31 July 2010

Fighting Occupation in Palestine

The following is reprinted from War On Want. Access the site  HERE.





Fighting occupation in Palestine

The UN reports that 70% of Palestinians are now living in poverty. Four out of five people in Gaza are now dependent on food aid to survive.
Palestinians are not victims of a natural disaster. The poverty they face is an acknowledged product of the Israeli occupation, a fact recognised by the UK Department for International Development, which has stated that "Poverty in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a product of occupation and conflict." Only by ending the Occupation can the root causes of poverty be addressed.
In 1967 Israel invaded the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights and has been illegally occupying them ever since in defiance of UN resolutions and global outrage.
Through the continuing occupation, Israel has engaged in excessive and disproportionate force, including targeted assassination, and also demolished homes, detained minors, held people without trial, destroyed water supplies, razed schools and hospitals, denied people access to food and attacked medical personnel and equipment. The Occupation has destroyed any semblance of a Palestinian economy.
In addition, millions of Palestinians live in refugee camps, where they face human rights abuses and crushing poverty.
The international community has largely ignored international law with respect to Israel's crimes. Instead the British government amongst others has rewarded Israeli aggression with financial, military and diplomatic support.
Palestine is in crisis. We must put pressure on our government to play its part and end the injustice.

30 July 2010

Iowa GOP's Crazy Plan To Strip Obama Of His Citizenship

THIS IS FUNNY.

First, Obama wasn't an American citizen, but with this non-sense, you admit he is.  The Iowa GOP wants to enforce an earlier version of an amendment to the Constitution, which would have become the 13th amendment had it actually been ratified. It would have said that no US citizen may accept "any title of nobility or honour" from a foreign government without the approval of Congress and if s/he does, they are stripped of US citizenship.  The amendment never became law. (The actual 13th Amendment ended slavery in the US)  If it had, then President Obama, would be stripped of his citizenship for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize from the King of Sweden.


As the article points out, if the "original" 13th Amendment is enforced, then federal laws back to 1819 are invalid, which would make Iowa's statehood void. This would make Iowa a federal territory--oops, there go your states rights GOPers! On top of this, all those beloved Republicans who were knighted by the Queen of England would no longer be citizens! Or are we gonna go back to Jim Crow as well and only enforce the 13th against Black presidents?

IDIOTS!


Read the article, "Iowa GOP Embraces Plan To Strip Obama's Citizenship For Accepting Nobel Prize" reprinted here in part from The Huffington Post (link to full article below):

As we've already seen in Maine, some strange ideas are being folded into the emerging revisions of various state GOP platforms. But something truly bizarre is happening in Iowa.
Newsweek's Jerry Adler has paged through some "387 enumerated planks" of the Republican Party of Iowa's platform and, among the instances of "North American Union" paranoia and the upholding of manure as the only agricultural poop inveighed imbued by its creator with American exceptionalism, is a bizarre plan to strip President Barack Obama of his citizenship for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. What the what?
As Adler explains, the Iowa GOP is calling for the "reintroduction and ratification of the original 13th amendment" of the Constitution. The first wrinkle here is that the current 13th Amendment is a rather important one: it bans slavery. But that's the "bad optics" side of "Thirteentherism." Here's the side that is, as they say, "cray-cray" -- this is, in part, what the original 13th amendment said:
"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall, without the consent of Congress accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."
That language was originally considered by the states in 1810 but, as Jason Hancock at the Iowa Independent points out, "The amendment was ratified by 12 states but never got the 13th state that it needed, and thus, never became law."
This is the part where Obama, having accepted a Nobel Prize from the Nobel Committee -- five people appointed by the Norwegian Parliament -- gets stripped of his citizenship.

Read the full article HERE.









This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

29 July 2010

Master and servant

I feel my heart is becoming callous. Again. Ugh.


Master and servant: my heart has my brain in submission. My brain is restrained, but not blindfolded. I can see everything, but do nothing logical to help myself.  Then again, i know love is not subject to logic.


Is there anything in the universe that can make one feel the most exquisite bliss, or alternatively, the most heart-wrenching pain?  It is, in fact, the longest sliding scale, and i've scaled the whole of it and back.  I guess we all do from time to time, but when one is at the low end, it brings little comfort that one is not alone.  For when one has such a great sense of loneliness induced by the affairs of the heart, one may be surrounded by friends and still feel alone--withdrawn into a myriad of thoughts trying--desperately, to explain the absurdity of one's own and the other's actions and one's own being.


I said to a friend that i may be a fool for love, but i'm not stupid.  Now i am questioning the veracity of that statement.  


