Deserters and Liars
At a Canadian refugee hearing for an American deserter, a former Marine is telling outrageous lies reminiscent of John Kerry’s “Winter Soldier” testimony: U.S. killed unarmed Iraqis, war-dodger hearing told.
TORONTO (CP) - A former United States marine told a refugee hearing for an American war dodger Tuesday that trigger-happy U.S. soldiers in Iraq routinely killed unarmed woman and children, and murdered other Iraqis in violation of international law.
In chilling testimony intended to bolster the asylum claim of compatriot Jeremy Hinzman, former staff sergeant Jimmy Massey recounted how nervous soldiers trained to believe that all Iraqis were potential terrorists often opened fire indiscriminately.
“I was never clear on who the enemy was,” Massey, 33, told the hearing.
“If you have no enemy or you do not know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?”
On several occasions, his soldiers pumped hundreds of bullets into cars that failed to stop at U.S. military checkpoints, killing all occupants - who were later found to be unarmed, Massey said.
On another occasion, marines reacted to a stray bullet by killing a small group of unarmed protesters and bystanders, said Massey, who said he suffers from nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I was deeply concerned about the civilian casualties,” he said.
“What they were doing was committing murder.”
UPDATE at 12/8/04 11:57:48 am:
Here’s a long piece on former staff sergeant Jimmy Massey, from (where else?) loony left spewzine Counterpunch: American Teenagers as War Fodder.