Rally to Condemn Gang Rape of Filipina Woman by U.S. Marines - 11/4

I don't know the whole story. I do know that no US military member gets off for committing a crime, no matter what country they do it in. My job stateside is law enforcement on a military base and am actively involved in the arrest and punishment of military members that break the UCMJ, federal, state and city law.
I can state that often an arrest or accusation do not make the military members involved guilty. This is not to excuse any misconduct. If guilty they will be punished by real jail time. Just wonder why the rally? Is it out of concern for the woman, or out of a desire to embarass the US and Arroyo?

...
Swadi and six other female Iraqi lawyers began investigating claims of sexual assault late last year after a note reportedly written by a prisoner named Noor was smuggled out of Abu Ghraib. The note claimed that US soldiers were raping female detainees, and in some cases, such as that of Noor herself, getting them pregnant. Swadi then began interviewing detainees who said they too had been assaulted or had witnessed assaults, The Guardian reports.
...
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=12&ItemID=5653


U.S. Soldiers Accused Of Raping Iraqi Women Escape Prosecution

On International Women's Day, Guardian reporter Suzanne Goldenberg broke the story about how soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade accused of rape were able to escape the charges. The soldiers were from the same military unit whose troops fired on the car carrying freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena.
...
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/29/153242


US soldiers accused of raping 100 colleagues

The Pentagon has ordered an urgent inquiry into reports that more than 100 American women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers, it emerged yesterday.

There have been 112 cases of sexual assault on women soldiers in units under central command, which oversees operations in the Middle East and central Asia, during the past 18 months. Meanwhile more than 20 women at an air force training base in Texas have told a local crisis centre they were assaulted in 2002.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1157345,00.html


Statistics on Crimes Committed
by US Troops in south Korea

Crimes committed by US soldiers were found as early as when US troops were first stationed in south Korea. According to the south Korean government's official statistics, 50,082 crimes were committed by US soldiers from 1967 to 1998 (including those by soldiers' families), and 56,904 US soldiers were involved (including soldiers' families) in these crimes. The statistics imply that the actual figure may be higher if take into account those cases not handled by the south Korean police. Based on the statistics, the total number of crimes committed by US soldiers since September 8, 1945 (when they were first stationed in Korea) is estimated to be around 100,000. Unfortunately the south Korean government does not have statistics on US soldiers' crimes committed before 1967, because SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) went into effect in 1967, allowing the south Korean court jurisdiction over crimes committed by US soldiers with narrow and limited application.

http://www.iacenter.org/Koreafiles/ktc-civilnetwork.htm

Rape focuses anger at US bases in Japan
The alleged rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl by three US soldiers on September 4 in Okinawa has produced a public outcry against US bases in Japan.

Three US soldiers were reported to have arrest warrants issued against them on September 8, but were able to avoid arrest. They were protected by the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, part of the military alliance between the two countries since World War II. Under the agreement, Japanese jurisdiction does not apply to members of the US forces until the suspects are charged.

The case angered local residents, who feared that the suspects would be able to avoid prosecution, like many of their predecessors. There have been more than 4500 cases of crimes committed by US servicemen—including 12 murders—in Okinawa since 1972, the year when it reverted to Japan's control.

This [the rape] happened because the military bases are here, Okinawa Governor Masahide Ota said. Many previous attempts to prosecute US suspects had been unable to proceed after they disappeared while in army refuge.

Okinawa women were planning a special protest against the bases in late September. Local residents claim that many rapes go unreported.

Many Japanese city, town and village assemblies were said to be planning to adopt protest resolutions against the continuation of US bases. The Gushikawa city assembly did so on September 11 and the Okinawa city assembly the next day. The Okinawa governor was reportedly sent to Tokyo by the local assemblies to press for an end of US bases in Okinawa.
...
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55a/437.html

September 22, 1995 in Naha, capital of Okinawa, to protest the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen earlier this month. "If you're a human being, it should be obvious that you don't do such a thing," Chizu Akamine, chairwoman of the Okinawa Women's Association, told the protestors. The banner says, "U.S. Military, Don't Be Savage."
...
http://www.uchinanchu.org/history/1995_rape_incident.htm

Under current rules, a US soldier who makes it back to base after an alleged crime is not turned over until an indictment is made by Japanese prosecutors. But if the soldier is arrested by Japanese police, he or she can be held for an indefinite period of time, can be interrogated without counsel - and that evidence can be used in a trial.