I feel like i'm on the edge of a precipice; One eye seeing my seemingly impending fall into oblivion--the other, looking at the thinest of strings holding me back, just strong enough to keep me from plummeting--for now.


I still hold hope, but hope fades with each passing day.


-ry


x

White phosphorus: Israeli and American War Crimes


Below is an article on the effects of White Phosphorus on human victims.  White phosphorus has been used on civilian populations by both the US and Israel.  The people of Fallujah, Iraq are experiencing major health problems including an alarming increase in cancer cases and their children are being born with horrific deformities and defects due in part to white phosphorus and other chemicals America used on the city during the Gulf War.  It is now said that the population there is suffering as much as the population of Hiroshima, Japan after the atomic bomb was dropped.  


This article features the story of a man from Gaza, Palestine.  During a 23 day period in 2008-09, Israel attacked the Gaza Strip (Operation Cast Lead) in response to sporadic [homemade] rocket attacks from within its borders.  Over 9 years, approximately 30 Israelis were killed by such rockets; In 23 days, Israel killed about 1,400 Palestinians, over 300 of whom were children. In the attack, Israel used white phosphorus, it says, to light the battlefield.  The evidence suggests differently.  As for a "battlefield," the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth with more than 1.5 million people packed into 139 square miles.  The "battlefield" is actually an urban area.  With closed borders and a sea blockade, civilians had no where to run.  The picture in the article below is of an occupied school with white phosphorus raining down upon it.  It was one of 280 schools destroyed by the Israeli terrorist state.  In addition, Israel destroyed 11,000+ homes, 200 factories, 15 of 27 hospitals, well the list goes on.  All war crimes.  


The use of white phosphorus on civilian populations is a WAR CRIME!


The following article is reprinted in its entirety from the Middle East Monitor.  The original post can be accessed HERE.


White phosphorus burns

E-mailPrint
White phosphorus burns(The Lancet) In January, 2009, an 18-year-old man presented to the emergency department after suffering an attack with an incendiary shell. He had many painful patches of full-thickness burns, which were surrounded by sloughed tissue. His wounds covered 30% of his body surface area, and were distributed on both upper and lower limbs, and his right shoulder.
There were no signs of inhalation burns. After a clinical diagnosis of white phosphorus burns was made, the airway was secured, resuscitation fluid was initiated, and wounds were irrigated with diluted sodium bicarbonate solution before wet dressing.
1day after admission to the burns unit, white smoke was noticed emanating from the wounds, which now contained extensive necrotic tissue and had extended into the underlying tissue.

He was urgently transferred to the operating room for debridement and excision of necrotic tissue, and removal of white phosphorus particles. During debridement, a white phosphorus particle was accidentally dislodged resulting in a superficial burn on a nurse's neck.

We transferred our patient to the intensive care unit for monitoring of vital signs, electrolyte disturbance (in particular hypocalcaemia), and electrocardiogram (ECG) changes.
After 8 days in hospital, our patient was relatively well, and was discharged without any systemic complications.
At 16-month follow-up, our patient was well; however, hypertrophic, mildly tender scars remained on his chest, arm, and thigh.
White phosphorus is a smoke-producing, waxy, yellow transparent combustible solid,1 which is used mainly in military and industrial settings. In the presence of oxygen, it spontaneously ignites with a yellow flame and produces dense smoke; it extinguishes only when deprived of oxygen or totally consumed.2
On contact with exposed skin, white phosphorus produces painful chemical burns;3 these typically appear as yellowish, necrotic, full-thickness lesions due to both chemical and thermal components. Because white phosphorus has high lipid solubility, the injuries often extend deep into underlying tissues with resultant delayed wound healing.
White phosphorus can also be absorbed systemically resulting in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome because of its effect on erythrocytes, kidneys, liver, and heart.2,4
First aid management of white phosphorus burns includes removal of the patient's clothes and application of saline or a water-soaked dressing.
1 On the basis of animal studies and case reports, in the emergency department, continuous irrigation with water is recommended to minimise the complications of the burn,124 and large easily identifiable particles of white phosphorus should be debrided. Wood lamp (ultraviolet light) or a solution of 0·5% copper sulphate can be used to facilitate the extinction of embedded particles.4
In critically ill patients, excision of the necrotic tissue and skin grafting, plus appropriate fluid replacement, and close monitoring of electrolytes and ECG are required to avoid predictable complications like hypocalcaemia, hyperphosphataemia, and cardiac arrhythmia. White phosphorus burns are associated with significant morbidity often necessitating lengthy hospital stays. Extreme cases can be fatal. We cannot give an estimate of the number of such cases in our burns unit because it is in a war situation in which no formal recording was done; these burns are rarely encountered in practice and literature describing cases is limited.
According to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons it is prohibited to make civilians the object of attack by incendiary weapons.
Contributors Patient management: NS, SS, LB; writing the report: LB, NB. Written consent to publish was obtained.
Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians


