permaculture

[Patrick <forgeadams@yahoo.com>]

Japs huh? Laurence, who wrote of this spam email John McCain (he is renowned 
for saying gook in public)? This Chuck Yeager thing is offensive way beyond 
the racial slur. 

I am astounded by the ignorance of expressed by many of the recent posting on 
this listserv. I'll post an untactful reply as soon as I have the time to do 
so. In the mean time please dwell on this off topic aside. 

Patrick O'Connor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091803935_pf.html
Members of U.S. platoon in Afghanistan accused of killing civilians for sport



By Craig Whitlock

Saturday, September 18, 2010;
9:39 PM





AT JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. The U.S. soldiers hatched a plan as 
simple as it was savage: to randomly target and kill an Afghan civilian,
 and to get away with it.


For weeks, according to Army charging documents, rogue members of a 
platoon from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, 
floated the idea. Then, one day last winter, a solitary Afghan man 
approached them in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. The "kill team" 
activated the plan.


One soldier created a ruse that they were under attack, tossing a fragmentary 
grenade on the ground. Then others opened fire.


According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15
 was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians 
that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American 
soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have 
been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as 
hoarding a skull and other human bones.


The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the 
military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were 
committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly 
tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing, 
only to be rebuffed.


Two more slayings would follow. Military documents allege that five 
members of the unit staged a total of three murders in Kandahar province
 between January and May. Seven other soldiers have been charged with 
crimes related to the case, including hashish use, attempts to impede 
the investigation and a retaliatory gang assault on a private who blew 
the whistle.


Army officials have not disclosed a motive for the killings and macabre 
behavior. Nor have they explained how the attacks could have persisted 
without attracting scrutiny. They declined to comment on the case beyond
 the charges that have been filed, citing the ongoing investigation.


But a review of military court documents and interviews with people 
familiar with the investigation suggest the killings were committed 
essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and 
alcohol.


The accused soldiers, through attorneys and family members, deny 
wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of 
accusations and counter-accusations among the defendants as they seek to
 pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews.


The Army has scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case this fall at Joint
 Base Lewis-McChord, home of the Stryker brigade. (The unit was renamed 
the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, when it returned from 
Afghanistan
 in July.) Military officials say privately that they worry the hearings
 will draw further attention to the case, with photos and other evidence
 prompting anger among the Afghan civilians whose support is critical to
 the fight against the Taliban.

The 'kill team'


According to statements given to investigators, members of the unit - 
3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment - began
 talking about forming a "kill team" in December, shortly after the 
arrival of a new member, Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, 25, of Billings, 
Mont.


Gibbs, whom some defendants have described as the ringleader, confided 
to his new mates that it had been easy for him to get away with "stuff" 
when he served in Iraq
 in 2004, according to the statements. It was his second tour in 
Afghanistan, having served there from January 2006 until May 2007.


The first opportunity presented itself Jan. 15 in the Maiwand district 
of Kandahar province. Members of the 3rd Platoon were providing 
perimeter security for a meeting between Army officers and tribal elders
 in the village of La Mohammed Kalay.


According to charging documents, an Afghan named Gul Mudin began walking
 toward the soldiers. As he approached, Cpl. Jeremy N. Morlock, 22, of 
Wasilla, Alaska, threw the grenade on the ground, records show, to 
create the illusion that the soldiers were under attack.


Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes, a 19-year-old from Boise, Idaho, saw the grenade 
and fired his weapon at Mudin, according to charging documents. The 
grenade exploded, prompting other soldiers to open fire on the villager 
as well, killing him.


In statements to investigators, the soldiers involved have given 
conflicting details. In one statement that his attorney has subsequently
 tried to suppress, Morlock said that Gibbs had given him the grenade 
and that others were also aware of the ruse beforehand. But Holmes and 
his attorney said he was in the dark and opened fire only because 
Morlock ordered him to do so.


"He was unwittingly used as the cover story," said Daniel Conway, a 
civilian defense attorney for Holmes. "He was in the wrong place at the 
wrong time."


Morlock, Holmes and Gibbs have each been charged with murder in the 
shooting. Attorneys for Morlock and Gibbs did not return phone calls 
seeking comment.

