'Don't Report War Crimes', Warned Commander to Soldiers

See the evil, but don't speak about the evil. See the war crimes, but don't speak about the war crimes. That's the established war motto for the U.S. military invasions and wars on other nations.

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As we've seen directly with evidence from the Collateral Murder WikiLeaks in 2010, there are serious war crimes that occur, and hardly any consequences to bear on those who commit them. And there are more, and more serious war crime.

Children are targeted and shot by snipers. Neighborhoods and pummeled with pullets and bombs. And the war machine keeps on going. Any charge of war crimes is quickly ignored or downplayed by the media. Organizations like WikiLeaks has done a great service to the world by exposing some crimes.

Yet, Julian Assange is being persecuted and prosecuted for daring to expose what a real journalist is supposed to do. Meanwhile, the mainstream media doesn't do their job, and hates Assange for doing a better job than they do, showing how inept and corrupted they are to report on the realities of the world.

In certain military sectors, soldiers were told not to report on war crimes they witness in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example. They saw evil, but they were told not to speak about the evil. Platoon members have taken their witnesses of war crimes to the troop commanders. But since the war crimes were done by the platoon chief, the soldiers were rebuked for daring to report the crimes of their superior.

The investigation report said several members of the platoon told investigators that Chief Gallagher showed little regard for the safety of team members or the lives of civilians. Their mission was to advise Iraqi forces and provide assistance with snipers and drones, but they said the chief wanted instead to clear houses and start firefights.

He would order them to take what seemed to be needless risks, and to fire rockets at houses for no apparent reason, they said. He routinely parked an armored truck on a Tigris River bridge and emptied the truck’s heavy machine gun into neighborhoods on the other side with no discernible targets, according to one senior SEAL.

Chief Gallagher’s job was to plan and oversee missions for the platoon, but platoon members said he spent much of his time in a hidden perch with a sniper rifle, firing three or four times as often as other platoon snipers. They said he boasted about the number of people he had killed, including women.

Platoon members were told NOT to report the crimes by their commander. If they did, he warned them that it would jeopardize their careers. See, but don't speak, is the attitude.

Instead of remaining silent on what they had seen, the soldiers went around the authority and chain of command, and contacted people even higher up in the Navy who were not directly in charge of the Navy SEALS. Those people listened, and soon Chief Gallagher was court martialled.

But there are more war criminals, and more investigations are allegedly in progress to address the culture of the SEALs that encourages war crimes, and silence about them.

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Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.

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Posted from KURE