References

1 Lisandro I. CBRNE-incendiary agents, white phosphorus. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/833585-overview. (accessed May 21, 2010).
2 Eldad A, Simon GA. The phosphorous burn-a preliminary comparative experimental study of various forms of treatment. Burns 1991; 17: 198-200. CrossRef | PubMed
3 Chou TD, Lee TW, Chen SL, et al. The management of white phosphorus burns. Burns 2001; 27: 492-497. CrossRef | PubMed
4 Davis KG. Acute management of white phosphorus burn. Mil Med 2002; 167: 83-84. PubMed a Faculty of Medicine, Al Quds University, Abu-Deis, Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory b Department of Surgery, Shifa Medical Centre, Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory c Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Shifa Medical Centre, Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory d Al Nasser Pediatric Hospital, Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory Correspondence to: Loai Nabil Al Barqouni, Faculty of Medicine, Al Quds University, Abu-Deis, Jerusalem, 00970 occupied Palestinian territory.



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Florida Church Plans To Burn Qur'ans on 9/11.

Oh yeah, cuz that's REAL productive!  This kind of action shows that these people are not interested in peace or humanity.  This is an act of bigotry and hatred!  (Islamophobia isn't their only vice, this church is also fond of vigorously fighting against LGBT equality as well.)  Outside the Dove World Outreach Center is a permanent sign reading, "Islam is of the Devil," which is also the name of a book writen by Dr Terry Jones, the church's leader.  They have even created a Facebook page entitled, "International Burn A Koran Day."


If you think this is an isolated incident, you're wrong.  Islamophobia has quite obviously been on the rise since 9/11.  From profiling at transportation hubs to bombing of mosques, blind hate in this country is rampant.  Currently, people in New York City, whom claim to be patriots and support the constitution, have no problem denying the First Amendment's religious freedoms to Muslims who wish to build a mosque and community center in the vicinity of the World Trade Center site. 


The fact that the USA is currently at war or hostile towards several Islamic nations, means that on varying levels the US imperialist war machine must demonize the people of said nations in order to keep up support for the war or aggression.  This is done, for example, to our soldiers by lying and brainwashing and to civilians by withholding of facts and manipulation of the media.  Let some dimwitted, closed-minded idiots get the slightest hint that a people are undesirable and they can rally other like-minded idiots to create groups and movements and the phobia and hatred spreads like wild fire.  This can happen because, unfortunately, the gift of oratory is not limited to sane, educated, open-minded people.  Care is not taken to distinguish between good and bad elements of the Islamic nation's society and the people as a whole suffer our manufactured American hatred.  Islam, then, also becomes victim.


This behavior, of course, is not limited to Americans; It is a human characteristic to hate.  The quickest way to elicit suspicion and fear between people is to point out differences.  It is a sad trait we all share.  From Switzerland's banning of minarets to hate-filled ramblings of Dutch politician Geert Wilders to France's banning of the burqa, Islamophobia is alive and well in Europe too.


-My response to the post at The Independent: Florida church planning to burn Qurans on 9/11

and HERE is another article on the subject from Al Arabiya News.



28 July 2010

Official: Gaza no-go zone eats up 6.25% of land. (Ma'an)

The following article is reprinted here from the Ma'an News Agency.  The original post can be accessed  HERE.





Official: Gaza no-go zone eats up 6.25% of land
Published yesterday (updated) 28/07/2010 21:52
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Correction appended 


Gaza – Ma'an – Gaza farmers gathered in Beit Hanoun on Wednesday demanding access to arable lands currently under Israeli control as part of a unilaterally imposed no-go zone.


"The issue is not a humanitarian case, it is purely political," said organizer Amjad Al-Shawa of the Palestinian International Campaign To End The Siege On Gaza stressing that the absence of farmland prevented residents from perusing their livelihood.


Conference organizer Sabir Za’anin said the policed zone along the Gaza-Israel border has reached some 22,500 dunums (22.5 square kilometers), equal to 6.25 percent of the Gaza Strip, and taking up what officials estimate to be 20 percent of arable land.


Israeli patrols of the area have become more frequent since 2008 limiting access to agricultural lands near the Gaza border and preventing farmers from planting, maintaining, and harvesting crops, Za'anin explained during the conference.


