Teaching Our Troops to Kill -- Civilians?
[An email friend sent on the following grim report about U.S. soldiers deliberately killing civilians in Iraq. I checked the likely website, but found it blocked:
World Prout Assembly: Killers in the Classroom
Dr. June Scorza Terpstra, Bellaciao February 11, 2007. During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in ...
www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/02/killers_in_the.html - 63k - Feb 13, 2007 -
Incidentally, I gather that in its desperation to meet recruitment quotas the army is now accepting people convicted of the more serious misdemeanor offenses. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. argued that criminals deserved a second chance once they paid their debt for crimes. But it is indicative that our military is drawing from the depths with possible consequences such as those spelled out below not being surprising. I hope the Terpstra report does not characterize our troops in general. But it is indicative of a mind state that is created in young and inexperienced men when they are under life and death pressures and we have had too many verified reports of troop brutality not to worry about this one. The current intrusions into city spaces in Iraq will inevitably result in the deaths of more innocents, lest we forget the toll in the lives of children and elderly left behind in Fallusha:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1116-04.htm
Ed Kent]
..................................
Written by : June Scorza Terpstra
Last modified 2007-02-14 09:53
During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in Iraq told me that they had "sacrificed" by "serving" in Iraq so that I could enjoy the freedom to teach in the USA. Parroting their master's slogan about "fighting over there so we don't have to fight over here," these students proudly proclaimed that they terrorized and killed defenseless Iraqis. They intimated that their Arab victims are nothing more to them than collateral damage, incidental to their receipt of some money and an education.
Sunday, February 11- A room full of students listened as a US Marine told of the invasion of Baghdad and Falluja and how he killed innocent Iraqis at a check point. He called them "collateral damage" and said he had followed the "rules."
A Muslim-American student in front of him said "I could slap you but then you would kill me." A young female Muslim student gasped "I am a freshman; I never thought to hear of this in a class. I feel sick, like I will pass out."
I knew in that moment that this was what the future of teaching about justice would include: teaching war criminals who sit glaring at me with hatred for daring to speak the truth of their atrocities and who, if paid to, would disappear, torture and kill me. I wondered that night how long I really have in this so called "free" country to teach my students and to be with my children and grandchildren.
The American military and mercenary soldiers who "sacrificed" their lives did not do so for the teacher's freedom to teach the truth about the so-called war on terror, or any of US history for that matter. They sacrificed their lives, limbs and sanity for money, some education and the thrills of the violence for which they are socially bred. Sacrificing for the "bling and booty" in Iraq or Afghanistan, Philippines, Grenada, Central America, Mexico, Somalia, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the other numerous wars and invasions spanning US history as an entity and beginning with their foundational practice of killing the Indians and stealing their land.
Many of the classes that I teach now include students who "served" in the US military and security corporations. There are also many students who intend to join the US military upon completion of a degree because with the degree they get a bigger "sign on" bonus of ten to fifty thousand dollars. Their position is supported by many of the student body, who, vegetating according to the American Plan, believe they should "support their troops."
The excuses that they give for joining or intending to join the US military terrorist training camps are first and foremost motivated by a desire for money.
One student proudly said that he is willing to kill for money, a better standard of living and an education. Another student, who had done two tours of duty to the Empire in Iraq, justified killing and torture, citing the importance of staying on top as the world's number one super power so that his family could have the highest standard of living and unlimited access to the world's oil supplies.
Will kill for booty
Yet another soldier-student said that there would always be wars and someone had to do it. The "it" is killing, rape, and plunder for profit. Some of the soldier-students agreed that military terrorism was thrilling. Stopping and killing people at checkpoints in order to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in the USA was worth the risk of being killed or maimed. Little did they know that the very education they would kill for could include a course on social justice in which they would be compelled to examine their motives, beliefs and actions in an evil, illegal, immoral and unjust invasion and occupation of a people who never hurt or harmed them or any of their fellow citizens.
