersh said he warned this soldier who relayed this story to do his time and keep quiet, lest he “end up with a bullet in his back”. Wonderful.

This is so tragic. We hear of this story where Americans and Iraqis find one another, just trying to survive, and then the almighty wisdom of the military, in their “blow ’em up and body-count thirst for “success stories” mows down the lives of thirty men who were , after all, on the side of peace and order, guarding against the same insurgents, and were lumped in amongst them. I think of the sickening scenes in the movie Platoon, and the ire that it provoked amongst pro-military folks (and today, the Swift Boat Vets). And here we go again.