Fw: [wvns] Hundreds of US Marines Flee War
From: World View [mailto:ummyakoub@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 2:12 PM
To: wvns@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [wvns] Hundreds of US Marines Flee War
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US Marine Highlights Civilian Killings in Iraq
Islam Online
December 8, 2004
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/08/article01.shtml
---
photos:
"I was faced with being deployed to Iraq to do what
the infantry does, kill people," said Hinzman.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/08/images/pic01.jpg
Jimmy Massey
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/08/images/pic01b.jpg
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TORONTO, December 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)
– Two US soldiers have applied for political asylum in
Canada in protest at the atrocities committed by the
US army in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping to capitalize
on the country's opposition to US President George W
Bush's foreign policy.
In graphic testimonies to a Canadian tribunal, former
Marine Sergeant Jimmy Massey and fugitive paratrooper
Jeremy Hinzman have argued that they could not
tolerate killing innocent civilians in Iraq and treat
the Iraqis as terrorists any longer, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported Wednesday, December 8.
"The code of silence you take in the Marines is much
like the one in organized crime," Massey told Canada's
Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB).
The IRB was set up to consider the merits of refugee
claims at arms length from the Canadian government.
Canada has declined Bush's request for troops in Iraq
and the majority of its people are opposed to the war.
"30 Plus" Civilians Killed
Massey told IRB that men under his command in the 3rd
battalion, Seventh Marines, killed "30 plus" civilians
within 48 hours while on checkpoint duty in Baghdad.
"I do know that we killed innocent civilians," AFP
quoted Massey as telling the Canadian tribunal. "We
were shooting up people as they got out of their cars
trying to put their hands up."
Massey said that in some incidents, Iraqi civilians
were killed by between 200 and 500 rounds pumped into
four separate cars which each failed to respond to a
single warning shot and respond to hand signals, at a
Baghdad checkpoint.
Searches found no weapons in the vehicles or evidence
that those killed were anything but innocent
civilians, said Massey.
He also said marines killed four unarmed demonstrators
and more Iraqis the next day during another spell of
checkpoint duty in the occupied Iraqi capital.
"I was never clear on who was the enemy and who was
not," said Massey.
"When you don't know who the enemy is, what are you
doing there?" Asked the 21-year-old Marine, later
honorably discharged from his 7th Marine weapons
company.
A study published in October by a respected British
medical weekly showed that over 100,000 civilians --
half of whom women and children -- have lost their
lives [
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2004-10/29/article04.shtml
] since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
"Evil People"
Massey's testimony came to bolster claims by fugitive
paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman that he walked out on the
82nd Airborne Division to avoid being ordered to
commit war crimes in Iraq.
Hinzman has told the IRB that the army was drilling
its soldiers to think of all Arabs and Muslims as
potential terrorists, the Associated Press reported.
"We were being told that it was a new kind of war,
that these were evil people and they had to be dealt
with," Hinzman said.
"We were told that we would be going to Iraq to jack
up some terrorists."
Hinzman fled from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on
January 2 and now lives in Toronto with his 31
year-old wife, Nga Nguyen, and 2 year-old son Liam.
The South Dakota-born soldier is claiming refugee
status based on his contention that he was right to
refuse to fight in a war which he says was illegal and
violated human rights and the Geneva Conventions.
Hinzman first requested conscientious objector status
in 2002 before learning he was to be posted to
Afghanistan, where he eventually made 18 combat
parachute jumps.
The following year, the request was rejected, and late
in 2003 he learned he was to be deployed to Iraq,
prompting his flight to Canada.
"I was faced with being deployed to Iraq to do what
the infantry does, kill people, and I had no
justification for doing so," said Hinzman.
"The military is to fight justified wars," added his
lawyer Jeffrey House, an American who first came to
Canada as a draft dodger during the Vietnam War.
Some 30,000 to 50,000 Americans fled to Canada during
the Vietnam War and were allowed to settle there.
Eight US soldiers have begun legal action [
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/07/article05.shtml
] in an effort to stop the US army extending their
tours of duty in Iraq.
The soldiers, seven of whom have stayed anonymous, are
believed to be the first active-duty personnel to sue
the army.
Since the start of the US occupation of Iraq April 9,
2003, hundreds of US marines have reportedly deserted
army units and fled the country [
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2003-07/27/article07.shtml
] through Kuwait or Turkey under disguise, escaping
unabated resistance operations.
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posted by carol wolman @ 5:24 PM
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