After a brutal 1995 rape in Okinawa by three US soldiers of a 12-year-old girl caused an outcry across Japan, US authorities agreed to give "sympathetic consideration" when deciding to turn over soldiers to the Japanese, in cases of "heinous crimes." These crimes include murder and rape.

http://csmonitor.com/2003/0630/p06s02-woap.html

See the problem with you people is that you never tell the truth or even the full story. In past instances where Marines, Saliors, or Soldiers were not turned over to a foriegn country for a trial, they were sent through the US military system. So they were put on trial, and when convicted punished severly. So if people do wrong they get punished. So stop saying they don't simply because they aren't turned over to the host country.

As far as the Marines in the PI, well they will get put on trial and the woman attacked will get her day in court. So enough whining already. And for those Phillipinos that have a problem with the US serving in the PI fighting terrorism, I would say two things, first get the hell out of the US then and stop living off of all the great things this Country has to offer, and second I would like to remind you how the US saved your ass during WWII.

So to summarize, anyone accused of a crime in the Military will face justice and for those using this as an excuse to protest our involvement in the PI, I would say, you are always more than welcome to return to that corrupt and poor country you call home, the Phillipines, no one is keeping you here.

Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian

A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants yesterday for three US soldiers who face being put on trial in Madrid for the killing of a Spanish television cameraman during the Iraq war.
....
Judge Pedraz said he had issued the warrant because the US government had not replied to his requests for help as he investigated Couso's death.

It was "the only way of ensuring the suspects became available to Spanish judicial authorities, given the complete lack of cooperation," from the US, the judge explained in a written document.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1596153,00.html

...
The death of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari has revived anger over the way America dealt with its own soldiers who killed Italians by mistake in a much more clear-cut case in 1998.

In that incident, 20 people plunged to their deaths in an Italian ski resort when a low-flying US aircraft, on a military exercise from a nearby base, sliced a cable car from its cable.

Each of the four men manning the plane was initially charged with negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter, but only the two men actually flying the plane were court-martialed.

During the course of the trial, it was found that the plane was flying at speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour - faster than military regulations allow - when it hit the cable car wire.

In the end, with a decision that enraged the Italian government, all serious charges against Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, the jet's navigator, who charted the low-flying mission, were dropped. He was not tried for involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide and found guilty only of obstruction of justice after it was discovered he and the pilot had destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane on the day of the accident. The pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, served six months in prison.

In more recent cases, involving other countries, America's attempts to do justice and pay compensation have fallen short of their victims' expectations. Two US fighter pilots who mistakenly dropped a bomb on Canadian troops exercising in Afghanistan in April 2002, initially faced up to 64 years in prison for manslaughter and aggravated assault. But Col. Patrick M. Rosenow, who presided over a nine-day investigative hearing in January 2003, concluded that although there was sufficient evidence to court-martial each pilot, criminal charges against them should be dropped.
...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0310/p06s01-woeu.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Islamic clerics expressed outrage Thursday at television footage that purportedly shows U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters to taunt other militants and warned of a possible violent anti-American backlash.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the alleged desecration and ordered an inquiry. The operational commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, which launched its own criminal probe, said the alleged act, if true, was ``repugnant.''

...

Cremating bodies is banned under Islam, and one Muslim leader in Afghanistan compared the video to photographs of U.S. troops abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

``Abu Ghraib ruined the reputation of the Americans in Iraq and to me this is even worse,'' said Faiz Mohammed, a top cleric in northern Kunduz province. ``This is against Islam. Afghans will be shocked by this news. It is so humiliating. There will be very, very dangerous consequences from this.''

Anger also was evident in the streets.

``If they continue to carry out such actions against us, our people will change their policy and react with the same policy against them,'' said Mehrajuddin, a resident of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

Another man in the capital, Zahidullah, said the reported abuse was like atrocities committed by Soviet troops, who were driven out of Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade of occupation. He warned that the same could happen to American forces.

``Their future will be like the Russians,'' Zahidullah said.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5358171,00.html

Ritual is an essential aspect of every social order. Through rituals belief systems and modes of behavior are confirmed. Rituals often include sacrifice, either literal or symbolic. A victim is offered up in order to confirm the power of one segment of the social order over another. Such rituals tend to multiply when established power relations are threatened. They are also the hallmark of highly militarized societies in which male warriors attempt to assert their dominance within the social order, as well as their right to determine membership in military organizations. Those most different from them--women--are often the sacrificial victims, particularly women who dare to attempt entry into the sacred military domain.

http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/june94pohl.htm

There are hundreds of documented rapes of Latinas in the US military and thousands more that were never reported because of fear and shame of the victims. This is also true of the hundreds of rapes of Iraqi women and young girls that took place in Baghdad during the early days of the US occupation. The following five cases are just examples of the hundreds that have occurred during recent years.