"For many farmers, trying to make a living or to stop relying on Israeli or smuggled in goods is risking their lives," Za'anin said, accusing Israel's latest easing of the siege to be symbolic. "Without access to land, how can we live?" he asked, reiterating a common complaint from Gaza residents who say they are tired of receiving aid and would prefer to regain jobs back in the shut-down factories.


Member of the International Solidarity Movement Adi Marmash estimated that at least one-third of the arable lands of Gaza were in fact under Israeli control in the no-go zone. With the outskirts of cities taken up by camps of displaced persons, and with farmers reporting an ever-wider area of lands policed by Israeli forces, Mormech said he was sure the percentage had exceeded 20.


Za’anin, the conference organizer, told participants that the committee would make a renewed effort to bring the issue to the international community saying, "We will continue to oppose Israeli plans [to confiscate land]; we will stick to our rights despite it all."


Kamal Sweilem, a farmer from northern Gaza who has access to only a small portion of his lands due to the no-go zone, said he and his friends and neighbors wanted only "to cultivate our lands, to keep them green," and added that it was a tragedy that the weight of the international community must be behind Gaza farmers if they are to successfully water their trees.


The farmer, joined with union and committee organizers, issued a joint appeal to the international community to demand that Israel relinquish its hold on the no-go zone and allow farmers to access and cultivate their lands.


*** An earlier version of this article misidentified Adi Marmash, who works with the International Solidarity Movement






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27 July 2010

Israel makes 300 Arabs HOMELESS.











This is ROUTINE behavior for Israel. It happens ALL THE TIME to Palestinians in the West Bank and here, to Bedouins. This is ETHNIC CLEANSING and YOU (americans) are funding it through the massive amount of foreign aid the USA gives to Israel.  



Here the claim is that these Bedouins, who have been in this, their homeland, for CENTURIES did not have proper building permits and thus must have their housing destroyed. Hmmm...and Israel was founded when? 1948? Hmmm....













The following article is reposted here in its entirety from PressTV for your education. The original post may be accessed HERE.











Israel renders 300 Bedouins homeless


Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:58:28 GMT




Israeli forces demolished several houses and evicted some 300 Bedouins from their village in the Negev desert.





Hundreds of Israeli forces have attacked Bedouins living in the Negev desert, demolishing their village and leaving about 300 villagers homeless.

According to rights activists, more than 1,500 Israeli police forces arrived at the al-Araqib village shortly before dawn on Tuesday to bulldoze the entire area.

Israeli forces razed all houses and uprooted hundreds of olive trees belonging to the villagers, the activists who tried to prevent the demolishing told AFP.

Violence also broke out as Israeli police forces attacked the villagers and the activists who tried to stop the police from destroying the houses.

Several people were wounded and some others were arrested, activists said.

Israeli officials claimed that the homes had been built without legal permits.

Bedouins are predominantly desert-dwelling Arabs who have been living in the Negev desert for hundreds of years.

AGB/CS/MMN


The following article is reposted in its entirety here from Mondoweiss for your education. The original post may be accessed  HERE.



1000s of Israeli police said to be evacuating/erasing historical Bedouin village

by PHILIP WEISS on JULY 26, 2010 · ike




"Thousands of police are in the Negev desert village of el-Araqib right now (5:30 a.m. in Israel), beginning a mass evacuation, demolition, and erasure of this historical Bedouin village," writes Yeela Raanan of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV).
"If you have access to the media, please send them to this village as soon as possible! The village of el-Araqib is between Rahat and Beer Sheva, and in a location that the Goldberg commission deemed outside of the areas allowed for the Negev Arabs... an area designated only for Jews...
"The JNF (Jewish National Fund) is planting a forest on this village lands - to make sure that the Bedouin cannot live on their village lands or use them for agriculture.The villagers turned to the Israeli courts, as the JNF were planting this forest at the behest of the Israeli government, but against Israeli law...
"The people of el-Araqib won the court battle... but this morning it seems that the Government of Israel has started a war -- of the Government against its own citizens."



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Just sayin'

The Israeli flag shouldn't have a Star of David on it, but rather a bulldozer sitting atop the rubble of a Palestinian home about to uproot an olive tree.  I mean, if a flag is supposed to represent its country, well...it just seems more of an appropriate symbol, don't you think?  Just sayin'.  Maybe Mr Latuff can design it for Israel.

26 July 2010

ANORAAK - Nightdrive with you

I fecking LOVE this song!

Did you know? Gaza.

A great video by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) on the effects of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 2008-09 assault on the Palestinian territory of Gaza.  It is short and informative.  Watch it and you will see why i tweet so damn much against the Zionist, racist Israeli state.

