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Responding to Atrocious News

By Josh Stieber

Outcry, understandably, poured out just before the summer began when a clip called "Collateral Murder" chilled viewers worldwide with the scenes of helicopters opening fire on Iraqi citizens below – a few armed, most not. As summer comes to a close, another disturbing story haunts the military. Details have emerged of an Army "kill team" killing for fun and collecting body parts as trophies. With the documentary release of The Pat Tillman Story sprinkled in, it's been a summer of enough bad military publicity to rival the shallow, cosmetic announcement that combat operations have ended in Iraq.

As the public glimpses the reality of war, veterans young and old have a chance to influence civilian reaction. I have a personal connection to two of the three stories above: I was in the company shown on the ground in the "Collateral Murder" video. It was my battalion commander who notoriously explained that the Tillman family couldn't blindly accept the death of their son, not because of the misleading cover-up, but because they were atheists and couldn't accept the fact that their son was now "worm dirt." Together with a veteran from my old platoon, Ethan McCord, we've taken a cue from previous veterans to redefine how "Collateral Murder" was understood, just as Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans have throughout these wars.

When headlines buzzed in the late 60's over the My Lai massacre, VVAW helped to redefine the public understanding from one of "a case of bad apples," to a symptom of the larger system. Self-righteousness can run high when cases of military atrocities become public. A speaker at a rally for Bradley Manning, accused leaker of "Collateral Murder," said any soldier who doesn't do what Manning did is a coward. The temptation is strong for civilians to look at the rotten fruit and not the tree from which it came. But veterans continue to step forward to look at the institution which desensitizes its members. Killing for sport is appalling, but without looking at the training which teaches young people to scream "blood makes the green grass grow" and "kill them all, let God sort them out" and holds reflexive Rules of Engagement once deployed, then the rotten fruit will continue to grow from a dehumanizing tree.

An Open Letter of Reconciliation and Responsibility to the Iraqi People

From Current and Former Members of the US Military

Peace be with you.

To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the "Collateral Murder" Wikileaks video:

We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses.

We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions.

There is no bringing back all that was lost. What we seek is to learn from our mistakes and do everything we can to tell others of our experiences and how the people of the United States need to realize we have done and are doing to you and the people of your country. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.

We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war. This is the nature of how US-led wars are carried out in this region.

We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "God and country." The soldier in the video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us.

More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.

Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation's leaders no longer represent us. Our Secretary of Defense may say the US won't lose its reputation over this, but we stand and say that our reputation's importance pales in comparison to our common humanity.

We have asked our fellow veterans and service-members, as well as civilians both in the United States and abroad, to sign in support of this letter, and to offer their names as a testimony to our common humanity, to distance ourselves from the destructive policies of our nation's leaders, and to extend our hands to you.

With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.

Solemnly and Sincerely,

Josh Stieber, former specialist, US Army

Ethan McCord, former specialist, US Army

When asking "what can be done about these outrageous stories?" the easy initial reaction is to condemn individual soldiers. But examples of other veterans have prompted many of us younger veterans, from these instances to the IVAW's Winter Soldier testimonies in 2008, to share our full stories. We want to look at how injustice is taught, not just what it looks like when it happens. We want, in small steps, to learn and act on the example of reconciliation with those we've wronged.

Having met numerous Vietnam War Veterans who have returned to Vietnam or been involved in reconciliation projects, the example of not forgetting about the people at the other end of our weapons was put into practice. Ethan McCord and I wrote our Letter of Reconciliation and Responsibility (www.lettertoiraq.com) and have been aided by civilian friends from the Civilian Soldier Alliance www.civsol.org to begin a reconciliation process of our own, working with NGOs that do ground work in Iraq.

The wave of press about brutality in the military, aided by the example of older veterans, has been an opportunity to highlight the workings of a broader system. Through the painful experiences of our past, we have the power to inspire others challenged with the present and transform those experiences into healing and reconciliation for the future.

Josh Stieber is a veteran of the infantry company shown on the ground in the "Collateral Murder" video. After leaving the army as a conscientious objector in 2009, he and another veteran bicycled across the US to share their experiences and challenge assumptions. Stieber is currently a student, but continues to speak, write, and organize with IVAW and The Civilian Soldier Alliance.