Dahr Jamail: I said it first!

This picture is of Dahr Jamail (center of the picture in black glasses and dark hair), eminent journalist for Truthout.org. He seems to be leading some IVAW protesters in their march on the National Archives in March, 2008, doesn’t he? Well, this photo probably represents that truth better than any Jamail himself could pen.

Jamail has made it his life’s work to besmirch the reputation of the American soldier. We’ve compiled a fairly large number of posts about Jamail, a search on his name will demonstrate how he’s attached himself to James Branum, the IVAW and Under the Hood Cafe. Apparently, he took volumes of notes during the Winter Soldier hearing in March 2008, because he drags them out at every opportunity and repeats quotes from them like a trained bird.

Today’s missive from Jamail in Truthout is in regards to the WikiLeaks video. Jamail says it’s all true, and he’s been trying to tell us that American troops are bloodthirsty monsters for years now.

As disturbing as the video is, this type of behavior by US soldiers in Iraq is not uncommon.

Truthout has spoken with several soldiers who shared equally horrific stories of the slaughtering of innocent Iraqis by US occupation forces.

Just by the virtue of Jamail moving his lips, we know now that this story is true. By the way Jamail, it hasn’t been confirmed by the military. AP claims an unnamed source verified it – that’s hardly an admission by the Pentagon. Ritard.

Jamail continues with the same old stories he loves to repeat – jason Washburn who kills an old woman carrying her groceries home with a Mark 19 (I guess because it’s the only anti-personnel weapon that an infantry squad carries), Hart Viges’ horrifying tale of how he was told to shoot at all taxis (not that he did it or heard of anyone doing – just that he was told to do it), Vincent Emmanuel and “emptying magazines of bullets into the city without identifying targets” – that sounds realistic. Do they all think that American troops are running around the warzones with no leadership? Obviously.

Jamail also includes quotes from Kelly Dougherty, forer IVAW ED. Her tale of atrocity was about some KBR employees who fired beanbags at Iraqis who were trying to steal gasoline from an overturned US tanker. Really? Beanbags? In a war zone? How atrocious!

Here’s another good one;

Brian Casler, a corporal in the Marines, spoke of witnessing the prevalent dehumanizing outlook soldiers took toward Iraqis during the invasion of Iraq.

“… on these convoys, I saw Marines defecate into MRE bags or urinate in bottles and throw them at children on the side of the road,” he stated.

Do you realize how hard it is to crap in an MRE bag all by yourself? Just think about it.

Scott Ewing, who served in Iraq from 2005-2006, admitted on one panel that units intentionally gave candy to Iraqi children for reasons other than “winning hearts and minds.

“There was also another motive,” Ewing said. “If the kids were around our vehicles, the bad guys wouldn’t attack. We used the kids as human shields.”

Really? al Qaeda wouldn’t risk hurting children? Since when?

Aside from Jason Hurd ALMOST shooting a woman, he’s also traumatized by the memories of buildings being shot in cold blood;

Jason Hurd served in central Baghdad from November 2004 until November 2005. He told of how, after his unit took “stray rounds” from a nearby firefight, a machine gunner responded by firing over 200 rounds into a nearby building.

“We fired indiscriminately at this building,” he said. “Things like that happened every day in Iraq. We reacted out of fear for our lives, and we reacted with total destruction.”

I guess Hurd nor Jamail are familiar with the term “suppressive fire”. They seemed most upset that US trops returned fire when attacked.

Jamail adds the testimony of his own interpreter;

“Everyone was [in the mosque] for Friday prayers, when five Humvees and several trucks carrying [US soldiers and] Iraqi National Guards entered,” Abu Talat told Truthout on the phone from within the mosque while the raid was in progress. “Everyone starting yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is the greatest) because they were frightened. Then the soldiers started shooting the people praying!”

“They have just shot and killed at least four of the people praying,” he said in a panicked voice, “At least 10 other people are wounded now. We are on our bellies and in a very bad situation.”

Iraqi Red Crescent later confirmed to Truthout that at least four people were killed, and nine wounded. Truthout later witnessed pieces of brain splattered on one of the walls inside the mosque while large blood stains covered carpets at several places.

See? Americans just pull up in their Hummers and start spraying a group of worshipers in a mosque. I’m sure some of you have seen this during your tours. It was probably like a game to you, right? Funny thing is; this interpreter was supposedly telling Jamail about this while it was occurring from inside the mosque. Four dead and nine wounded, but Jamail’s interpreter remains unscathed while he calmly describes the scene to Jamail over the phone. Odd.

Yes, Jamail hates American troops and maintains an archive of dubious quotes from IVAW that perpetuate his caricature of the kid next door who answers his country’s call. And like a parasite, drags those quotes out when an opportunity to smear the troops presents itself.

Thanks to TSO for the link.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers, Usual Suspects, Winter Soldier II Live blogging