To be fair, in this week's discussion in class there was some mention that some of the student's intentions had been honorable at the time that they joined the military. They wanted to "help other people". A few woman students who want to join the military commented that they would be working to "free and defend" people here and abroad. However, for the most part and by their own admission, personal financial gain was their main focus in signing on. Their bottom line was getting the money and their thrills by joining and belonging to the biggest terrorist organization in the world, the USA.
What appears to trouble the soldier student is that the rhetoric of fighting for freedom and democracy is a lie that cannot blanket the horror and guilt of their terrorism. They do not want to hear that participation in invasion and occupation, murder and pillaging, is logically inconsistent with any legitimate concept of freedom or liberation. They know the greed and programmed lust for violence that motivates them. They expect that if they can make it out alive, they get some money, a comfortable lifestyle and an education.
Their plan is to secure the oil, the diamonds, the gold, the water, the guns, the drugs, and the bling for their masters, who they hope will cut them in on the swag. They say that someone has to be on top and they want to be on the side of the strong, not the weak. Robbing Hoods, not Robin Hoods.
And now, here they sit in my course on social justice, terrorist war criminals, wanting high paying "criminal justice" jobs in a university Justice Studies program. They want approval, appreciation and honors for terrorism, torture, and murder. They want a university degree so they can get an even higher salary terrorizing more people around the world with security companies such as Blackwater or Halliburton. They want that appropriately named "sheepskin" so they can join the CIA, FBI, and other police and track down and terrorize US residents here.
These military and mercenary terrorist-students are trained in terrorist training camps all under the USA, funded by American taxpayers. In fact, people under the USA are "sacrificing" their health care and their children's educations while donating their tax dollars to these terrorist training camps. These terrorist camps train money hungry working class stiffs to murder, steal and plunder for the power hungry US corporate war lords.
There is a saying that "if you do the crime, you do the time". My response is that "If you do the war crimes, you will do time in hell, whether the hell of war trauma and shock, of diseases such as those caused by depleted uranium, the old-fashioned traditional hell, fire and brimstone assigned to malefactors...or the hell of sitting in a social justice class and discovering what the hell you are in hell for, or are about to be.
Comment from a Vietnam vet
Tuesday, February 13- As a Vietnam veteran I think that the realities that
Dr Terpstra is writing about are true but a bit one-sided. Along with alot
of mindless, proud, obedient robo mercenaries running around there are also
people Like Lt. Ehren Watada and thousands of other soldiers who oppose this
war.
I remember from my own experiences as an 18 year old of believing the
government's propaganda about bringing "Freedom and Democracy" to the
Vietnamese so in 1968 I joined the army. By the time I arrived in the war zone in 1969 I learned that everything the government had said was a pack of lies. This was their country and their land and we had no business being there. Fortunately there were tens of thousands of other soldiers who felt like me. So I joined the anti war GI resistance movement that carried out all kinds of actions from "search and avoid" patrols, to sabotage, to fraggings and even antiwar demonstrations.
The point I'm trying to make is that PEOPLE CHANGE. I'm living now in Germany and work with other veterans in group called the Stop The War Brigade (stopthewarbgde@hotmail.com). We have contact with a lot of today's GIs and our message to them is Refuse, Resist and Rebell against this unjust war. So Dr Terpstra, why don't you invite people from the groups in the US like the Iraqi Vets Against the War or Vietnam Veterans Against the WAR (AI) into your class room to speak? Or for teachers in europe contact the Stop the War Brigade, we would be glad to provide speakers. Sincerely dave blalock
Dave, thanks for this testimony! I do bring anti-war speakers into the classroom. Right after the second Iraq invasion I attempted to bring in two speakers and the university I worked for at the time came after me with a vengeance. I fought that with legal help and people backed down but it has not been until this last semester that I brought in outside speakers again. There are vets against the war speakers here in town. Thanks, for reminding me! -DrT
Dr. June Scorza Terpstra teaches at Loyola University in Chicago.