25 July 2010

Gaza in Plain Language

A great video by Joe Mowrey (narrated by Anthony Lawson) on the effects of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 2008-09 assault on the Palestinian territory of Gaza.  Watch it and you will see why i post so damn much against the Zionist, racist Israeli state.




24 July 2010

Conspiracy, Rape, Murder, Cover-up: An American War Crime.

The following article is reprinted in its entirety as was originally posted on 23 July 2010 on Uruknet. The original post can be accessed HERE.

The blackest hearts: War crimes in Iraq
Jim Frederick

Photobucket
Scene of the crime: A neighbour returns to the house where he found the still-smoking body of 14-year-old Abeer, along with those of her parents and younger sister. Photograph: AP Photo/Ali al-Mahmouri


July 23, 2010

In March 2006, four US soldiers, strung out after months in the deadly battleground south of Baghdad, hatched a plan: to carry out one of the worst war crimes ever committed in Iraq


On 12 March 2006, Abu Muhammad heard a knock on his door. He lived in a village just outside Yusufiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, and warily he headed towards the window – since the invasion, you never knew who it might be. It was a neighbour of his cousin and her husband, who lived in a nearby hamlet. "You must come," the man said. "Something has happened at your cousin's house, something terrible."

Pulling into the driveway, Abu Muhammad saw his cousin's 11- and nine-year-old boys wailing. They had just returned home from school. Smoke was billowing from one of the windows.

Abu Muhammad circled the house, looking in the windows. His cousin Fakhriah, her husband Qassim and their six-year-old daughter Hadeel had all been shot. Their daughter Abeer, 14, was naked from the waist down. Her body was still smoking; her entire upper torso had been scorched, much of it burnt down to ash. Her chest and face were gone.

"Come," Abu Muhammad said to the boys. "Come with me." He dropped them with his wife and drove to a nearby traffic control point, TCP1.

Staff Sergeant Chaz Allen was in charge of TCP1 that day. He sent Sergeant Tony Yribe to check it out. At just 22, Yribe looked like an action hero and was on his second tour in Iraq. As usual, he noted, there were not enough men to mount a proper patrol. Ideally, they shouldn't be manoeuvring with less than a squad, nine or 10 men. But that almost never happened. Here in the so-called Triangle of Death, three-, four- and five-man patrols were standard. Allen told him to pick up two men on his way, from TCP2. "And be sure to bring a camera. Battalion is going to want pictures."

It was late afternoon. 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, and all of 1st Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, had been in theatre for nearly six months. The same to go. It felt like an eternity – with an eternity yet to come.

Yribe arrived at TCP2. Specialist Paul Cortez and Private First Class Jesse Spielman were ready to go. At 23, Cortez was acting squad leader, a job many thought beyond him. He had a reputation as an immature loudmouth with a nasty streak, and he was in charge of a motley group of six soldiers down at TCP2, some of whom had been on their own at this spartan, unfortified outpost for 12 days straight. They were pretty ragged and strung out.

Specialist James Barker, 23, was next in seniority, a soldier renowned for being a smart aleck and mischief-maker. Spielman, 21, was quiet and unassuming; Private First Class Steven Green, also 21, never stopped talking.

Some Iraqi army soldiers were already at the house. It was grisly. Yribe started taking pictures and directed the other soldiers to look for evidence, but Cortez started dry heaving. He looked green and pale, and was drenched with sweat.

"Jesus, just go outside," Yribe told Cortez. Spielman was cool and efficient, but the burnt girl's remains were so disgusting they just left her where she was. As the men moved a mattress, something small and green skittered across the ground. It was a spent shotgun shell. That's odd, Yribe thought, Iraqis don't really use shotguns.

In mid-2006, three years after the toppling of Saddam's regime, the 330 square mile region south of Baghdad that encompassed the Triangle of Death had become one of the deadliest locales in the country. It was a battleground of the incipient civil war between Sunnis and Shias, and a way station for terrorists of every allegiance, ferrying men, weapons and money into the capital.

Just two years later, the region had been effectively pacified, patrolled by 30,000 men (including Iraqi forces) who experienced about two attacks a week. Back then, however, it was occupied by just 1,000 US soldiers, who coped with more than 100 attacks each week against them and Iraqi civilians. With far fewer troops and resources than they needed, the 1-502nd Infantry Regiment – a light battalion of around 700 men – was flung out there with orders, essentially, to save the day. During their year-long deployment, 21 men were killed, with scores more wounded badly enough to be evacuated home. Seven of those who died came from the same group of around 35 men: 1st Platoon.

In December 2005, Staff Sergeant Travis Nelson and Sergeant Kenith Casica of 1st Platoon were shot dead at TCP2 by a lone Iraqi who had given them information in the past. "That's when things started to turn," says Staff Sergeant Chris Payne, leader of 1st Platoon's 2nd Squad. A few days later, two more men of 1st Platoon were killed by an IED (improvised explosive device).