A father's warning


On Feb. 14, Christopher Winfield, a former Marine from Cape Coral, Fla.,
 logged onto his Facebook account to chat with his son, Adam, a 3rd 
Platoon soldier who was up late in Afghanistan. Spec. Adam C. Winfield 
confided that he'd had a run-in with Gibbs, his squad leader. He also 
typed a mysterious note saying that some people get away with murder.


When his father pressed him to explain, Adam replied, "did you not 
understand what i just told you." He then referred to the slaying of the
 Afghan villager the month before, adding that other platoon members had
 threatened him because he did not approve. In addition, he said, they 
were bragging about how they wanted to find another victim.


"I was just shocked," Christopher Winfield said in a phone interview. "He was 
scared for his life at that point."


The father told his son that he would contact the Army to intervene and 
investigate. It was a Sunday, but he didn't wait. He called the Army 
inspector general's 24-hour hotline and left a voice mail. He called the
 office of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and left another message. He 
called a sergeant at Lewis-McChord who told him to call the Army's 
criminal investigations division. He left another message there.


Finally, he said, he called the Fort Lewis command center and spoke for 
12 minutes to a sergeant on duty. He said the sergeant agreed that it 
sounded as if Adam was in potential danger but that, unless he was 
willing to report it to his superiors in Afghanistan, there was little 
the Army could do.


"He just kind of blew it off," Christopher Winfield said. "I was sitting 
there with my jaw on the ground."


Winfield said he doesn't recall the name of the sergeant he spoke with. 
Billing records that he kept confirm that he called Army officials; he 
also kept copies of transcripts of Facebook chats with this son. He said
 he specifically told the sergeant of his son's warning that more 
murders were in the works.


Army investigators have since taken a sworn statement from Christopher 
Winfield, as well as copies of his phone and Internet records.

Other killings


Eight days after Winfield tried to warn the Army, according to charging 
documents, members of the 3rd Platoon murdered someone else.


On Feb. 22, Marach Agha, an Afghan civilian, was killed by rifle fire 
near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar province, where the 3rd 
Platoon was stationed. The Army has released few details about the 
slaying but has charged Gibbs, Morlock and Spec. Michael S. Wagnon II of
 Las Vegas with murder.


Wagnon has also been charged with possessing "a skull taken from an 
Afghan person's corpse." He allegedly took the head sometime during 
January or February 2010, but court documents do not specify whether it 
belonged to the Afghan he is charged with killing.


An attorney for Wagnon, who was on his second tour in Afghanistan and 
also served in Iraq, did not return a call seeking comment.


More mayhem followed in March, when Gibbs, Wagnon and three other 
soldiers - Staff Sgt. Robert G. Stevens, Sgt. Darren N. Jones and Pfc. 
Ashton A. Moore - opened fire on three Afghan men, according to charging
 documents. The documents do not provide basic details, such as the 
precise date of the shooting, the identities of the victims or whether 
they were wounded.


Members of the 3rd Platoon found their next victim on May 2, documents 
show. Gibbs, Morlock and Adam Winfield - the son of the former Marine 
who said he tried to alert the Army three months earlier - are accused 
of tossing a grenade and fatally shooting an Afghan cleric, Mullah 
Adahdad, near Forward Operating Base Ramrod.


Winfield's attorney, Eric S. Montalvo, said his client was ordered to 
shoot but fired high and missed. He and Winfield's parents say they 
can't understand why the Army has charged their son, given that his 
father tried to warn officials about the platoon.


Military police caught wind of the final killing a few days later, but 
only by happenstance. Records show they were coincidentally 
investigating reports of hashish use by members of the 3rd Platoon.


After word leaked that one soldier had spoken to military police, 
several platoon members retaliated, records show. They confronted the 
informant and beat him severely - punching, kicking and choking the 
soldier, then dragging him across the ground. As a last warning, the 
documents state, Gibbs menacingly waved finger bones he had collected 
from Afghan corpses.


However, the informant talked to the MPs again and told them what he had 
heard about the slayings, according to court documents.