Second Lieutenant Orlinda Marquez

Orlinda Marquez, one of many Mexican-Americans brainwashed by the US educational system, dreamed of being an officer in the military ever since she was a kid in the fifth grade. Ms. Marquez confesses, "I bought a rucksack from an Army surplus store and ran to and from school with that rucksack." Naive and innocent Orlinda Marquez took an ROTC scholarship and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden with a degree in engineering and geophysics. She fulfilled her lifetime dream and joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 1987 as a Second Lieutenant.

Second Lieutenant Marquez was brutally raped by a non-commissioned officer while she slept in her barracks and her entire illustrious career and life completely destroyed. She has than self-destructed after a racist US command that has no respect for women of color blamed her for the rape.

The Rape Case of Airwoman Arabella Rivera

Arabella Rivera came from a military family. Her brother was in the Air Force and her father in the US Army. Ms. Rivera , at age 18, joined the Air Force, and was sent to Lowry Air Force Base. Naive and innocent as most Catholic girls, the white military beasts started conspiring against her. Her first orders were to wear short skirts. She had been in photography school at the base for about three months when she was set up for a sexual assault. An officer she trusted forced her to perform oral sex in his car. "I didn't know what the hell he was doing. He grabbed me and pulled me down. ... He wouldn't let me go. I was choking. I thought I would die," she recalled.

After that night, her life was in shambles and she began to drink heavily to relieve her shame. A few days later, walking home from the airmen's club, the same man followed her to a remote part of the base and sodomized her. She said she screamed and cried until he let her go.

The next week, when a master sergeant followed her into a bathroom and began putting his hands up her shirt, she "freaked out," she said. He stopped, and told her the incident never happened, and that life would be hell if she told anyone. Arabella Rivera was subsequently assaulted numerous times. After one incident she was forced to work with her attacker. Arabella Rivera has had intensive therapy, but had to drop out after an extremely traumatic session.

She never reported the assaults because of the threats and feeling that no one would believe her.

Being a female in the military, she said, meant "you had to fight tooth and nail to compete with the men. So I became one of the boys. Had a foul mouth like the men. Drank like them and became promiscuous. I didn't know how to be a lady anymore. I didn't show emotion. I didn't cry."

The above behavior may be the same "syndrome" Lynndie England demonstrated and that is depicted in the the Abu Ghraib torture photographs of Iraqi POW's. Lynndie England reputed to be a lesbian, never-the-less was extremely promiscuous and is now five months pregnant in the brig at Fort Bragg.

Arabella Rivera began therapy, but at first reliving the trauma was too much to take. "I crawled on the floor, cried and cried and said, 'I can't do this anymore.' "I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to live." She ended up in the psychiatric ward of VA Hospital.

The Rape Case of Sailor Yuriria Acuna Pineda

Yuriria Acuna Pineda of the US Navy now lives in Los Angeles . . . homeless. A young Mexican-American woman of very meager economic resources, she has been unable to find help for her mental problems due to the brutal rape inside a bathroom by another sailor by the name of Roger Northern II in June of 2001. The US Navy investigator by the name of Kevin O'Neil concluded that Yariria had "asked for it"!

At a homeless shelter for veterans in Long Beach, Acuna Pineda has applied for benefits for post-traumatic stress syndrome and has begun counseling.

Although she is only 24, she said it's hard to feel hopeful about her future when she had planned to remain in the Navy. "Everything I learned in there, it's useless now. I have to start all over. I feel it was all taken from me, what I had worked so hard to get."

The Rape Case of US Army Medic Susana Armenta

As one of the few women working in an ambulance unit at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, 18-year-old Susana Armenta did not question a supervisor when he instructed her to wear only dresses.

She was alone in her barracks early one morning when her supervisor walked in and sexually assaulted her. As he was leaving, Armenta, now 39, recalls his saying, "Thank you. You just made my day."

She did not report him, she said, for fear she would be demoted or punished.

Two months later, she left the service and eventually joined the Reserves.

In 1991, Armenta was activated for Operation Desert Storm. She was at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs doing laundry when she walked back into her room and suddenly felt a huge shove.

"I remember seeing a face and blond hair. I know the person was very heavy because I was hurting so bad," she recalled.

