This picture broke my heart

[GRiM]

CHRIS HONDROS: Yes. It was a couple of years ago now. It was in January 2005, and I was embedded with US Army troops in Tal Afar in northern Iraq. I’d been sent there by the Army. I had wanted to go to Mosul, where there were some battles going on at the time, but I’d been sort of waylaid to go to Tal Afar, because you don’t always get the embeds that you want in Iraq. And I was with a group of soldiers on a routine evening patrol around dusk, about 6:00 or so, right around the time where the curfew was held in Tal Afar, and a car on the darkened streets sort of appeared in the distance and started coming down the boulevard toward the soldiers. As is well known, you know, the soldiers don’t like cars coming towards them. They fear suicide bombers and things. They weren’t sure what to do. They fired a few shots. The car kept coming, and so they shot up the car. And tragically, an Iraqi family was in the car, parents and six children, and the parents were killed instantly. And I documented that event.

AMY GOODMAN: And then the children that came out of this car.

CHRIS HONDROS: Well, you know, the children—one of the children—I mean, the children were, of course, terrified and covered in—blood had splattered in the car, and they were covered in blood. The soldiers realized the mistake immediately and rushed up, took the children out. They weren’t sure who was injured, who was not, and they sort of evaluated the children on the sidewalk, in front there. I photographed all that. And one of the children, it turned out, had a gunshot wound, as well, and they were all transported to the local hospital and dropped off there.

 

[Nawd]

I remember that story. What a tragic thing to witness and actually have to take a pictures of. :(

 

[Ares]

imagine if you were one of those soldiers who shot at the car and the find out you had killed a perfectly innocent family out of your own fear. A single incident such as this is enough to carry the guilt through your entire life; what would this do to you if you had to go through this every other day in a war zone? Either you learn to bury you conscience, or you literally go crazy!

assuming ofcourse you're not a psychopath, in which case this is just par for the day.

 

[Oxajil]

That's really sad... Most soldiers who come home also have to deal with Posttraumatic stress disorder.

I found this to be an interesting video about soldiers coming back and trying to get their lives on track again:
_http://www.mtv.com/videos/true-life-i-have-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/1601333/playlist.jhtml

 

[Windmill knight]

I remember this story too. That picture haunted me for some time. The same with the story/images of the Palestinian girl who had her family bombed and killed on a beach in Gaza by Israeli boats a couple of years ago. It's hard to imagine anything more horrific.

 

[luke wilson]

Sad. Poor kids.

Who does one blame in this situation? The soldiers probably shot out of fear or something similar. The family probably didnt hear the shots or did not know what they meant. Tragic.

 

[Al Today]

I'm crying now...
I feel sick...
I ask myself now, what right do I have to whine about anything in my life while that is going on...

 

[spyraal]

Sad. Poor kids.

Who does one blame in this situation? The soldiers probably shot out of fear or something similar. The family probably didnt hear the shots or did not know what they meant. Tragic.

This is terrible indeed...

Personally i think that the soldiers are -in a way- equally responsible as their commanding officers and their politicians. A machine cannot operate when some of it's parts are missing. And the Killing Machine would never work without their silent consent and active participation. OK, maybe they "didn't know any better" but i cannot take this excuse from adult humans when shooting innocent people is concerned.
They failed to educate themselves about the reality of what the army is doing to these countries before they enlist, they failed to grasp this pathological reality once they entered the army, and they failed once more when they were deployed into the living hell they made out of of Iraq by continuing to follow orders and holding their guns. And all that for a paycheck of blood money. Acting out of "fear" and "self-defense" makes some little sense only when you are not the ruthless oppressor yourself but the oppressed. Calling upon the "fear" felt by an occupation army for being resisted when destroying a country and it's people, is but pathological reasoning and a really poor excuse for such deeds. In the same manner, Israel called killing the people in Mavi Marmara an act of "self-defense". That of course AFTER they used the army's lethal force to invade a ship with unarmed civilians. I would really hate to be in any of these soldiers' shoes, as what they suffer after their deployment in these countries is truly hard and devastating but still IMO it is in good proportion to their former deeds and ignorance. Everything has a hidden price tag, let alone killing innocent parents in front of their own children... Just some thoughts FWIW.

 

[luke wilson]

Spyraal, I totally agree with your assesment of this particular situation. However, it's an assesment that pathologicals or the blind would definately disagree with [Not to say that I am not blind]. Ignorance, lack of knowledge or awareness at the end of the day doesnt hold up when you commit such atrocities. In the defense of most soldiers, they have been deceived or brainwashed. In defense to those who give silent consent, they have been deceived aswell into believing the lies fed to them and us about our reality by the pyschopaths that rule over the planet or they themselves gain from such acts and therefore dont want to voice there concerns or opinions in fear of losing what they think they have or might gain by remaining silent.

This is a sad situation, but it is the world we live in and frankly there is nothing anyone can do to change it except pray, hope or cheat themselves that this wont ever happen to them. The evil magician has told us that he wont do this to us, that we are special, that we are free. Believe the evil magician at your own peril.

 

[Mona]

Oh my God, that's is .............I don't even have the right words to describe how I feel. I am just crying. I think I need to cry.

 

[GRiM]

Oh my God, that's is .............I don't even have the right words to describe how I feel. I am just crying. I think I need to cry.

It made me cry too. I cant even describe what I feel for that poor girl, then the soldiers who have to live with it too. Its just horrific in all its mechanical suffering, they don't know what they are doing or why they are doing it.

 

[Ares]

In defense to those...

it seems the soldiers and people who stay silent can be brainwashed and hoodwinked due to their ignorance of reality. as the C's said, ignorance is no excuse - the natural cycles will continue anyway. reminds me of a cartoon on SOTT where a couple of dinosaurs are watching an incoming comet about to wipe them out and going 'oooooh aaahhh wow' :)

 

[GAIA]

Wow that's really sad, another example of a 3rd density "evilness" that I imagine we would all like to leave behind.