Information From Occupied Iraq pulled this article in light of the Jesse Macbeth scandal. This is the “apology” currently on the page:
Explosive Video
US Army Soldier (Jesse Macbeth): “It’s like mass genocide on us, you know. Our country has become terrorist. That’s why people hate us.”Kim Petersen, www.dissidentvoice.orgCorrection: (May 23) The focal point of this article was a video interview of one Jessie Macbeth, who claims to be have been a US Army Ranger that recently finished a tour of duty in occupied Iraq. In the video interview, co-produced by Peacefilms in Vancouver and Pepperspray Productions in Seattle and posted on the Peacefilms website, Mr. Macbeth, who is presented as a spokesperson for Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), makes specific claims about atrocities committed against Iraqis by US forces. Earlier today, IVAW issued the following statement:Iraq Veterans Against the War recently learned of a video interview with Jesse MacBeth that directs viewers to IVAW’s website and phone number. IVAW was not made aware of the creation of this video program and our input on it was never sought by its producers. Jesse MacBeth is not a spokesperson for IVAW and any claims made by MacBeth about his service have not been verified. We are currently investigating these claims and will have a full statement pending its resolution.
Many readers and commentators have raised numerous questions about the veracity of Mr. MacBeth’s claims of service in the US Army, questions that, in my judgment, have thus far not received satisfying answers. In the absence of more credible evidence to substantiate Mr. MacBeth’s claims of having served in Iraq and/or having been enlisted in the US Army, we have decided to remove this article. We also request that other websites/publications that posted the original article do the responsible thing and post this correction.
We sincerely regret any errors of fact that may have been made in giving credence to Mr. MacBeth’s testimony. We will exercise greater diligence and scrutiny in the future if and when similar circumstances arise.
We also wish to emphasize that abundant evidence of atrocities against innocent Iraqis carried out by US forces in the course of America’s illegal invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq — the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, the use of chemical weapons in Fallujah, the killing of journalists, and many other incidents documented by both alternative and mainstream media — already exists, regardless of Mr. MacBeth’s claims, and cannot be swept under the rug if it indeed turns out Mr. MacBeth has provided a false account. American imperialism and the criminal conduct of US leaders — both Democrat and Republican — is exacting a terrible toll on the Iraqi people, the possibilities for peace tomorrow, and the economy here at home. Outside of a parasitic minority of the rich and privileged, we are all losers in this dreadful war.
— Sunil K. Sharma
Dissident Voice Editor and Publisher
Santa Rosa, CA
This is the original article that they don’t want you to see:
May 22, 2006
[Editors’ Note: As of last night, we were able to access the Peace Films website, where the damning video in question was posted, without problem. As we go to press this Monday morning, the website is now inexplicably unavailable, with only the following error message to be found: “Site Temporarily Disabled, This site has been temporarily disabled. If you are the owner of the site, please contact customer care.”]MacBeth, a slim man with a crew cut, served 16 months in Iraq before being wounded and discharged from the military. Now the disillusioned man speaks out for Iraq Veterans Against the War. If the video gets widespread exposure, it is unfathomable that support for a US troop presence in Iraq could be sustained, and surely Iran would fall off the chickenhawks’ table of targets. It is a video that should number the days of the Bush administration.
MacBeth says the message is not getting out and the corporate media is complicit.
An extraordinarily candid video co-produced by Seattle’s Pepperspray Productions and Peacefilms Vancouver should chill the hearts of concerned Americans and peace-loving people everywhere. At one point in the video, we hear the shaken ex-army ranger and Iraq war veteran Jessie MacBeth admit to the Stygian depths of depravity and evil that US service personnel have sunk:
“We were doing the night raids in houses, and uh, we would pull people out and we’d have them all, like ah, on the knees and zip-tied. And, ah, we’d ask the guy questions, the whole family, the, the man-of-the-house questions. And if he didn’t answer the way we liked, you know, we would shoot his youngest kid in the head. And we’d keep going; this was our interrogation. He could be innocent, you know. He could be just an average Joe trying to support his family. And if he didn’t give us a satisfactory answer, we’d start killing off his family until he told us something. If he didn’t know anything, guess he was SOL, you know — which sucked. I didn’t feel anything. I just wanted to do my job.
If some people came, came, came into my, came, came into America, a huge foreign army doing the crap that we did to them, I’d just like them to do the same thing back. Cause people have the right to fight for their families and their country, and especially if we are terror, terrorizing someone’s country; they have the right to fight back. And I don’t blame them. I would do the same thing.
A lot of people from the military that are over there fighting, they don’t want no more war. And all it takes is a few good men, to, to hold the rallying flag for them to rally behind and, and we’ll stop this shit. The thing is that the government is doing so much to not let us be heard. You know, the mainstream media won’t play a lot of stuff; I talk a lot; they don’t play a lot of the stuff that we talk about. They cut it out, and, and only play what the people, what they want people to hear. “
According to Macbeth, there was complete disregard for the Geneva Conventions, which the army brass calls this “political crap.” In the US military, morality is damned. Macbeth, however, out of his great shame found the courage to speak out and confess to his atrocities and the atrocities committed by comrades in Iraq.
The atrocities were made easier by dehumanizing the Iraqis. Says Macbeth, “I felt disgusted, you know, with myself because I had to make myself hate them in order to do my job. I had to make myself, had to make myself not think of them as people.”
During their initial debriefing, the soldiers found out that their mission was not about liberating Iraqis. Recounts MacBeth, “Our job over there is strike fear in the hearts of Iraqis.” The soldiers were given carte blanche to carry out this mission. Macbeth calls it “Operation Iraqi Slaughter.”
Macbeth estimates that he killed about 200 people, many at close range, many in cold blood. He rues that he was sent to Iraq to go and fight kids, women, and innocent people.
The fear instilled into Iraqis was also instilled into the troops. Macbeth remained silent for fear of court martial. Now he is accused of being a traitor for what he is saying, and yes, he does feel like a traitor, but a traitor for following orders. “For not speaking out, I feel like I’m betraying my battle-buddies that died.”
The atrocities were not limited to invading the homes of Iraqis. Even places of worship were violated. Macbeth admits to “slaughtering” Muslims at prayer and hanging their burnt — “just like they did to us” — bodies from the rafters in the mosque. Then the soldiers would defile the mosque with graffiti. It not difficult to imagine the outrage if foreign invaders were defiling churches and family homes in the US.