Tuesday 11 August 2009

Make up your own mind...

The following are exerpts from tesitmonials from IDF soldiers, in relation to Operation Castlead. You make up your own mind who you believe, the State controlled messages, or the fire from the dragons mouth

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Testimony 51: "We were told soldiers were to be secured by fire-power. The soldiers were made to understand that their lives were the most important, and that there was no way our soldiers would get killed for the sake of leaving civilians the benefit of the doubt… People were not instructed to shoot at everyone they see but they were told that from a certain distance when they approach a house, no matter who it is - even an old woman - take them down."

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT - ROOFS, CELLULAR TELEPHONES, NIGHT TIME
Testimony 49:
"Among other things, he stric
tly forbade us to climb up to roofs. He explained in fact that the air force has the 'go ahead' to fire at anyone seen on a roof."

Testimony 41: "You can't identify too much at night and anything that moves you engage in order not to take risks. It was not defined this way officially, but it was obvious. Any movement on the ground at night was doomed."

Testimonies 13 and 14: These describe an incident where an old man carrying a torch at night, walking towards an Israeli-held building, approached from about 150 metres - and was allowed to approach to 25 metres with no deterrent fire, before he was shot dead.

Testimony 14: "Everyone is shooting and shooting and the guy's screaming. The commander comes downstairs, glowing. 'Here's an opener for tonight'. He was asked why he wouldn't confirm deterrent fire. He said, "It's night time and this is a terrorist."

HUMAN SHIELDS
Some testimonies described the use of Palesti
nian civilians as human shields, for example by making neighbours enter suspect houses ahead of troops. The use of human shields is prohibited under article 51.7 of the Geneva Conventions.

Testimony 1 "To every house we close in on, we send the neighbour in, 'the Johnnie'… Sometimes the force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian's shoulder, advancing into a house and using him as a human shield. Commanders said these were the instructions and we had to do it…"

BUILDING DEMOLITIONS
Testimony 2:
"Part of the concept of razing was what the Israeli army calls 'the day after' consideration. Obviously this campaign would end at some point… The question was in what condition we'd leave the area, whether more exposed, a state that would afford us better firing and observation conditions, and far greater control. This was the principle behind all that razing - namely razing for our benefit.

Testimony 52:
"Most of the destruction that went on there was not necessary.

AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE

Testimony 43 :
"One guy said he just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone… [describes the shooting of a man "apparently some sort of lookout"] … I can definitely say he was not armed. I can definitely say the soldier regarded this as some children's game and was delighted and laughing after this. I think that a normal person, even having killed an armed terrorist, would not be amused."

Testimony 50: "The atmosphere was not one of fear but rather people too eager to shoot other people."

VANDALISM OF PALESTINIAN PROPERTY
Testimony 39:
"The guys would simply break stuff. Some were out to destroy and trash the whole time. They drew a disgusting drawing on the wall. They threw out sofas. They took down a picture from the wall just to shatter it."

Testimony 52:
Q: Was there boredom at any point during these two weeks?
A: Much boredom.
Q: So what does one do to relieve this boredom?
A: I told you, fire at water tanks, I don't know, out of boredom. When there's nothing else to shoot at, you fire at water tanks."

WHITE PHOSPHORUS
Testimony 8:

Q: Why fire phosphorus?

A: Because it's fun. Cool… I don't know what it's used for… I don't understand what it's even doing in our supplies if we're not supposed to use such ammo. It's ridiculous.

Testimony 11: "There was an area of about 200-300 square meters of glazed sand.... We understood this resulted from white phosphorus, and it was upsetting… in training you learn that white phosphorus is not used, and you're taught that it's not humane. You watch films and see what it does to people who are hit, and you say, 'There, we're doing it too.' That's not what I expected to see. Until that moment I had thought I belonged to the most humane army in the world."

RELIGIOUS RHETORIC
Testimony 15 [describing a talk by a military rabbi]: "Lots of pathos, the kind of religious discourse I'm a bit familiar with: war of choice, holy war - differing rules. He spoke less in religious terminology… and was much more into militant faith. He aimed at inspiring the men with courage, cruelty, aggressiveness, expressions such as 'no pity, God protects you, everything you do is sanctified'. The gist of these statements was perhaps to bring things into agreement with religion, with God and whoever this man was supposed to represent, that everything or nearly everything is permissible. "

Saturday 8 August 2009

"Republican" Bonfire...


I'm just home from a night at the Fort Bar just off the Falls Road, and I am fully disgusted at the disgraceful sights I was met with, in an area I once respected. I am writing this straight up, so excuse the bad grammar etc.

As I drove to the Fort I past the monstrosity that has been refered to as a "Republican" Bonfire.

