Marine General: It's 'fun to shoot some people' Don't blame the grunts on

the ground.
For documentation of Mattis's statement see: CNN Also:TomJoad.org
February 2005:

“It's fun to shoot some people,” said the Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Mattis (Mattis is at present the commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., and deputy commandant for combat development). while speaking at a forum in San Diego. His comments though appeared funny to some at the forum, have led to annoyance of many including his higher officials.

"Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling.''

In "explaining" the comments made by Mattis, Marine Corps Commandant General Hagee said in a statement "While I understand that some people may take issue with the comments made by him (Mattis), I also know he intended to reflect the unfortunate and harsh realities of war.''

No, General Hagee, we understand what Mattis really said. And we know why people who refuse to follow the orders of such men as Mattis should be called heroes. e.g. Like the first commissioned officer that will announce his refusal to go to Iraq within days. Please see this thread

Abdul Salam Al-Kubaissi, spokesman of the Muslim Clerics Association spoke at news conference in Baghdad on Sunday:
"The situation has reached a level when the U.S. soldier becomes a professional killer, who kills with premeditation and deliberation. This should be among war crimes and the ones who should be put on trial are the U.S. commanders and not the U.S. soldier because the commanders are the ones who instruct those (soldiers) and justify their acts as it happened in Abu Ghraib's scandal." (this is translated from Arabic)

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0602-28.htm
From a Common Dreams Article. Comparing Mai Lai massacre to Haditha:
What Mai Lai did was to turn American citizens against the Vietnam War by making them realize what the war was doing to their own troops. This was that it was demoralizing and debasing otherwise decent young Americans, out of fear, out of hatred, out of sheer despair at being trapped in an unwinnable war — because it involved, inevitably, killing many innocent citizens as well as actual insurgents or guerrillas.

Support our troops by demanding immediate withdrawal from a dishonorable war.
Support those that refuse illegal orders.

And, throughout the next 4 years I spent being one of "The Few, the Proud".

The Corps is full of swaggering adolescents like that moron. From the lowliest private to the generals.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/TahitiNut/294

:evilgrin:

What if a person right behind you also loves to shoot people, and this person is affiliated with the Iraqi rebellion?

Is it still fun then?

that is.

I should think that would just about take care of what the hell is going on with our kids over there. Bring them home NOw! It is a lovely weekend for a protest march isn't it? I will be downtown in a few hours, hope you will be too.

Please check out this thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1339631
Kick it and sign on to support LT at
http://www.thankyoult.org/

I was on another computer, so i was incognito. It takes a ton of courage to do what this JO is doing, they hold officers to a different standard on these thing than they do enlisted. It will go hard for him, they will make sure that it does, so this is definitely an act of tremendous bravery and defiance. WTG, LT! And thanx for bringing it to our attention, TJ!

What a jerk.

Oh, I guess he means that these unfortunate and harsh realities are that war is hell and it creates horrific and brutal cretins like that maggot Mattis.

This is the kind of sicko we have commanding our troops. That's just great.

I sat for hours listening to my great-uncles talking about WWII... Not one of them could come to grips with the killing. I think anyone who takes such joy in shooting people should be locked behind bars, be they a military commander or a civilian.

That is the sickest thing I've ever heard.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. . . .

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents. . . .

from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC.

They will post on sites for car enthusiasts for example - they make killing people sound like a sport.

War can make good people say & act in bad ways to justify their actions. If they don't justify their actions, then they end up in a mental ward. We end up with kids who either never had to kill or see a lot of death and are OK, soldiers who are bloodthirsty killers or soldiers who are trying to deal with the horror of what they saw/did and may drop out of society at any time.

I support those who refuse the illegal orders to kill.

and being trained to kill twists people one way or the other. Why is it any surprise that the job would attract a certain number of people who can easily disassociate from the reality of it? The soldiers who "like to brawl" undoubtedly make good soldiers in this kind of combat. Certainly this type is not characteristic of all, but is one adaptation to the stresses of the occupation. I don't understand why anyone would be shocked or surprised by this type of reaction.

Everyone who agrees to kill has to justify it somehow.

An emotionally-at-risk adolescent addicted to killing games on his 'puter (Columbine anyone?) can find lots of time to post on the net. After all, the Internet is just one big RPG to many.

you dont think any vet would speak out against this war?

:shrug:

now I am confused?

They post on military topics all the time. They are always trying to justify the actions of Bushco. They talk with other military about their outfits and assignments. Most are still active duty and stationed here temporarily between assignments. Some have thier rank as part of their signature. Their hatred &/or disrespect of Iraqi's is so obvious when they post. The joy of "getting the enemy" is very clear in their posts - as you might expect from someone who is in that situation. These folks are not acting any different than I would expect given the circumstances - why would you doubt that there are RW gung-ho kids in the military?

That it is fun to shoot people???????

not the enemy, not the bad guys, just "PEOPLE".

That's what he means.

Hopefully he will be able to tell us all about that soon.

from nuns to Jesuits. None of them told me it was OK to shoot people. My parents gave me buckets of moral training. I was a good kid.

Then I went into the Marines. They didn't actually teach me to commit attrocities. They did disinhibit me from violence. Young men hear shit like this general is talking, and it sticks.

I did some shit that my mom, the nuns, and the Jesuits would have thought was awful... nothing like wilfully shooting women and kids... but shit that I'd been taught was wrong during my whole upbringing.

I am thankful that the NCOs around me kept me from doing some really horrible things.

What does it mean that kids with a moral upbringing have to be controlled - led - NOT to commit attrocities?

Does anybody think maybe we need to examine the concept of the US in modern war? Maybe we just can't commit to war and hang on to our moral sense.

Maybe we have to choose between controlling an empire and keeping our humanity. Maybe the two of them are mutually exclusive.

The country is losing it's soul.... and this from an atheist.

(mostly a repost)

Now may more of them be open and honest within reach of microphones and cameras so that more and more halfway decent Americans may hear the truth of it all and be disgusted and turn away from this. So they may know this is, and always has been, a nasty and brutish business in Iraq. An immoral war we undertook on a country that did nothing to us.

Let them continue to speak their dark thoughts aloud.

Ah yes. I remember now.


Here

Former Deputy Commandant. Great guy.

He's a true patriot and human being and would say this asshole Mattis is a nutjob.

I have been in combat and shooting people is not fun.

I question the combat experience of any troop who says it is fun.

about 2 0r so years ago regarding the shooting of Iraqi Women & Children

He said something to the effect that if Americans don't like it they can change the channel.

Tried a Google search but no luck
can't remember the sadists name.

think that was image-manipulation whatsoever, do you?