She remembers few details of the rape itself, but can recall waking up the next morning feeling numb. "I went to the bathroom and saw the blood and the stickiness and the bruises," she said. "I took the longest shower of my life, and that was it."

Weeks later, she realized she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from the assault, she said, and was treated by a doctor.

After the rape, Armenta returned to work. "I drank wine to keep myself under control. I was so scared I would see him again. One day at work I began crying hysterically. I asked for a chaplain, and the next thing I knew I was admitted to the psychiatric hospital."

The Rape Case of Airwoman Sofia Rodriguez

Sofia Rodriguez was 25 and had been in the Air Force one year when she became pregnant. She was in the third month of pregnancy at McClellan Air Force Base in California when she was raped. A staff sergeant brutally raped her and she almost lost her baby.

"The next thing I remember ... he was raping me," Rodriguez said. "I couldn't move. All I could do was cry and think, 'What's going to happen to my baby?' I can remember the tears coming down my face, and he was saying I was crying because I was enjoying it. He had his hand on my throat."

Rodriguez doesn't remember how she got away. "I went to my dorm, locked myself in my room, and my whole life changed." She says , "I blamed myself. I even thought about suicide."

The trauma from rape, she said, "takes your life if you let it. ... I joined the military with my whole heart. You don't expect to be raped by your own peers or superior."

The above five case of rape of Latinas in the US Armed Forces are just examples of the hundreds that have occurred in recent years. There are thousands more that never get reported or investigated. These and the known cases of rape in occupied Iraq are not mere isolated cases as the First Lady and her husband George Bush are saying. It is a pattern that has been established ever since the hordes of invaders pillaged Aztlan and are now doing in Islamic countries. This is one primary reason why many in Aztlan do not consider the stupid jock Pat Tillman a hero. He was, for us, just another "white (or Jewish) rapist" responsible for the murder of an unknown number of Afghani children. There are actually "no heros" in the current Zionist instigated war against Islam. Soldiers of Mexican descent in the US military should instead fight for the honor of the Mexican-American women that were raped as described above.

Read More
http://www.aztlan.net/latinas_us_military_raped.htm

http://www.aztlan.net/latinas_us_military_raped.htm

To the last poster, you are crazy. If these women were raped, that is horrible and they will be looked after, to say it happens all the time is crazy and not supported by the facts. And where is your proof that Iraqib women were raped by American service men. I mean come on, get a life. And what is with the anti jewish rhetoric, are you a closet Nazi?

How about supporting our troops or getting the hell out of this Country. You obviously don't like it, so leave.

still smearing his shit all over other people around here?

he is a walking billboard for the theory of unintelligent design!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt many women would want Marines looking after them when they have such a high rate of domestic violence and sexual assault.

and so of course, the code of honor demands he cover for others' crimes.

likely they do the same for him.

> How about supporting our troops or getting the hell out of this Country. You obviously don't like it, so leave. <

Oh, so that's why you call yourself Mr. Democracy. I get it now.

Freedom that doesn't tolerate dissent isn't freedom. Don't you see the contradictions in what you're saying? Simply put, it's not our job to blindly support the troops, let alone the people who give orders to the troops.

Just because other countries are fucked up (the state has a way of doing that, for some reason, imagine that,) that doesn't mean that government of this country is beyond reproach. If anything, this government is quickly becoming one of the most repressive, authoritarian state powers in the world. As I said in the foothill anti-recruiter thread, the military doesn't fight for "our freedoms" -- they fight for state interests. If anything, your response under pressure is proving that point.

Bottom line? If you want to live somewhere where the civilian populace has to express unquestioning gratitude for whatever freedoms are doled out to them, maybe you're the one who should move. Although if the administration has their way, you may not have to go very far to live in exactly that kind of environment.

I am a former soldier, son of a soldier and father of a soldier. When I am not covering the ass of some idiot in a foreign country, I enforce the law on a military installation. There is a need for that, just like there is a need for it in every city because people commit crimes. Are you trying to say that the military commits more crimes than the average citizen? Are you saying that as military members they must be perfect in every aspect? Either view is flawed.
Everything that happens in your town or city happens on base or overseas. The only crimes that go unpunished are the ones where no culprit is found. The military also has a much broader definition of what a crime is.

I can see a definite bias in your statement that the female hispanic LT was"brainwashed".

" Are you trying to say that the military commits more crimes than the average citizen? "

The military draws its members from the subset of the US population with the highest rate of violent crime (men in their late teens and twenties).
It also select from this population those who wont or dont mind using guns and trains them to be into humiliation (ie hazing in boot camp). It teachs people to kill for a cause an tries to limit the psychological effects on the soldiers when they are told to kill (normal people cant be snipers and kill even those they feel are evil and not become severely traumatized).

