WikiLeaks Video - Vets Letter of Reconciliation & Responsibility

[autorank]

From Information Clearinghouse

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

The soldiers are asking Americans to co-sign the letter on this website.

Press Release

Contact:
Laura Taylor: 202-510-3711
[e-mail]

VETERANS OF "WIKILEAKS" INCIDENT ANNOUNCE
"LETTER OF RECONCILIATION" TO IRAQIS INJURED IN ATTACK



Two former soldiers from the Army unit responsible for the Wikileaks "Collateral Murder" incident have written an open-letter of "Reconciliation and Responsibility" to those injured in the July 2007 attack, in which U.S. forces wounded two children and killed over a dozen people, including the father of those children and two Reuters employees.

Ethan Mccord and Josh Stieber deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16 in 2007. Ethan was on the ground at the scene of the shooting, and is seen on the video rushing one of the injured children to a U.S. Vehicle; "When I saw those kids, all I could picture was my kids back home". Ethan applied for mental health support following this incident and was denied by his commanding officer.

Josh Stieber was not at the scene of the shooting but says similar incidents happened throughout his 14-month tour; "The acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war."
 Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground.

Ethan and Josh claim that though their unit was following the Rules of Engagement that day, they are taking responsibility for their role in the incident and initiating a dialogue around it; "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."

The letter, which they hope to get to the family who lost their father and whose children were injured in the attack, states that they "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."

Ethan and Josh are available for interviews. The letter can be seen at: www.lettertoiraq.com


BACKGROUND ON JOSH STIEBER:
Branch of service: United States Army (USA)

Unit: 1st ID

Rank: Spc.

Home: Laytonsville, Maryland
Served in: Baghdad (Rustamiyah) 07-08 Fort Riley, KS 06-07, 08-09

BACKGROUND ON ETHAN MCCORD:
Branch of service: United States Army (USA)

Unit: 1st ID

Rank: Spc.

Home: Wichita, Kansas

[stevedeshazer]

1. Wow.

:wow:

[autorank]

2. Yep. Great -

Quoting you know who:

The helicopter crew was called into action, responded, and made a fatal error at the start that was compounded causing the deaths of the Iraqis on the ground. Was this murder? Without doubt, argued one serious analyst. Another, while critical of the mission, had too many unanswered questions to reach that conclusion.

But why is there a focus on the Apache crew? When you lock, load and deploy the world's most powerful military machine, many people die. Civilians die in every war. Several hundred thousand civilians were killed by U.S. and British bombing of German and Japanese cities during World War II. When you hear a president say he's "sending the troops," civilian deaths are part of the deal.

http://agonist.org/wikileaks2">April 15, 2010

[joshcryer]

3. Bravo.

[autorank]

4. Bravo indeed!

[walldude]

5. Oh man.. shitstorm coming..

This is going to get ugly when the wingnuts get ahold of it.

The last thing they will ever do is admit a mistake, or take responsibility for anything America has done. This is not going to sit well with them.

[autorank]

6. They can just deal with it;)

These guys have real courage, period. That's undeniable. What an act of honesty.

Amazing!

[walldude]

14. Yes they do...

And they are going to need the entire left behind them. Because while I'd like to think the right will "just deal with it" they are really not known for that. Obama took a wall of shit for bowing to a foreign leader, these guys are fully admitting that we made some serious mistakes in Iraq. The right is going to want blood.

[EFerrari]

12. And that's why they're chasing after a half term snowbilly who can't say "Nuclear".

:kick:

[walldude]

16. Yeah she'll be easy to decimate in 2012 though...

Fox was bragging today that 18% of Americans relate to the tea party. 18%, WOW that's like nearly, almost, but not quite, half of a majority. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[EFerrari]

18. So, they're lost 6% of the Bush voters?

:rofl:

[truedelphi]

36. Problem for the nutwings is that in assembling the number of

Eighteen percent, maybe one third of those people are fairly decent people who like SOME of Ron Paul's Ideas, and like SOME notions of other aspects of The Tea Bagger Nation (They may oppose national ID cards, for instance.)

They don't necessarily like Sarah Palin. In fact, for those people, a great deal of discontent is brewing over the fact that the M$M is letting Sarah is taking over their organization.