In my humble opinion the whole concept, the disgusting behaviour surrounding it and the horrendus displays of hate are everything Irish Republicanism is not.

The Bonfire was decked with flags of the union, amoung others. If you have read or refer to my previous blogs about the bonfires you will find that I am disgusted by the use of flags on Bonfires. This is merely a symbol of hate. Once you are lost in hate, your Republicanism slowly dies, as a Republic based on the hate of others is not the Republic that our fallen heros have died for. However to heighten the disgracefulness of these flags, directly across the road is a Mural that states all flags are welcome on the Falls, meaning all people are welcome. These flags are shouting "YOUR NOT WELCOME" to anyone that is Unionist, loyalist or even just happy to British.

The alcohol fuelled hatred left the lower Falls and Divis covered by debris, as drunken fools fell over themselves. As we walked past two girls they began to burn a "Northern Ireland" flag, whilst wrapped in my flag. This is a great insult to me and should be an insult to other Republicans. If they insist on flauting the fact that they are bigoted bastards, I would appreciate if they didn't do so whilst wrapped in the Irish Tricolour, a flag of peace.

To fur
ther the disgusting behaviour they were actually hijacking and joyriding cars. What in the name of our good God was the point or logic behind that. It is completely non Republican. It is detrimental to society.

The people lining the lower Falls and Divis tonight where no better than the Bigoted fools that danced around the eleventh night bonfires faluting hatred of everything Irish and Catholic.

It may seem harsh, but these people are not practising Republicanism or Irishness or anything in anyway related. They are "celebrating" hatred, bigotness and alcohol fuelled idiocy. I have lost some of my respect for what I saw as Republican Belfast.

God Bless
Peace

Saturday 1 August 2009

"Its a matter of deep regret..."

"It is a matter off deep regret that Aidan was killed by a bullet fired by a soldier which ricocheted from the road." It is not for the governement either to accept or comment on the specific HET [Historical Enquiries Team] findings. "However, in overall terms the government endorses its work and has confidence in the HET's professionalism and throughness. Since part of the objectives of the HET is to bring solace and comfort to the families and loved ones, we hope this will be the case for Aidan's family." - Shaun Woodward

That is the text of a statement made by the "Secretary of State" Shaun Woodward in relation to the murder of Aidan McAnespie, by a British Soldier, as he walked through an illegal checkpoint in the occupied territory. At this moment it seems that as far as the British Government are concerned, they are happy enough. So I would like to say I am extremely pleased for the family. However personally I would not be happy at all with this "result" if you can call it that.

The first aspect of this statement that struck me, is the lack of an actual apology and the recognition of failure by the British forces. They have yet to acknowledge that this was murder; state murder. In my opinion this makes the statement from the British completely pointless. Who needs to be told that it is regretable for the British government that their soldiers got caught.

Secondly we have the fact that they have completely ignored the HET findings and are still acknowledging the lies of the original story, by use of the words "which ricocheted from the road". The HET have stated in their report that this is so unlikely that it can almost be disregarded completely. However as we see the British choose not to accept or comment on this report.

Thirdly, still no one is to be held to account for this atrocity. The soldier that fired this shot was charged only with manslaughter, but even this was dropped, the witness absent without leave. So even now that we have this "deep regret" from the British Government, we have no justice.

Aidan McAnespie was harrassed and threatened by British soldiers as he walked in his own streets. These were reported to the RUC, who obviously did nothing. Aidan McAnespie was not IRA or even Sinn Féin affiliated in anyway. Aidan McAnespie was then shot by a British soldier, in the back, as he walked through a checkpoint on his way to a Gaelic game. The murderer got away with it, and the McAnespie family were faced with what must have seemed like a neverending battle for justice. Aidan's sister never lived to see this statement from the occupying government.

The reasoning that the British government can not apologise is due to the fact that they would have to come out and admit that they are guilty of unacceptable heinous crimes against the Irish, that could amount to ethnic cleansing. Its no secret that since the occupation of our Island that the British have been nothing more than evil.

We see another example in the recent uncovering of a new document in the McGurk Bar Bombing. For many many years the British government covered up a loyalist slaughter on innocent people, murdered not for being Irish or Republican, but merely for being Catholic. The claims that the bomb exploded within the walls of the bar convicted the innocent dead of being part off a bomb making class and killed themselves. A new document, dated the day off the explosion, a document is possesion of the British army, highlighting that the bomb exploded outside the walls of the bar. With full knowledge of the innocence of the victims, the British governement allowed the loyalist murder gangs to once more get away with the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Catholics in the occupied territory of Ireland.

The people of Ireland can never have justice until the foriegn occupants make a full apology and fully accept their evil ways in Ireland and furthermore pull out off our country.

God Bless
Peace