Rape and domestic abuse are higher in the military than the general public for pretty obvious reasons (its also higher among cops but probably less high since they dont go through the same form of hazing and bootcamp as most soldiers)

Sorry, can't let that go. No matter what you may think of the military, I have not seen more DV or SA on base than off. As for cops, was a postal worker longer than a cop.

You plainly have a bias towards those that work in a violent field. Surprisingly, most soldiers don't get off work, rob a store, beat the kids or rape the neighbor. You would think they were all knuckle dragging psychos due to the nature of their business. Some are thugs and they find their way to Leavenworth or a civilian prison.

But hey, don't let me stand in the way of your bashing the troops.

"most soldiers don't get off work, rob a store, beat the kids or rape the neighbor."

MOST dont.... but a higher percentage do such things compared to other groups.

" MOST dont.... but a higher percentage do such things compared to other groups."

those that DO, make videos while they do it, and swap them, and put them on the net.

and the u.s. govt. covers for them.

I can't say who, where or when. Soldier is deeply religous, has many children is applying for welfare aid on base. Wife is asked if any domestic abuse occured. responds in the affirmative. husband is next door in another office. We send plainclothes MPI(military police investigator) and have uniformed patrol close by. he was arrested, charged with rape, sodomy, domestic abuse. All from 1 instance. His court martial was pending when I left the states for here in May. The base I worked on had about 50,000 and averaged 1-3 domestic calls a week. These were actual cases. There were more calls, but not all substantiated. By that, I mean no signs of a struggle, no sign of any kind of physical contact. We don't forget about it, but continue to watch them and check on them for weeks to come.
You tell me, is that more than average?

it's since come out that nixon, an alcoholic, hit his wife the 1st lady on occasion. he was under a lot of pressure. she covered for him.

why shouldnt the head of a democracy be just like the people in it?

My wife is from the Phillipines. I have 2 daughters. Any man that does them wrong has more than the law to fear. I truly despise all that abuse women. i have always thought that child molestation and rape need to be capital crimes. My wife is almost a nazi in this respect. If these men are truly guilty, they will be punished. I see this event becoming more than a crime bt an occaision to be manipulated by those seeking another goal than justice for those involved.

> I can see a definite bias in your statement that the female hispanic LT was"brainwashed".

I don't think she in particular is brainwashed, I think we're all brainwashed -- to think that this is such a great country that there's nothing of significance that's wrong with it, that if we criticize too much we should pack our bags, and so on.

The question is are you going to wake up, or keep believing what they tell you to believe. That doesn't make you stupid, just human. Typical, perhaps -- but hey, we've all been there.

Besides, I think she can speak for herself...

Lets see your proof that more rapes and acts of violence occur by men in the Military. This is another of those made of factoids that turn out to be total b.s. Remember the one about more women being abused on Super Bowl Sunday, that was total b.s., and so are the anti military factoids you are claiming. Like the other guy said, the same things happen in the Military as in civilian life. And the fact is the military punishes harshest.

As for telling people to leave this country if they don't like it, I did say that, you have that right under our laws, no one would stop you. If you want to disagree that is great also. But do you have the right to subvert the truth and undermine our troops in combat in a foriegn land? That I am not so sure of. As for restrictions imposed by this government, I think you need a history lesson, this country is now living in the loosest period of our country as far as laws go, people have been given more rights and laws are stronger now than ever to protect individual freedoms.

I still can't beleive you get freaked out about the patriot act, it is the same kind of laws that have been on the books for dealing with the mob, they now just apply to potential terrorists also. Had we had some laws like this in the past and the right mentality of law enforcement at the most senior levels of government, 9/11 wouldn't have happened.

So how about supporting your president, he deserves our support, he has certainly earned it with his leadership during this tough period in America, the War on Terrorism, needs everyone in America fight on the same team, like George said, you are either with us or against us.

Dear Mr. "Democracy,"

Since you seem to be on this "you're with us or you're against us" kick (tres democratique there,) I thought I'd hunt your patriotic self up some Thomas Jefferson quotes. You remember him, right? Mr. "People have the right to abolish their corrupt goverments?" Here ya go, patriot.

ps: A suggestion: Given the dire straits that we all find ourselves in, you may want to consider dropping the "Mr. Democracy" moniker -- I mean, democracy is so Jimmy Carter, ya know? I suggest "Mr. These Colors Don't Run" or perhaps "Mr. Cluster Bomb."