So that leaves the real nut bag cases with ranks of maybe ten to twelve percent of our nation's population.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

13. Let's not talk about it. Maybe it will go away!

[autorank]

17. Amazing letter

It took tremendous courage for the guy serving to do this. Need to keep an eye on this.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

19. We *still* are not fully aware of how much our people in uniform did

to end the Viet Nam War and it's been decades.

Let's support these people in any way we can and not make them wait for it. :hi:

[Me.]

8. K & R

[EFerrari]

9. K&R

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. K&R

[Hissyspit]

15. kick nt

[flyarm]

20. Thanks for posting Autorank..my heart is bleeding and can not stop..

for the crimes committed by those in power in my nation..and who still are keeping the powder dry..while having paid posters posting propganda..the same shit the bush bots posted for years ..and now the fuckers are here on Du posting crap about how great it is this administration is continuing the war and accelerating it in Afghanistan..when do we stop this shit? When do we the people stand up and say ..no fucking more..no more deaths..no more crimes in our names?????

I sat here this morning and saw the memoriam for our soldiers on one of the Sunday's show..

(2) 21 year olds dead

(2) 23 year olds dead

(1) 31 year old dead..

but not a thing about how many our nation killed of Afghan people

Not a thing about how many Iraqi's killed..

and then I see people here at Du make excuses for this ..

I know I am a democrat.have been for 38 years of my adult life..actually 40 years because I voted as a 18 year old..but i was equated as Sarah Palin this morning here at Du, because I stood up and said the war in Afghan has to be stopped now..as well..as Iraq!

I have no doubt of my values and principles..I just wonder who the fuck these people are and what they are, and who they are paid by .. that continue to make excuses for the war in AFGHAN ..and the acceleration of that war.

Thank you for posting this..I will go sign on..as we all should..

I have said ..not in my name..for 8 years of Bush..now ..I can no longer say that as a democrat is continuing these wars , renditions, an illegally capturing and holding alleged terrorists without charges.

I fought with all my might to keep Bush from starting these wars..and to try to stop them after started....but now it seems I must fight fellow democrats who make excuses for continuing these illegal wars of lies.

Keep posting Autorank..keep being a truthteller..if enough of us are loud enough, and long enough..maybe we can have a Sunday when no young kids names show up as dead at 21 because of these illegal wars!

fly

[autorank]

25. These are our people. We're one people.

If we demonize we're all sunk. Comparing you to SP (can't utter the words) is so desperate and
absurd. It shows how twisted people are who support war. You've been vigilant period and consistent
in the years I've seen you post - always life affirming, always positive. You make my day whenever
you show up.

:patriot:

[flyarm]

28. The last 24 hours of my dad's life..he relived WWII..it was horrible..

being in war never leaves a person..ever..

the last 24 hours of my dads life were hell ..

and I would say the last 5 hours were the worst.

He had such fear in his face and body..he demanded we all get down below the hospital bed..because the enemy was all around us ( he thought, but you could tell he was actually seeing them again..)..there was no talking reason with him..he was back in the war..and it was as real to him as if he was still there.

My dad served in the Seabees..he served in Tinian & Saipan in the Mariana Islands, Guam, Guadacanal, and Okinawa..when he was dying he was back in Guam..he saw a child..and he kept screaming for us to grab the child and save him..

That is how he left this earth..back in war.

Dad built the air fields..he went in before the marines ..and he died at war again.

I despise this war..because I know without a shadow of doubt , that our soldiers today will carry the same nightmares..and they will pass one day ..reliving this horror..no matter how long they live and now matter how good of people they are...it never leaves them..when they have experienced combat or war in theater.

This must stop..this was an illegal war of aggression..this was not for our security..this was not for anything but damn lies..damn filthy murdering lies!

I do not want any family to see what I saw on my dads death bed..and to see how tortured he was in his death.

It is cruel beyond words.

How many more innocent lives must be taken for lies and greed of US corporations?

The Iraqi's did not kill my co-workers on 9/11

There are less than 100 Al Queada in Afghanistan....
the preganant women who were murdered by our special opps and had bullets carved out of their dead bodies..did not kill my co-workers on 9/11..when do we stop the damn murdering????????