Bellaciao
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
World Prout Assembly: Killers in the Classroom
Dr. June Scorza Terpstra, Bellaciao February 11, 2007. During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in ...
www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/02/killers_in_the.html - 63k - Feb 13, 2007 -
Incidentally, I gather that in its desperation to meet recruitment quotas the army is now accepting people convicted of the more serious misdemeanor offenses. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. argued that criminals deserved a second chance once they paid their debt for crimes. But it is indicative that our military is drawing from the depths with possible consequences such as those spelled out below not being surprising. I hope the Terpstra report does not characterize our troops in general. But it is indicative of a mind state that is created in young and inexperienced men when they are under life and death pressures and we have had too many verified reports of troop brutality not to worry about this one. The current intrusions into city spaces in Iraq will inevitably result in the deaths of more innocents, lest we forget the toll in the lives of children and elderly left behind in Fallusha:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1116-04.htm
Ed Kent]
..................................
Written by : June Scorza Terpstra
Last modified 2007-02-14 09:53
During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in Iraq told me that they had "sacrificed" by "serving" in Iraq so that I could enjoy the freedom to teach in the USA. Parroting their master's slogan about "fighting over there so we don't have to fight over here," these students proudly proclaimed that they terrorized and killed defenseless Iraqis. They intimated that their Arab victims are nothing more to them than collateral damage, incidental to their receipt of some money and an education.
Sunday, February 11- A room full of students listened as a US Marine told of the invasion of Baghdad and Falluja and how he killed innocent Iraqis at a check point. He called them "collateral damage" and said he had followed the "rules."
A Muslim-American student in front of him said "I could slap you but then you would kill me." A young female Muslim student gasped "I am a freshman; I never thought to hear of this in a class. I feel sick, like I will pass out."
I knew in that moment that this was what the future of teaching about justice would include: teaching war criminals who sit glaring at me with hatred for daring to speak the truth of their atrocities and who, if paid to, would disappear, torture and kill me. I wondered that night how long I really have in this so called "free" country to teach my students and to be with my children and grandchildren.
The American military and mercenary soldiers who "sacrificed" their lives did not do so for the teacher's freedom to teach the truth about the so-called war on terror, or any of US history for that matter. They sacrificed their lives, limbs and sanity for money, some education and the thrills of the violence for which they are socially bred. Sacrificing for the "bling and booty" in Iraq or Afghanistan, Philippines, Grenada, Central America, Mexico, Somalia, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the other numerous wars and invasions spanning US history as an entity and beginning with their foundational practice of killing the Indians and stealing their land.
Many of the classes that I teach now include students who "served" in the US military and security corporations. There are also many students who intend to join the US military upon completion of a degree because with the degree they get a bigger "sign on" bonus of ten to fifty thousand dollars. Their position is supported by many of the student body, who, vegetating according to the American Plan, believe they should "support their troops."
The excuses that they give for joining or intending to join the US military terrorist training camps are first and foremost motivated by a desire for money.
One student proudly said that he is willing to kill for money, a better standard of living and an education. Another student, who had done two tours of duty to the Empire in Iraq, justified killing and torture, citing the importance of staying on top as the world's number one super power so that his family could have the highest standard of living and unlimited access to the world's oil supplies.
Will kill for booty
Yet another soldier-student said that there would always be wars and someone had to do it. The "it" is killing, rape, and plunder for profit. Some of the soldier-students agreed that military terrorism was thrilling. Stopping and killing people at checkpoints in order to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in the USA was worth the risk of being killed or maimed. Little did they know that the very education they would kill for could include a course on social justice in which they would be compelled to examine their motives, beliefs and actions in an evil, illegal, immoral and unjust invasion and occupation of a people who never hurt or harmed them or any of their fellow citizens.
