Awkward conversation time!

Hey all! 

So this is an awkward one today kids. 

I have to be honest and say that I've written and re-written this about 4 or 5 times now. This one is difficult for me. I'm not 100% sure where I stand, even though I do have my on opinions, and I'm also terribly afraid of offending people on this as it's a touchy subject all around.


Controversial topic for January: War.


YIKES!


I've wanted to write about this for a while, and what really sparked my interest is a video I saw from one of my absolute favorite youtubers; Philip Defranco. The video is from his main channel where he talks about news stories, and gives his own opinion on them. I have multiple videos I recommend you watch today, and this one (even though I love him) is not really relevant, so watch this one last if you'd like to watch it at all. The link is: http://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/62/02ODXd_fddo

Before I continue, I have 2 videos I really recommend you watch, however, they are really long, so I will rank them in order of "importance", both coming from http://www.collateralmurder.com/:


Video #3- U.S soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story
Video #1- Short version


Moving along.


War is an unfortunate reality. It's one of those things that because we aren't perfect, there is war. Because we are all different and have this getting along issue, there is war. 


I don't love that there has to be war, but there isn't much I can do about it. It it was it is. 

And I don't mean to sound like I don't care that soldiers and civilians are dying because there is war, because I do. My heart aches every time I see on T.V that a soldier has died, or that there was another suicide bombing or something. It's not fun and as much as I would like to see peace on Earth; I don't feel as if there is much we can do about it. I mean, war has been going on since Biblical times. If they didn't stop fighting then, I can't see people stopping any time soon. 

I came upon a video a couple moths ago through a Facebook friend. He posted a link to a video saying how he was so disgusted with the army etc etc. It intrigued me as I have become more fascinated with hearing about people's war experiences etc, so I watched it. I think I must've had my mouth open in shock for a solid 90% of it. It is unbelievable. The website is www.collateralmurder.com. At the very least, watch the short version if you are at all interested. I will warn you that it is very graphic.

I'll give you a bit of a summary. 


The video is shot from the viewpoint of a helicopter. And you hear conversation between multiple helicopters I believe (I wasn't quite sure of that). What happens, is that there are 2 men working as war photographers, taking pictures of sites for newspapers that kind of thing. The soldiers in the one helicopter see these 2 men, and a bunch of people begin surrounding the 2 men and so the soldiers begin to feel threatened because they mistake the camera for a weapon. So the one helicopter requests permission to fire. They get the permission and kill these people. Then, you hear the soldiers say that there is a van coming to pick up the bodies and minutes later you see the van coming. The men get out of the van, and the helicopter starts shooting at the van and the people picking up the dead bodies. What makes matters worse is that there are children in the van who are seriously injured. I'm not sure if they die, but they do get sent to the hospital. 


I have so many thoughts and no idea how to put them into words.

Originally, I thought the van was just coming to pick up the bodies, however after re-watching, the men state that they are coming to "pick up bodies and possibly weapons". So I understand the threat, however, I still have a hard time with that. Because in my opinion, and from what I understand after watching the third video (which I'll talk about in a bit), they would've engaged at the van even if they KNEW they were coming JUST for bodies. That is what I have a hard time with. There is nothing threatening about just coming for bodies. At least have a LITTLE more respect.



It's hard for me to talk about this because I'm sitting here in my bedroom perfectly comfortable, and with a full understanding of the situation. However, these guys have little to no prep, no understanding really of the situation, and they are just supposed to go by spur of the moment. So as critical as I may sound, I do understand that it's a very spur of the moment type situation. 

A second thing that disgusts me in that video is the laughing after they fire and kill all the people. Killing people is no joke. Iraq is no video game. So don't laugh after you've killed a group of people. I don't care who they are. Oh, and "Good shootin'"? Freakin' A...


I started watching the third video on that website, and it's a response from one of the soldiers working at the time. I really admire him. He is truly disgusted by the goings-0n in Iraq. He talks about how the commanders would tell them to kill everyone on the streets, and how a lot of the soldiers wouldn't do it. They were also told that if they felt threatened, they could engage (hence the first video). He says "if you didn't fire, the NCO's (Non-commissioned officers) in your platoon would make your life hell". Ok. If you feel threatened, fine. I understand that. But the part that I have a hard time with is how they say if a guy gives you a funny look, or just "shooting through roofs of buildings" you can shoot them and you're fine. That's where my struggle comes into play. 


There is only one statement in the entire video that I agree with: "well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle." 

What kind of parent does that? Leave your freaking kids at home. You'd think that it would be a universal idea to want what's best for your kids. I guess in Iraq that isn't the case. 

What's even worse is that that isn't the case in the army either. The soldier who put the kids in a van and sent them to hospital (Ethan McCord) was told to "quit worrying about the fucking kids". Oh awesome. This just gets better and better...


And it does. "needing to talk to somebody constitutes as a crime". Oh. My. Goodness. No wonder so many soldiers come home and have so many mental issues. They have no support at all, and really aren't allowed to be human. 


There is so much more to talk about, but I would like to stop here. I have a hard time respecting commanders that tell soldiers to "suck it up" or "forget about the kids". However, I can respect soldiers who remain human in Iraq, and come home, and are brave enough to share their stories of anger and hurt. 

Something tells me there will be a part two on this topic...