Because that is what it is , murder.

How many of those innocent people and our soldiers lives will be destroyed, if they survive, with the nightmares???????

[sabrina 1]

32. I'm sorry someone on this board would even dream

of comparing someone like you who is so right on these wars, to SP. I think you may be right regarding infiltration. I don't remember anyone on a progressive board ever attempting to justify the killing fields that are Iraq and Afghanistan.


I always read your posts, which consistently express the outrage I feel over what is being done in the name of the American people.

Just keep doing it please, and maybe soon when enough people do so, maybe we can extricate our selves from these criminal wars.

[walldude]

21. Fucking trolls must be invading...

I swear when I voted this had 15 recs... We need to get this to the front page.

[flyarm]

23. I just made it +10.........lets watch it.....this is too important to let them keep un-rec'ing.. eom

[autorank]

26. They do it more and more

I'm fine with 'unrec' if a user name is attached. But this "drive by" unrec'ing - no name attached -
is annoying. Leave it to me, I've got a "crew." ;)

[puebloknot]

31. I'm not fine with "unrec" in any circumstances.

I think it's been a big mistake.

Adults (if any) can either make a reasoned response and state their disagreement with a post, or they can just move on.

The "unrec" feature is like giving "the finger" to someone, without being required to substantiate a point of view with reason.

This is supposed to be a *discussion* board, not a popularity contest. Our whole national political discussion has devolved to poll numbers, and I regret seeing that mindset having such sway here!

[sabrina 1]

33. I rec'd it earlier, but

kicking as these two brave soldiers will need a lot of support for doing this.

Those unrecs prove how much positive support they will need. I remember the soldier who exposed the Abu Ghraib photos being forced to move his family when freepers went after them.

As a matter of fact, who else other than a Freeper would unrec this post on a Progressive board?

[Bolo Boffin]

22. The guy that pulled one of the kids out of the van and someone not there

Could they be any less responsible for this at all?

[Mari333]

24. knr.

[formercia]

27. "god and country".

How many more Millions must die for "god and country?"

Is my God really better than your God?

[Usrename]

29. k&r

[puebloknot]

30. K&R to Powers of Ten

"Big oaks from little acorns grow," and this "little" act on the part of these two young men could start a movement -- if there is not so much fear that it will die in its infancy.

One way or another, America is going to get its comeuppance, and it's better that our national redemption come from within, rather than having to be compelled from without -- as happened to Germany during the Nuremberg trials.

We point to issues in the Middle East, having to do with dishonoring and stoning women, and a whole litany of behaviors that are considered by the modern world to be barbaric. So is our own barbarism the answer?

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." (Gandhi, I think.)

[puebloknot]

34. "The Empathic Civilization" by Jeremy Rifkin

I heard Jeremy Rifkin speaking about his new book on C-SPAN about a week ago, and just bought it.

On the first page, there is a recalling of the famous incident during WWI (the war to end all wars) in which, on Christmas Eve, German soldiers began singing Christmas songs, and then Allied troops began singing their own versions, and 'ere long they crossed the terrible space between them in which, the day before, they had been killing each other. They exchanged cigarettes and chocolate, showed pictures of their loved ones, reverted to their common humanity for a short time.

And then the high command in each instance put a stop to such heresy.

Rifkin's books speaks in large part (although I've just started it, and it's *long*) about shared resources, energy solutions, better ways of living on the Earth. At the core of it all is the kind of empathy which appears to have driven these two young men to write and publish this call for reconciliation.

My father was a WWII soldier. I have had my lifetime to ponder the "Good War" he was involved in (and I believe it was a war with a major difference from all the ones that have followed). I lived in Korea just before the war broke out there, and later in Post-War Germany, and saw from an early age that it takes a lot of effort to find the evil in the groups of people we saw as enemies in our wars. As ever, it is the power interests who send the common man (and now woman) to war, and whatever "benefit" there might be does not accrue to those who fight the battles. Their reward is a lifetime of quiet suffering and self-questioning.

[Crabby Appleton]

35. knr

[Subdivisions]

37. Thanks for posting this, Mike. I posted it a few days ago and it sunk

straight into oblivion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8168639