Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW) just issued the following statement about the recent Wikileaks videos:
"If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like. If you don't like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war."
These are the words of ??Josh Stieber who served with Bravo Company 2-16, whose members were involved in the incident captured in Wikileaks' "Collateral Murder" video. (Listen to Stieber audio clip here and see him interviewed on Russia Today below.)
The video depicting a July 2007 shooting incident outside of Baghdad in which over a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists were killed, has made national headlines.
"A lot of my friends are in that video."
Josh is a conscientious objector and member of IVAW who says that the acts of brutality caught on film are not isolated instances, but were commonplace during his tour of duty. ??Although he was not present at the scene of the video, he knows those who were involved and is familiar with the environment.
According to IVAW, Stieber was not at the scene of the video due to a punishment for refusing an order a few days earlier.
He served for 14-months alongside these same same soldiers seen in the video. Josh is now speaking out, telling the world that at the time, these actions were not extremely out of the ordinary for any soldiers serving in Iraq, and that these soldiers were not "bad apples", but were carrying out U.S. military policy.
"After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up. Killing was following military protocol. It was going along with the rules as they are," Stieber said.??
Contrary to how military officials are describing the incident as 'isolated' and being carried out by 'a few bad apples,' Josh has been speaking out to paint the larger picture of how soldiers are trained, how rules of engagement in combat change from moment to moment, and other institutional realities of our military occupations.
Since Josh has been speaking out, other members of his Company involved in the incident have begun speaking publicly as well.
Learn more: Listen to an audio clip of Josh talking about the incident here. Read Josh's own full analysis of the video here. Your financial support helps provide a platform for veterans and soldiers like Josh to expose the realities of war. Donations to IVAW can be made here.
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