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U.S. troops in Iraq were directly ordered to murder whole families, including children, and likely committed even worse war crimes, and this is the reason why so many Iraq vets have PTSD. (lemmy.cafe)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

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This literally just occurred to me as I was thinking about it and it makes me sad. And yes, I already know about the heinous shit that went down back then that we already know of, including the use of white phosphorus.

What I mean to say is that I just realized U.S. troops were ordered to do even worse horrific shit to the Iraqi people, including murdering whole families and torturing innocent people and the like. Like the kind of stuff we know Russia has been doing to Ukrainians. Stuff that hasn't been officially revealed yet. It's possible our own troops have even raped innocent Iraqis, maybe even children.

I suspect Iraq vets were put under strict orders not to share the fact that they did so or to tell anyone anything they know either, which is why they can never truly recover.

Yeah, I'm not proud to be an American and I don't think I ever will be, and not just because of Iraq though that is a big reason.

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[-] 8565@lemmy.techtriage.guru 20 points 1 year ago

Ummm.... No we weren't. I don't know where your getting your facts but, you are way off on this one.

[+] pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe -19 points 1 year ago

Well, think about it. We know for a fact the U.S. military did horrific shit over there already -- killed over a million people, used white phosphorus in Fallujah, and the whole war was based on a mountain of blatant fucking lies and waged with the sole intention of letting the rich steal Iraq's oil, right?

Think about how conquering militaries behave under circumstances like that. The things they have to do to keep the people they're conquering subjugated. And the things we have known other countries to do in similar circumstances.

Is it really too far off in your mind to think our troops wouldn't either do or be ordered to do something like that? Especially given the whole charade was orchestrated by evil people in the first place?

[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Not many people were ordered to kill families. Thats pretty rare, while PTSD isn’t exactly uncommon for vets

[-] 8565@lemmy.techtriage.guru 6 points 1 year ago

I think your missing the point. Boots on the ground we didn't kill families, we didn't rape women.

[-] dukethorion@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

The goal in Iraq was to remove the dictator that we helped put in power 40 years ago, establish a democracy, and win the hearts and minds of the citizenry to further those goals. Rape and indiscriminate murder wouldn't be an effective strategy there.

[-] argues_semantics@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

Your linked article says white phosphorous is a conventional weapon and isn’t banned or outlawed. War sucks, but this isn’t really a good argument for such an outrageous thought. Isn’t it easier to think war alone is enough to trigger PTSD? People suffer from PTSD from events significantly less traumatic events than war regularly.

[-] LadyLikesSpiders@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago

So I totally wouldn't be surprised, but I'm gonna need a source on that. I'm hardly pro-American, but this is still stuff that you shouldn't just throw out there. Definitely not the kind of thing that should be taken seriously as just a shower thought

[-] dukethorion@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

If you REALLY believe what you just wrote, I truly feel sorry for you. Also, this is hardly a shower thought; but is definitely a misguided statement based on your wild imagination.

The only factual part of your diatribe against US veterans, is the precept for war being a lie (allegedly also, since some claim they saw WMDs).

Vets have PTSD from many causes including getting blown to pieces from IED's, seeing their friends get killed or blown up, actual back and forth combat, indiscriminate mortar fire, death, destruction, even as simple as being in the theater.

So, stop this "they must have done horrific unspeakable shit so they have PTSD and can't talk about it.". There's probably a few dudes on the special teams that may fit your idea of mission secrecy, but you'll never know or hear about those missions anyway.

[-] bigbadmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/10/pers-o26.html

this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023

-49 points (14.5% liked)

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