The feeling that death was certain was becoming pervasive in 1st Platoon, and spreading like a panic. More and more men started to believe they simply weren't going home. Some say drinking was becoming fairly common. There were plenty of interpreters who were happy to procure bottles of whiskey or gin, or even pills or hash, for any soldier who wanted them.

Green was reacting particularly badly. He had always been a loudmouth, racist and misogynist. An evaluation form filled out by the Combat Stress team around that time is a horror show of ailments and dysfunctions. Green told them he was a victim of mental and physical childhood abuse by his mother and brother, he was an adolescent drug and alcohol abuser, and had been arrested several times. Now, he said, he was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts. One entry states, "Interests: None other than killing Iraqis."

By this point, extreme hatred of Iraqis had become common in the platoon and was openly discussed. They became more aggressive: suspects were beaten, house searches got more violent, drinking became more open and was not limited to the ranks. The men were at a far lower ebb than even those meant to monitor them realised.

During patrols, Green often volunteered to kill. "I was always saying, 'Any time you all are ready, you all are the ones in charge of me. Any time you all say the word, 'Go', it's on," he recalled.

Just after 4pm on 5 March, 21-year-old Specialist Ethan Biggers was shot in the head. He had been the entire company's little brother; he and his fiancee were expecting their first child.

On 12 March, Green was pulling pre-dawn guard in the gun truck at TCP2. He'd been up for 18 hours. "When I'm on guard next time," he told Cortez and Barker, "I'm going to waste a bunch of dudes in a car. And we'll just say they were running the TCP."

"Don't do that!" Cortez said. "Don't do it while I'm here. I'm supposed to be running this shit."

Barker agreed. "I've got a better idea," he said. "We've all killed Hadjis, but I've been here twice and I still never fucked one of these bitches."

Cortez's interest was piqued. They talked about it semi-seriously, as they did other things throughout the rest of the morning.

Barker had already picked the target. There was a house, not far away, where there was only one male and three females during the day – a husband, wife and two daughters. One was young, but the other was pretty hot, at least for a Hadji chick. Witnesses were a problem, though; they knew they couldn't leave anyone alive. Barker asked Green if he was willing to take care of that, even if women and kids were involved. "Absolutely," Green said. "It don't make any difference to me."

They refined their plan and, over several hours, went back and forth on whether or not to do it. Barker was pushing hard, and Green was game, but finally Cortez said, "No, fuck it, this is crazy. Fuck this. There is no way we are doing this shit."

At around noon, with a new wave of boredom taking hold, the three of them, with Spielman, sat down outside to play Uno and drink whiskey. The men got drunker and drunker, and eventually Cortez declared, "Fuck it, we are going to do this." He outlined the mission and divvied up the duty assignments just like a legitimate patrol. He and Barker would take the girl, Green would kill the rest of the family, Spielman would pull guard and 18-year-old Private First Class Bryan Howard, a recent arrival, would stay back and man the radio.

Spielman, who had not heard of the plan until then, did not bat an eye. "I'd be down with that."

Cortez went out to the truck to check on Private Seth Scheller, who was the only one on guard. Scheller was also new.

Cortez briefed Howard. He said they knew of an Iraqi girl who lived nearby, and they were going to go and fuck her. To Howard, it was the most insane thing he'd ever heard. He didn't believe it, nor that they were leaving him and Scheller alone. Cortez gave him the radio and told him to call if any patrols or Humvees came through. The men, armed and disguised, headed out the back of the TCP.

Qassim Hamzah Rashid al-Janabi was not from the Yusufiyah area. After the 1991 Gulf war, when UN sanctions made life even tougher, he and his wife Fakhriah had moved to be closer to her family and to look for work. A daughter, Abeer, was born in August 1991; soon after came two sons, Muhammad and Ahmed, and another daughter, Hadeel.

When the US invaded, local people were hopeful, but soon the area began to fall apart from neglect and violence. The locals felt persecuted. The US patrols were brutish. Qassim's brother-in-law was gunned down in cold blood by the Americans in Iskandariyah in early 2005, said his sister. Other family members got hauled off to jail for no reason, with no indication of when they'd come home.

Fakhriah was particularly worried about Abeer. Now 14, her fragile beauty was attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Soldiers would give her the thumbs up and say, "Very good, very nice." By early March, the harassment was getting so bad that Abu Muhammad told the family to leave Abeer with him; there were more people at his house and it was less secluded. But Abeer stayed there only one night, on 9 or 10 March. With his protection, Qassim assured Abu Muhammad, they'd be fine.

