STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- My father was in the 1st Marine Division in the South Pacific in WWII. I grew-up hearing stories of American atrocities -- the same sort of despicable acts that the hypocritical "allies" tried & executed Japanese & Germans for after the war. The part about the documentary review that bothered me most of all was the ending, where a guy is quoted as saying, "We were there -- you weren't," promoting the usual slop that unless you were a war criminal yourself you have no right to criticize. --- John Jay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK > > And yet... And yet!... they have the gall to strut > around > the world as if they > owned it - laying down the law and lecturing > everyone else > about "humanitarian" > principles. Even stirring up trouble, engineering > wars, > bombing and/or depriving > others of life-preserving essentials most Americans > couldn't > endure a single day > without themselves, just to drive the point home...! > > Washington's is not a New World Order - certainly > it's no > model for the future... > In principle it's as old as the hills and very, very > primitive. > > Essentially, modern technological methods of > inflicting pain > and making money... > are all that distinguish present-day tyrants like > Clinton, > Bush and Bliar from cruel > excesses ancient Assyria's Sargon and Sennacherib > employed - > toward the same ends ! > > John Jay > > ---------- > From: "Pedja Zoric" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [yugoslaviainfo] We don't know if there > were women > and children, we just blew them up > Date: Mon, Jun 4, 2001, 6:45 pm > > > > 'We just blew it all up. We don't know if there were > women > and children or > whatever, we just blew them up,' > > 'The truth is that war is an occasion when god-awful > things > happen,' > > [The ultimate war crime is to start the war.] > > Pedja Zoric > > > http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,500631, > 00.html > > > Film exposes Allies' Pacific war atrocities > > Horrific footage shot during battle with Japanese > shows > execution of wounded > and bayoneting of corpses. > > Jason Burke > Sunday June 3, 2001 > The Observer > > For more than half a century they have been > portrayed as > wholesome heroes who > fought in terrible conditions to save the Western > way of > life from Japanese > aggression. But now the savage acts that Allied > soldiers > were driven to > commit in the Pacific theatre are about to be > exposed. > Researchers for a TV series to be broadcast on > Channel 4 > this month have > unearthed disturbing and previously unseen footage > from the > Second World War > which had languished forgotten in archives for 57 > years.The > images are so > horrific senior television executives had to be > consulted > before they were > considered fit for broadcast. > > The film, shot in colour, was taken by an unknown > combat > cameraman in 1944 > during fighting on the Pacific Island of Peleliu. It > includes scenes of > American soldiers shooting Japanese wounded as they > lie > prone on the ground. > > In another scene on the Japanese island of Okinawa a > year > later, a US soldier > is filmed dragging a wounded enemy from a hiding > place. > Although the man has > his ankles tied together, two bullets are fired into > his > knees and then, > while he is still moving, shots are fired into his > chest and > head. > > Other footage from Hell in the Pacific shows > American > soldiers using bayonets > to hack at Japanese corpses while looting them. > Former > servicemen interviewed > by researchers spoke of the widespread practice of > looting > gold teeth from > the dead - and sometimes from the living. > > Others spoke of units throwing away their bayonets > to avoid > being ordered by > 'over-enthusiastic' officers to charge, and of > machine-gunning villages full > of civilians and clubbing wounded Japanese soldiers > to death > as they tried to > surrender. > > In an incident related by a former marine, soldiers > killed a > shell-shocked > comrade with a shovel for fear his screaming would > give away > their position. > > The revelations will shock many accustomed to the > heroic > image of American > soldiers, particularly given the romantic myth > boosted by > blockbuster films > such as Pearl Harbor, which goes on general release > this > weekend. > > Many cherished British military myths are > overturned. > Researchers found - > contrary to the image of solidarity projected by > films such > as Bridge over > the River Kwai - that in several POW camps prisoners > dispensed brutal justice > through 'kangaroo courts' to those who collaborated > with > Japanese guards. > > Fred Seiker told interviewers he had presided over a > makeshift tribunal in a > prison camp on the infamous Burma railway that found > a > fellow prisoner guilty > of betraying a food-smuggling operation to the > guards. The > man was put to > death by being drowned in a communal latrine. > > There are also stories of Japanese ears and heads > being > collected by > British-led troops - particularly by Gurkhas and > Nigerians. > > Neither are the Australians spared. Many witnesses > interviewed for the series > spoke of large-scale desertions by Australian troops > before > the fall of > Singapore in 1942. One, a soldier with a British > Highland > regiment, speaks of > Australian troops shooting officers who attempted to > stop > them boarding ships > leaving the doomed city. > > Historians last week said the new material would > surprise > many. 'People are > often blissfully unaware of what their country and > their > allies do in a war,' > said Dr Antony Best, a lecturer at the London School > of > Economics. 'Interest > in war crimes has been revived by the conflicts in > the > former Yugoslavia and > so actions from 50 or more years ago are > increasingly being > re-examined.' > > Best said many of the antecedents for the brutality > of the > war in Vietnam - a > conflict that has become a byword for atrocities - > could be > traced to the > conflict in the Pacific. 'The truth is that war is > an > occasion when god-awful > things happen,' he said. > > Jonathan Lewis, the writer and director of the new > series, > said at least one > marine who had fought in Vietnam reported that the > battles > on the Pacific > islands were the worst. 'These were ordinary men > faced with > conditions of > extraordinary adversity,' he said. > > 'We have always been told that these kinds of > atrocities are > aberrations in > battle, but the lesson of the Pacific War is that > then at > least they were the > norm. It is not a case of levelling blame. Taboos > were > forgotten by everyone. > That is the way war is conducted, and that's why we > have > made an anti-war > film.' > > One US marine, Steve Judd, based on the island of > Saipan > during some of the > fiercest combat of the war, blamed repeated exposure > to > horrors for some of > the Allied excesses. > > Judd described how he was ordered to clear some > caves. Aware > of the Japanese > tactic of pretending to surrender before blowing > themselves > and their captors > up with a hidden grenade, he and his team decided to > be > indiscriminate. 'We > just blew it all up. We don't know if there were > women and > children or > whatever, we just blew them up,' he said. > > 'Some people today will tell you it was cruel and > inhumane, > but you weren't > there - we were.' > > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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