News: US Soldiers Testify About War Crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq

Dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans publicly testified this weekend about crimes they committed during the course of battle, many of which were prompted by the orders or policies laid down by superior officers.

The weekend gathering, called the Winter Soldier Event demonstrated that well-publicized incidents of U.S. brutality, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha, are not isolated incidents perpetrated by "a few bad apples," as many politicians and military leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the organizers said, of "an increasingly bloody occupation."
One testimony:

"Apr. 18, 2006 was the date of my first confirmed kill. He was innocent, I called him the fat man. He was walking back to his house and I killed him in front of his father and friend. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes, so I looked at my friend and said, 'Well, I can't let that happen,' and shot him again. After my first kill I was congratulated." (Full)

The Winter Soldier video.
Warning: this video contains explicit graphic material.


More testimony videos.

Source: The Road Daily. Picture courtesy The Common Dreams News Center