Sneaking up on the house, the soldiers corralled the whole family into the bedroom. After they had recovered the family's AK-47 and Green had confirmed it was locked and loaded, Barker and Cortez left, yanking Abeer behind them. Spielman set up guard in the doorway between the foyer and living room, while Cortez shoved Abeer into the living room, pushed her down, and Barker pinned her outstretched arms down with his knees.

In the bedroom, Green was losing control of his prisoners. The woman made a run for the door. Green shot her once in the back and she fell to the floor. The man became unhinged. Green turned his own AK on him and pulled the trigger. It jammed. Panicking, as the man advanced on him, Green switched to his shotgun. The first shot blasted the top of the man's head off. Then Green turned to the little girl, who was running for a corner. This time the AK worked. He raised the rifle and shot Hadeel in the back of the head. She fell to the ground.

Spielman came in, saw the carnage and was furious. Green explained the AK had jammed and Spielman began searching for shotgun casings.

As Green was executing the family, Cortez finished raping Abeer and switched positions with Barker. Green came out of the bedroom and announced to Barker and Cortez, "They're all dead. I killed them all." Cortez held Abeer down and Green raped her. Then Cortez pushed a pillow over her face, still pinning her arms with his knees. Green grabbed the AK, pointed the gun at the pillow, and fired one shot, killing Abeer.

The men were becoming extremely frenzied and agitated now. Barker brought a kerosene lamp he had found in the kitchen and dumped the contents on Abeer. Spielman handed a lighter to either Barker or Cortez, who lit the flame. Spielman went to the bedroom and found some blankets to throw on the body to stoke the fire.

The four men ran back the way they had come. When they arrived at the TCP, they were out of breath, manic, animated. They began talking rapid-fire about how great that was, how well done. They all agreed that was awesome, that was cool.

Several hours later, Yribe was still mulling over what he had seen. You don't see a lot of girls that little murdered in Iraq, he thought to himself. And the burning of the other girl's body – that was strange, too: burning was a huge desecration. Then there was the shotgun shell. The shotgun is almost exclusively an American weapon.

As Yribe approached TCP2 to drop off Spielman and Cortez, Green was waiting in the street. He pulled Yribe aside. "I did that shit," he said.

"What?" Yribe said.

"I killed them," Green repeated. Barker was standing next to Green, but didn't say a word.

Caught off guard, Yribe dismissed it as more of Green's crazy talk. It was insane. How could a scrawny guy slip away from a TCP by himself in the middle of the day and rape and murder a family? But Green kept insisting. Yribe told him to shut up, he didn't have time for his bullshit right now.

The next day, Cortez went to Yribe in tears. He said he was so shaken up by what he had seen in the house, he needed to go to Combat Stress.

While Yribe covered for Cortez, he found Green. He'd been thinking over what Green had told him the day before and it was bothering him. "Now," he demanded, "tell me everything, every detail."

Green started to talk. Again, Barker was there and, again, he did not say a word. The thing that really convinced Yribe was not what Green was saying but how he was saying it. Ordinarily, Green was manic and boastful. Right now, however, Green was serious, sober, matter-of-fact.

When Green was finished, Yribe told him, "I am done with you. You are dead to me. You get yourself out of this army, or I will get you out myself."

Yribe decided not to say anything and, as there were no witnesses, the bodies had been removed so quickly and so many soldiers had tramped over the house, there was no usable physical evidence beyond a few AK-47 shell casings. Without conclusive evidence, it was instantly a cold case, like tens of thousands of murders in Iraq that year.

On 20 March, Green went to Combat Stress and, over a few days, was diagnosed with a pre-existing antisocial personality disorder, a condition marked by indifference to the suffering of others, habitual lying and disregard for the safety of self or others. The diagnosis carried immediate expulsion from the army. Back in the US, on 16 May, he was honourably discharged and returned to society.

On 16 June, three more of 1st Platoon's men – Private First Class Thomas Tucker, Specialist David Babineau and Private First Class Kristian Menchaca were attacked on guard. Babineau was killed, the others captured. Three days later they were found, murdered, burnt and mutilated. When Yribe heard, he lost it. "It drives me crazy," he said to Private First Class Justin Watt, "that all the good men die and the shitbag murderers like Green are home eating hamburgers."

"Murderers?" Watt asked.

Yribe told Watt about the day at the checkpoint and how Green had confessed to him. Watt couldn't believe what he was hearing, and didn't believe Green could have acted alone. "Just forget I said anything," Yribe said. But Watt couldn't forget. He began obsessively mulling it over.