But as you pointed out, it's a free country. Do as you will.

-----------------

Jefferson quotes -- from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

Nations of eternal war [expend] all their energies... in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.

Like I said before, disagreement is fine and dandy, that is why I like this website, that is why I joined the Marines, to protect our freedoms. You are missing the point, the military doesn't want war, Bush/Cheney didn't want war, it was thrust upon us by animals, evil doers, and murders who could not stand by and let good americans and live the American Dream.

You forget, WE WERE ATTACKED. The 9/11 attack was one battle of a much larger war, good vs evil, right vs wrong, freedom vs slavery. The muslims that are at war with us and israel and every other freedom loving country will not be happy until all free people are dead or enslaved in some sort of muslim extremism. For me and many others, like our founding fathers have said, give us liberty or give us death, that is right, a free America is worth fighting for, we have it now, but it is under attack from muslim extremists and you are very naive if you think those muslim extremists will ever leave America alone. Remember, they think of us as the great satan, because we give women rights, other religions equal standing, because we use modern technologies, we are concerned evil, do you really want to live in a world where that constant threat from them exists, we have learned after 9/11 that to ignore the problem is no answer.

So do I support your right to disagree, I sure as hell do, in fact I am willing to die for it, just as millions of other Americans are. But I also believe that if you really don't like this country, you should exercise your absolute right and leave. Because disagreeing with a position or a policy is one thing, hating your country is another.

Like I said before, disagreement is fine and dandy, that is why I like this website, that is why I joined the Marines, to protect our freedoms. You are missing the point, the military doesn't want war, Bush/Cheney didn't want war, it was thrust upon us by animals, evil doers, and murders who could not stand by and let good americans and live the American Dream.

You forget, WE WERE ATTACKED. The 9/11 attack was one battle of a much larger war, good vs evil, right vs wrong, freedom vs slavery. The muslims that are at war with us and israel and every other freedom loving country will not be happy until all free people are dead or enslaved in some sort of muslim extremism. For me and many others, like our founding fathers have said, give us liberty or give us death, that is right, a free America is worth fighting for, we have it now, but it is under attack from muslim extremists and you are very naive if you think those muslim extremists will ever leave America alone. Remember, they think of us as the great satan, because we give women rights, other religions equal standing, because we use modern technologies, we are concerned evil, do you really want to live in a world where that constant threat from them exists, we have learned after 9/11 that to ignore the problem is no answer.

So do I support your right to disagree, I sure as hell do, in fact I am willing to die for it, just as millions of other Americans are. But I also believe that if you really don't like this country, you should exercise your absolute right and leave. Because disagreeing with a position or a policy is one thing, hating your country is another.

>You forget, WE WERE ATTACKED.

And the connection between 9/11 and the Iraq war is what, exactly? WMDs? Please.

>But I also believe that if you really don't like this country, you should exercise your absolute right and leave. Because disagreeing with a position or a policy is one thing, hating your country is another.

Who said anything about hating this country? Is the world really that black and white to you?

I would love to go back to my country... and that would be where I was born, where I grew up and where my grandfather served in the Military during WW2, where most of my friend's dads are all NAVY officers. Where the first inhabitants are called "Native American Indians" who, as of recent scientific proof are Asians.

And that would be the United States of America.

Phinoy

Imagine if we all go home... all the hospitals will close down and the entire US Navy would be partially immobilized.

First, the Iraq 9/11 connection is simple. Since being attacked the President has pursued a policy of striking at threats first, before we become victims again.

Iraq was a known supported of suicide bombers in israel, it had fired at US planes all the time, it tried to assasinate Bush Sr. and it failed to comply with numerous UN resolutions concerning WMDs and other things. Iraq was a threat to the region, a source for anti American and Israel rhetoric, and it had the capabilities to reconstiute its Nuclear and Chemical weapons programs which could easily be exported to terrorist elements around the world.

I think that is enough a link for this evening.

And like I said, I don't want Americans to leave this country, It just seems that the positions here on this board and at similar sites is more about hatred than disagreement over policy. I really think alot of people on this site and others hate America because we are the strongest, greatest country in the world. I don't know why but it sure seems that way.

you just kill kill kill for your country, right or wrong.

veeee-eeery different than hate. such an ugly word, hate.......

you only hate when you're told to.

