Seymour Hersh: U.S. army "violent and murderous"
Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who in 1969 exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, spoke recently to McGill students about atrocities happening in Iraq.
During his hour-and-a-half lecture part of the launch of an interdisciplinary media and communications studies program called Media@McGill Hersh described video footage depicting U.S. atrocities in Iraq, which he had viewed, but not yet published a story about.
He described one video in which American soldiers massacre a group of people playing soccer.
Three U.S. armed vehicles, eight soldiers in each, are driving through a village, passing candy out to kids, he began. Suddenly the first vehicle explodes, and there are soldiers screaming. Sixteen soldiers come out of the other vehicles, and they do what theyre told to do, which is look for running people.
Never mind that the bomb was detonated by remote control, Hersh continued. [The soldiers] open up fire; [the] cameras show it was a soccer game.
About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day, he said.
If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said. McGill Daily
These are serious charges, made by one reporter few will dismiss off hand.
Personally I think our greatest indignation should be levelled at the murderous, violent, political leaders that sent these soldiers into harms way to fight an unnecessary war, a war that was sold on lies and deception by Bush and his cabinet.
A war Stephen Harper was only too keen for Canada to join.