Some members of his unit, he said in a statement, "when they are out at a
 village, wander off and kill someone and every time they say the same 
thing, about a guy throwing a grenade, but there is never proof."


This time, the Army acted quickly and made arrests.


Staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.


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

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:13:31 -0400
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] civility,, respect and reputation
Message-ID: <4C94F33B.2010504@bellsouth.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

On 9/18/2010 1:33 AM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> On 9/17/2010 11:54 AM, Annie Pollock wrote:

>> Why fear saying 'no' to a deeply non ethical organisation?
>
> That organization saved you, and me, from the Nazis, the Japs and the 
> Russians.

A friend sent me this today; its offtopic but enlightening:

 >             *'Shifty? By Chuck Yeager*
 >             *
 >             **We 're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial 
 >services.*
 >             *I want a nationwide memorial service for** Darrell "Shifty" 
 >Powers.**
 >             Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with 
 >Easy
 >             Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 
 >101st
 >             Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or 
 >the
 >             History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 
 >10
 >             episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of 
 >them. *

 >             *I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I 
 >didn't
 >             know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman 
 >having
 >             trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him 
 >that he was
 >             at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the 
 >symbol of
 >             the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

 >             Making conversation, I asked him if he d been in the 101st 
 >Airborne
 >             or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in 
 >the
 >             101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he 
 >served,
 >             and how many jumps he made.

 >             Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 
 >or so,
 >             and was in until sometime in 1945 ... " at which point my heart
 >             skipped. *

 >             *At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 
 >training
 >             jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you 
 >know
 >             where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.

 >             I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know 
 >what
 >             D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump 
 >into
 >             Holland, into Arnhem." I was standing with a genuine war hero 
 >...

 >             and then I realized that it was June, just after the 
 >anniversary of
 >             D-Day.

 >             I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he 
 >said
 >             "Yes. And it ' s real sad because, these days, so few of the 
 >guys are

 >             left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." 
 >My heart
 >             was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

 >             I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was 
 >back in
 >             Coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant 
 >back to

 >             get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty 
 >came
 >             forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to 
 >have
 >             it, that I'd take his in coach. *

 >             *He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that 
 >there are
 >             still some who remember what we did and who still care is 
 >enough to
 >             make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he 
 >said it.

 >             And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

 >             Shifty died on June 17, 2009 after fighting cancer. *

 >             *There was no parade.

 >             No big event in Staples Center .

 >             No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

 >             No weeping fans on television.

 >             And that's not right.

 >             Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own 
 >quiet way.

 >             Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to 
 >the veterans.

 >             Rest in peace, Shifty.

 >             Chuck Yeager, MajGen. [ret.] *
 >             *P.S. I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our 
 >"heros" these days...
 >             Michael Jackson & the like!*


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

_______________________________________________
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permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
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End of permaculture Digest, Vol 92, Issue 23
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 On 9/18/2010 1:33 AM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

>  *'Shifty? By Chuck Yeager


I got this email from my own grandfather months ago.  Just another of the
never-ending onslaught of reasons I ought to shut my mouth, pay my dues, and
show respect.  So I guess Shifty never learned who chuck Yeager was?  Or is
it that he was just so old and out of it that he failed to recognize who he
was talking to? This is crap.  This is the sort of thing people send around
to each other on September 11th.  It's blatantly cheap, token respect.  More
than any amount of infrastructure-failure related information, more than the
horrifying realities what we've done to the planet and ourselves, this sort
of thing convinces me our culture is too sick to function.  WHY was it
necessary to call out Michael Jackson?  Sick Sick Sick.  (He made
thriller... [thriller.])

On Fri, 9/17/10, kevin skvorak <k.skvorak@gmail.com> wrote:

> Lierre Keith  is another thinker* that i believe has as much influence on
> young people as anyone in PC circles does, and she illustrates the
> difference between radical and liberal thinking very well:
> http://www.inthewake.org/keith1.html


This was very interesting.  I really appreciate her being clear.  Aside from
the analysis of liber/radical, her focus on strategy was especially relevant
to this here discussion.  The tools PC propagates and teaches us in order to
design forests, gardens, homes, relationships, movements etc. are the same
ones we can use for this project.  As Permaculturalists (as designers), we
are in a unique position to offer tactical assistance, and strategy design
to radicals and liberals alike..  A new form of client for the PC designer.