The Philippines lives under a corrupt Puppet regime that was set up by the United States when they stole the independence of the Filipino people during the Span-Am war. Filipinos move to the US because of American exploitation of the Filipino people and their resources, so you reap what you sow. As far as saving the country back in WWII, the US did no such thing, the just made sure that the puppet regime in the Philippine was friendly to American imperialist interests instead of the Japanese, if they really cared about our freedom and independence, they would have stayed the fuck out of there in the first place.

The US needs to withdraw their military from many other nations besides the Philippines. Regardless of the WW2 situation, there is no longer a need for any US military presence in the Philippines to benefit the people. Maybe the US corporations like Monsanto and the minority Philippine wealthy elite (less than 5% of population, these folks give Monsanto a warm welcome) benefit from US military protection, but that benefit is the same reason that over 95% percent of the people live on poverty and the environment suffers from overharvesting of resources. Biotech corporations like Monsanto depend on the police/military to protect their genetically modified crops from the Phillipine farmers who would burn this affront to their indigenous rice if they could. In certain places the farmers have taken matters into their own hands..

"India, Thailand, Brazil and the United Kingdom have been the sites of angry farmer protests and legal action against GM soya, cotton and corn. After news of monarch butterflies dying from eating pollen from Bt-corn, environmental activists have pressured the European Union into a moratorium of planting of GMOs and production of genetically-altered foods (GAFs).

Farmers' groups in these countries launched huge protests that involved uprooting and burning of transgenic cotton and soya, and offices of Cargill and Monsanto have even been vandalized in India. Widespread consumer boycotts have forced food giants and supermarkets to pull out GMOs and GAFs.

Without genetic engineering, billions will starve, Monsanto says. However, neither Monsanto nor any of the other biotech companies appears to be engineering crops that might solve global food shortages. In a shrewd business maneuver, investors breed varieties tolerant to bombardment of herbicides they also manufacture."

http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Relive-Green-Revolution-Horror.htm

Rape and violence are both involved in the imperialist concept of military domination of a suppressing a colony. In the eyes of the US generals, the Philippines is just another colony for the US imperialists to push around, until the people of the colony fight back..

luna moth

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to question six U.S. soldiers accused of gang-raping a Filipino woman in a van after military exercises earlier this month.

Jovencito Zuno, the chief state prosecutor, said the suspects had 10 days to respond with counter affidavits and that he hoped an initial investigation would be completed in 60 days.

The six soldiers, who have not been charged with any offence, remain in U.S. custody in the Philippines after their colleagues aboard the USS Essex left when the military exercises ended.

Manila is a major ally to Washington in the region and both sides say the alleged attack on a 22-year-old woman in the Subic Bay area on November 1 will do nothing to hurt relations.

Still, leftist and women's groups have called for a visiting forces agreement between the two countries to be scrapped and the six U.S. soldiers to be brought under Philippine jurisdiction.

"We have already presented formally the complaint," Zuno said. "When we find sufficient evidence against the respondents and the case is filed in court and the court issues warrants of arrest that will be the time that we can demand custody."

Officials at the U.S. embassy in Manila pledged cooperation in the investigation and said the suspects would be made available for questioning but have given no indication whether the soldiers could be turned over to Philippine authorities.

"The visiting forces agreement was designed between our two nations exactly to deal with situations like this where there have been allegations of criminal misdeeds," Scott Bellard, the U.S. embassy's acting chief of mission, told reporters.

The United States, a colonial ruler of the Philippines for nearly half a century, was ordered to close its last military base in the country in the early 1990s but continues to train and advise local troops fighting Muslim and communist insurgencies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051108/ts_nm/crime_philippines_usa_dc

Ever since moving to America, all I've learned in school how fair the Americans are, how much this counry advocated human rights, pretty much how righteous this "Land of Opportunity" is.

I learned how Americans fought for freedom from an unfair ruler in England. I learned that the Pilgrims were so God-fearing that this nation was built upon it. I learned that it was the Americans who fought the Nazis. They fought to make them pay for the horibble war crimes done on the innocent Jews, gays, and anyone else . I learned that the democratic system was more superior to royalty, Communism, and even religion.

Then all of a sudden, I became educated. I discovered the colored people are STILL second class citizens. While moral people were fighting for retributions for raped victims for every othe country, the soldiers protecting us were raping everyone else. I found out that they killed Pilipinos as a sport, hence the riots of Watsonville (which I don't live too far from now). I read about the same concentration camps the Nazis imposed on the Jews occurring right here in California and Hawaii. I read about the innocent Japanese people being held at Manzanar, only because they were Japanese. I became educated about the manongs, Manilatown, our dying veteranos...