Around lunchtime on 19 June, Watt ran into Howard and Private First Class Justin Cross. As they were talking, Watt remembered both guys had been a part of the group at TCP2 that day back in March. They discussed all the messed-up stuff they had seen, and Watt brought up the girl who got burnt. Convinced Watt knew the whole story, Howard filled in many of the missing pieces.

That night, Watt recounted it all to Yribe, but again he said he didn't see what good was going to come from digging it up. For a while, Watt did try to forget. But he kept coming back to the father. He imagined the powerlessness, the impotence, of having armed men break into your house and there being nothing you could do to protect your family. Watt ran it over in his mind again and again. He resolved that he couldn't just let this pass.

On 23 June, Watt spoke to his immediate superiors. Over the next two days, the matter reached the highest levels. The soldiers involved were interviewed and, with varying degrees of vehemence and evasiveness, each claimed to have no knowledge of the crime. But over the next five days, and over multiple interrogation sessions, Barker, Cortez and Spielman all broke down and confessed, corroborating Howard's narrative, though each resisted fully implicating himself.

The US army paid the Janabi family $30,000 for the murders of Qassim, Fakhriah, Abeer and Hadeel. Nine months into a year-long deployment, 1st Platoon's war was effectively over.

Back in the US, Green was arrested by the FBI. The crime was making news, and al-Qaida was exploiting the outrage for maximum propaganda. On 10 July, the Mujahideen Shura Council issued a five-minute video showing the mutilated corpses of Tucker and Menchaca. Its audio includes clips of Osama bin Laden's and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's speeches, as well as the message that the video was being presented as "revenge for our sister who was dishonoured by a soldier of the same brigade".

Although there was virtually no usable forensic evidence, the army's cases against Barker and Cortez were particularly strong, based on their confessions, and both offered to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit rape and murder and other charges if the army agreed not to pursue the death penalty. The army accepted, and sentenced Barker and Cortez to 90 years and 100 years at the military's maximum security prison. They will be eligible for parole in 20 and 10 years respectively.

In March 2007, Howard pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory after the fact. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison, and was released on parole after 17.

Spielman's lawyers claimed he did not know where the rogue patrol was going on 12 March and, once at the house, was too surprised and scared to do anything about it. A military panel did not believe these claims of innocence, found him guilty of all charges and sentenced him to life in prison. His sentence was later reduced to 90 years; he, too, will be eligible for parole after 10 years.

Because Green had been discharged, his case proved to be much more complicated. The Justice Department announced it was pursuing the death penalty, making him the first former service member ever to face the possibility of execution in a civilian court for his conduct during war. His defence team twice offered to have him plead guilty if the government would take the death penalty off the table; twice the Justice Department declined. To this day, his defence attorney maintains that this was a politically motivated appeasement to the Iraqi government and public opinion. His attorneys also tried several times to have Green reinducted into the army and tried by court martial. The army declined the offers.

After ruling out an insanity defence, Green's attorneys decided their best hope was to focus on the horrible conditions under which Bravo worked, Green's abysmal upbringing, the leadership failures that plagued every level of the 1-502nd and the warning signs of his murderous obsessions that his superiors routinely ignored. During several dramatic weeks of testimony, the defence ran a trial within a trial against the army's negligence in allowing the atrocity to happen, while prosecutors emphasised the heinousness of Green's behaviour.

The jury of nine women and three men found Green guilty of all counts of conspiracy, rape and murder, but hung, six against six, on the issue of whether to sentence him to death, triggering an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

Relatives of the murdered family, including Abu Muhammad, had testified during the trial, and afterwards were allowed to address the court. Abu Muhammad spoke last, praising his slain family members and criticising the jury's reluctance to execute Green. He concluded by turning to Green and saying, "Abeer will follow you and chase you in your nightmares. May God damn you."

Then Green was given the opportunity to make his first public statement. He addressed the family, saying, "I am truly sorry for what I did in Iraq and for the pain my actions, and the actions of my co-defendants, have caused you and your family… I helped to destroy a family and end the lives of four fellow human beings, and I wish that I could take that back, but I cannot… I know if I live one more year or 50 more years that they will be years that Fakhriah, Qassim, Abeer and Hadeel won't have. And even though I did not learn their names until long after their deaths, they are never far from my mind… I know I have done evil, and I fear the wrath of the Lord will come upon me. But I hope you and your family at least can find some comfort in God's justice."

Green is currently serving five consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole.

• This is an edited extract from Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness In Iraq's Triangle Of Death, by Jim Frederick, published on 6 August by Macmillan at £12.99. To order a copy for £9.99 (including UK p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.






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Iraq War - The rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza