It's Morning in Iraq!
Today's check-in to the aftermath of our latest successful war: At a hearing in Canada to decide whether or not to accept a U.S. Army deserter, Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, for asylum, another soldier explained what it was like over there:
A former U.S. Marine staff sergeant testified at a hearing Tuesday that his unit killed at least 30 unarmed civilians in Iraq during the war in 2003 and that Marines routinely shot wounded Iraqis and killed them.
Jimmy Massey, a 12-year veteran, said he left Iraq in May 2003 after a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he and his men shot and killed four Iraqis staging a demonstration and a man with his hands up trying to surrender, as well as women and children at roadblocks. Massey said he had complained to his superiors about the "killing of innocent civilians," but that nothing was done.
A Marine Corps spokesman says it ain't so.
Also, reports the U.K. Guardian:
US military officials witnessed the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at a second Baghdad prison at the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal and were threatened and harassed when they attempted to report the abuse, official memos released by the Pentagon have shown.
The documents, which were obtained by human rights organisations, contradict the Pentagon's claims that the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib was isolated to the jail and involved a handful of lowly reservists.
[Both links courtesy Rational Review.]
[UPDATE: Reason Contributing Editor Charles Oliver calls my attention to this thread in which, apparently, (in cyberspace no one knows you are a grunt) some of his former Marine colleagues call Massey a lying sack of whatever.]
[ANOTHER UPDATE: Reason Web Editor Fightin' Tim Cavanaugh informs me that Marines are properly merely known as Marines, not as soldiers, thus making my reference to Massey as "another soldier" inaccurate. This civilian regrets the error.]