Then how my friends' grandfathers fought alongside the American soldiers, who in turn raped their wives and daughters. Our dying veteranos, who have no one left...who only ask for an apology from the self-centered American government. The proud American government that wouldn't let anything happen to their poor American soldiers.

If the American people demand the harshest criminal justice done onto the Nazi soldiers, then we the American people must demand the same fairness onto our own.

It's only fair...since you know, that's what the justice system is all about...or was.

So as an evil imperialist, what should I see on my trip to the RP? Any good spots to see? Not looking for the b girls and drinking myself into a stupor.

The U.S. came to the Philippines not for the sake of liberating my country from the Japanese but to sercure it's interest and avenge Pearl Harbor. Do not used that bullshit excuse of saving "Our Ass" to reason for Pinoys to stop whining about the rape of the Pinay buy the so called the proud the few the rapist marines. Those bastards should be shot on the spot. Going back to history was it the freedom loving U.S. that took over the job of occupying the Philippines from the spanish when the united states promise the Filipino People of a free and sovreign county.

Your description of the Philippines as a corrupt and poor country think about the history of the U.S. with a pass of slave holding and currently the most racist country on the planet. The U.S. wouldn't be today if not buy the many immigrants from around the world and don't forget european americans stole this land from the original inhabitants!

The U.S. has done nothing to help the Philippines other than exploit the poverty of the people for their own fucking benefits. You talked about saving "our ass" during WW2, but you forget the U.S. failed to stop and later abandoned the Philippines for the Japanese to occupy it for next 4 years- until McArthur came back to his fixed reputation and save american prisoners of war and reoccupy my country again. So in short you did not save our ass but saved your own fuckin ass. Those fucking marines should die for their crimes, the U.S. military has no respect for filipino women only seeing them as nothing but whores and maids and no respect for my country as whole-U.S. MILITARY GET THE FUCK OUT MY COUNTRY WE DON'T WANT YOU OR NEED YOU.

Rape of the Judicial System, Rape of Nicole once again, and Rape of the Nation's Dignity and Sovereignty

Like serial rapists who stalked the streets of Metro Manila in the dead of night not too long ago, Philippine government forces at 11 pm last night barged into the Makati City Jail and illegally pulled out rape convict Lance Corporal Daniel Smith of the US Marines for transfer to US Embassy custody in complete defiance of Philippine courts and judicial system.

This shameful and detestable act was deliberately timed with the three-day holiday from December 30 to January 1 of the new year obviously to frustrate any possible counter-action by the courts. It was also intended to avoid outbreaks of protests in the streets because people are busy preparing for the coming of the New Year. The timing is also outrageous in another sense—it was the eve of the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of the national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

The illegal and forcible transfer to US government custody of the US Marine rape convict is tantamount to multiple rape committed by both the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) regime and the US government. It is a rape of the Philippine judicial system and its courts. It is a rape of the Philippine government’s own Constitution. It is a rape of Nicole once again. Above all, it is a rape of the nation’s dignity and sovereignty.

Nothing like this could ever happen without the knowledge and approval of Malacanang, the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs, and the Philippine Police. US Embassy spokesperson Matthew Lussenhop confirmed this when he told media last night that Smith’s transfer was upon “orders of the Philippine government” and “in cooperation with the Philippine police”.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her entire regime must be held fully accountable for betraying our nation’s sovereignty and making a mockery of the constitution under which she holds office.

LABAN NG MASA (Struggle of the Masses) calls on the entire Filipino people, including those in government, in particular those in the judiciary, the legal professions and law enforcement agencies, to rise in collective indignation and demand the ouster of a President and a regime that has demeaned our national dignity and broken the very laws which they are sworn to uphold, on top of such other high crimes as electoral fraud, plunder, widespread political killings, and pro-globalization policies which pauperized the majority of our people.

The fact that there are repeated cases of rapes involving US troops and women from the lands of its bases (Japan / Philippines) is indeed a matter of concern.

THere has been at least one known incident in South Korea as well.

If the Vietnam War had not happened, you could have seen the total number of cases against U.S troops (and the total number of Asian women victims) increase. The fact of the matter is that these troops are based on a foreign soil with an aim to 'protect' the sovereignity of the host nation. How ironic that then, that the sovereignity of a woman is often left to the dogs ? Are the U.S troops thinking that BECAUSE they are the dominant force in the world and that they serve to protect democracy at the cost of their lives - then it is justifiable to violate women of the lands they are stationed in?

It is a shame too, that the host nations governments are abiding by treaties to host the U.S bases. How much more spineless can these govts get?