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| Fifth Column | |||
| Seymour Hersh: US Military, King George II, Waaay Too Skeery | |||
| 2006-11-02 | |||
| “There has never been an American army as violent and murderous as the one in Iraq” Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh slams Bush at McGill address "The bad news,” investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told a Montreal audience last Wednesday, “is that there are 816 days left in the reign of King George II of America.” The good news? “When we wake up tomorrow morning, there will be one less day.” Hersh, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine, has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. government for nearly 40 years. Since his 1969 exposé of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, which is widely believed to have helped turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War, he has broken news about the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia, covert C.I.A. attempts to overthrow Chilean president Salvador Allende, and, more recently, the first details about American soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison 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 they’re 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.
Hersh came out hard against President Bush for his involvement in the Middle East. “In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.
Throughout his talk Hersh remained pessimistic, predicting that the U.S. will initiate an attack against Iran, and that the situation in Iraq will deteriorate further. “There’s no reason to see a change in policy about Iraq. [Bush] thinks that, in twenty years, he’s going to be recognized for the leader he was – the analogy he uses is Churchill,” Hersh said. “If you read the public statements of the leadership, they’re so confident and so calm…. It’s pretty scary.” | |||
| Posted by:.com |
| #20 #1 You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. Everybody's insane except me. (Him, that is. Seymour, not Bobby) well, Bobby, as a fellow Civil Engineer PE, I'd say that if you were insane, you chose a good career to hide it :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-11-02 19:10 |
| #19 You know all that stuff you say you'd never wish on anybody? That nobody deserves that? I wish it all for Sy. He deserves it. Slow, creeping, interminable and excruciating... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-11-02 18:35 |
| #18 Will someone please FedEx Mr. Seeless (er, I mean Seymour) Hersh a fresh copy of THIS. Thanks! I loved "Ender's Game" have read it over and over again many times) and his (short) book on writing sifi and fantasy is a must read for any prospective author. I can't fault his logic here either. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-11-02 15:55 |
| #17 You got video Sy? Seymour never proves anything. We're supposed to take his word for it. So who DOES take his word for it? |
| Posted by: eLarson 2006-11-02 15:06 |
| #16 I can't stand this guy, not to mention the myopic morons who hang on his every word. They literally make my blood boil. At least that's what it feels like. Will someone please FedEx Mr. Seeless (er, I mean Seymour) Hersh a fresh copy of THIS. Thanks! |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2006-11-02 14:24 |
| #15 I am trying to think what would happen to him if this were 1942. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-11-02 14:11 |
| #14 You know what to do? Go to library, find a recent copy of New Yorker magazine. Write down all the advertisers. Send them all an email note that you are boycotting their products until such time they stop advertising in a magazine with such seditious writers. If all Rantburger and others on the blogs like LGF, Mudville Gazette, BlackFive, etc. did something like this it would get results. I mean Jesse Jackson does it all the time and look at his bankroll:) |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2006-11-02 13:36 |
| #13 I'd like to smack this guy in the face and then give him a swift kick in the nuts for good measure. I am not a veteran but am lucky enough to have customers who are active duty soldiers and Marines. I am in awe of what our military men and women do on a daily basis in theater. For this asshole to say these things, especailly to a foriegn utterly pliant audience such as the one at McGill, makes me so mad I could spit. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS! They are the best among us. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2006-11-02 12:37 |
| #12 If such a video exists -- we haven't seen it yet, we only have Seymour's word on it -- the responsible thing to do would be to give it to the JAG office with jurisdiction over the unit involved. So why hasn't Seymour done this? Makes ya wonder. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-11-02 10:46 |
| #11 If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said. Actually, there has been a surprising number of prosecutions. All done in house by the military. Cleaning its house far more effectively and efficiently than any other American institution has shown the stomach for. Outside of crimes which could be found during peacetime, the number of 'war crimes' that the American armed forces have pursued among its own ranks far exceed anything per capita that any other military has done in history. Not that rectal orifices like Mr. Hersh would ever be satisfied. Their standard is perfection, one they so miserably fail to achieve themselves |
| Posted by: Procopius2K 2006-11-02 10:30 |
| #10 Another coward going to a foreign country to mouth off. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-11-02 09:06 |
| #9 "The bad news,” investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told a Montreal audience last Wednesday, “is that there are 816 days left in the reign of King George II of America.” "...And then will come the Millennium in the form of the reign of the Goddess Hillary..." has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. government for nearly 40 years. And, frankly, hasn't been right since. He didn't jump on Abu G until after the word was out, and all he's done since is refer to tapes and pictures that no one - except of course, Saint Sy - has ever seen. If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said. ...Soooooooo, ALL Vietnam vest are sadistic killers, as are ALL Iraqi vets? Boy, you and J. F'n. K. need to do lunch sometime. In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. Well...okay, stopped clock and all that. “You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The Congress part, I'll give him, but he needs to look at which way the press collapsed - or is he just referring to the few MSM outlets that haven't gone over to the Dark Side? “How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?” Oh, you mean like when the Clintons tried to shove national health care down our throats on an agenda laid out by one of Hilary's former professors? Or when Jimmah Cartuh told us we had to luuuuv our enemies? Like them? “If you read the public statements of the leadership, they’re so confident and so calm…. It’s pretty scary.” Oh yeah Sy, I'd MUCH prefer them running around like chickens with their heads cut off, like the people who are screaming we have to get out NOWFORGAWDSSAKEBEFOREITSTOOLATEANDTHEBROWNSHIRTSTAKEUSAWAY - whoops, sorry there, was channeling the LLLs for a moment. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” The possibility that it's the right thing to do hasn't occurred to you, has it? Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-02 08:56 |
| #8 What would FDR have done with this traitor? Like Harry Dexter White or Alger Hiss, make him press secretary. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-11-02 08:48 |
| #7 Traitor? What traitor? I never saw anybody named Seymour Hersh. |
| Posted by: J. Edgar Hoover 2006-11-02 08:29 |
| #6 I am to understand that if I am in the middle of a war zone and they shoot at me before I respond I am supposed to ask all the pertinent questions to try to identify if they are enemy combatants or whatsoever................. |
| Posted by: Gromotch Hupavique4150 2006-11-02 08:28 |
| #5 What would FDR have done with this traitor? |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-11-02 07:04 |
| #4 They say we're young and we don't know We won't find out until we grow Well I don't know if all that's true 'Cause you got me, and baby I got you Babe I got you babe I got you babe... |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-11-02 06:35 |
| #3 I'm sick of the goddamned left turning traitors into heroes while spitting on the real heroes. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-11-02 06:22 |
| #2 As I was reading this article, I noticed a Blogad on the right for "Conspiracy Clothes." Mere coincidence? I don't think so. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-11-02 06:22 |
| #1 You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. Everybody's insane except me. (Him, that is. Seymour, not Bobby) |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-11-02 05:50 |