To be fair, in this week's discussion in class there was some mention that some of the student's intentions had been honorable at the time that they joined the military. They wanted to "help other people". A few woman students who want to join the military commented that they would be working to "free and defend" people here and abroad. However, for the most part and by their own admission, personal financial gain was their main focus in signing on. Their bottom line was getting the money and their thrills by joining and belonging to the biggest terrorist organization in the world, the USA.
What appears to trouble the soldier student is that the rhetoric of fighting for freedom and democracy is a lie that cannot blanket the horror and guilt of their terrorism. They do not want to hear that participation in invasion and occupation, murder and pillaging, is logically inconsistent with any legitimate concept of freedom or liberation. They know the greed and programmed lust for violence that motivates them. They expect that if they can make it out alive, they get some money, a comfortable lifestyle and an education.
Their plan is to secure the oil, the diamonds, the gold, the water, the guns, the drugs, and the bling for their masters, who they hope will cut them in on the swag. They say that someone has to be on top and they want to be on the side of the strong, not the weak. Robbing Hoods, not Robin Hoods.
And now, here they sit in my course on social justice, terrorist war criminals, wanting high paying "criminal justice" jobs in a university Justice Studies program. They want approval, appreciation and honors for terrorism, torture, and murder. They want a university degree so they can get an even higher salary terrorizing more people around the world with security companies such as Blackwater or Halliburton. They want that appropriately named "sheepskin" so they can join the CIA, FBI, and other police and track down and terrorize US residents here.
These military and mercenary terrorist-students are trained in terrorist training camps all under the USA, funded by American taxpayers. In fact, people under the USA are "sacrificing" their health care and their children's educations while donating their tax dollars to these terrorist training camps. These terrorist camps train money hungry working class stiffs to murder, steal and plunder for the power hungry US corporate war lords.
There is a saying that "if you do the crime, you do the time". My response is that "If you do the war crimes, you will do time in hell, whether the hell of war trauma and shock, of diseases such as those caused by depleted uranium, the old-fashioned traditional hell, fire and brimstone assigned to malefactors...or the hell of sitting in a social justice class and discovering what the hell you are in hell for, or are about to be.
Comment from a Vietnam vet
Tuesday, February 13- As a Vietnam veteran I think that the realities that
Dr Terpstra is writing about are true but a bit one-sided. Along with alot
of mindless, proud, obedient robo mercenaries running around there are also
people Like Lt. Ehren Watada and thousands of other soldiers who oppose this
war.
I remember from my own experiences as an 18 year old of believing the
government's propaganda about bringing "Freedom and Democracy" to the
Vietnamese so in 1968 I joined the army. By the time I arrived in the war zone in 1969 I learned that everything the government had said was a pack of lies. This was their country and their land and we had no business being there. Fortunately there were tens of thousands of other soldiers who felt like me. So I joined the anti war GI resistance movement that carried out all kinds of actions from "search and avoid" patrols, to sabotage, to fraggings and even antiwar demonstrations.
The point I'm trying to make is that PEOPLE CHANGE. I'm living now in Germany and work with other veterans in group called the Stop The War Brigade (stopthewarbgde@hotmail.com). We have contact with a lot of today's GIs and our message to them is Refuse, Resist and Rebell against this unjust war. So Dr Terpstra, why don't you invite people from the groups in the US like the Iraqi Vets Against the War or Vietnam Veterans Against the WAR (AI) into your class room to speak? Or for teachers in europe contact the Stop the War Brigade, we would be glad to provide speakers. Sincerely dave blalock
Dave, thanks for this testimony! I do bring anti-war speakers into the classroom. Right after the second Iraq invasion I attempted to bring in two speakers and the university I worked for at the time came after me with a vengeance. I fought that with legal help and people backed down but it has not been until this last semester that I brought in outside speakers again. There are vets against the war speakers here in town. Thanks, for reminding me! -DrT
Dr. June Scorza Terpstra teaches at Loyola University in Chicago.
Bellaciao
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 8:45 AM
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