On 9/19/2010 22:32, Chris <*k*airos.chris@gmail.com <kairos.chris@gmail.com>
>

> A colleague of his told me that this is from his growing up in a New York
> City neighborhood where radicals openly debated each other.  This is what we
> have lost.... I am leading a discussion on the ethics of teaching in a
> couple of days, an I plan to bring up this issue of who we chose to teach to
> for what I hope will be a lively and productive debate.


I look forward to hearing how that discussion went.  If you have time to
give us a brief summary it would be greatly appreciated I am sure.  I think
there's definitely something missing online here.  The piss is taken out of
these debates in a very real way.  On the one hand this makes me feel that
there is even less of an excuse for the type of sarcastic crap, dodgy
rhetoric, and character assasination that keeps trying to "shut down" these
"useless" threads.  There is nothing to be afraid of here, there is nothing
to protect yourself from, there is no reason to try and cheat.  But the
insulated quality of this type of discussion, and the
physical/social/emotional protection it affords each of us, is probably
not more valuable than the benefits gained from what Chris' colleague
described.  Open debate on the street is definitely one of the finest of
lost elements here, and one of the most dearly missed from my perspective.


I wanted to add also that this list seems to be doing an alright job of
policing itself.  It's getting more difficult to get away with bull-

-Dan k
On 20 September 2010 03:25, Patrick <forgeadams@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Japs huh? Laurence, who wrote of this spam email John McCain (he is
> renowned for saying gook in public)? This Chuck Yeager thing is offensive
> way beyond the racial slur.
>
> I am astounded by the ignorance of expressed by many of the recent posting
> on this listserv. I'll post an untactful reply as soon as I have the time to
> do so. In the mean time please dwell on this off topic aside.
>
> Patrick O'Connor
>
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091803935_pf.html
> Members of U.S. platoon in Afghanistan accused of killing civilians for
> sport
>
>
>
> By Craig Whitlock
>
> Saturday, September 18, 2010;
> 9:39 PM
>
>
>
>
>
> AT JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. The U.S. soldiers hatched a plan as
> simple as it was savage: to randomly target and kill an Afghan civilian,
>  and to get away with it.
>
>
> For weeks, according to Army charging documents, rogue members of a
> platoon from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division,
> floated the idea. Then, one day last winter, a solitary Afghan man
> approached them in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. The "kill team"
> activated the plan.
>
>
> One soldier created a ruse that they were under attack, tossing a
> fragmentary grenade on the ground. Then others opened fire.
>
>
> According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15
>  was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians
> that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American
> soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have
> been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as
> hoarding a skull and other human bones.
>
>
> The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the
> military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were
> committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly
> tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing,
> only to be rebuffed.
>
>
> Two more slayings would follow. Military documents allege that five
> members of the unit staged a total of three murders in Kandahar province
>  between January and May. Seven other soldiers have been charged with
> crimes related to the case, including hashish use, attempts to impede
> the investigation and a retaliatory gang assault on a private who blew
> the whistle.
>
>
> Army officials have not disclosed a motive for the killings and macabre
> behavior. Nor have they explained how the attacks could have persisted
> without attracting scrutiny. They declined to comment on the case beyond
>  the charges that have been filed, citing the ongoing investigation.
>
>
> But a review of military court documents and interviews with people
> familiar with the investigation suggest the killings were committed
> essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and
> alcohol.
>
>
> The accused soldiers, through attorneys and family members, deny
> wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of
> accusations and counter-accusations among the defendants as they seek to
>  pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews.
>
>
> The Army has scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case this fall at Joint
>  Base Lewis-McChord, home of the Stryker brigade. (The unit was renamed
> the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, when it returned from
> Afghanistan
>  in July.) Military officials say privately that they worry the hearings
>  will draw further attention to the case, with photos and other evidence
>  prompting anger among the Afghan civilians whose support is critical to
>  the fight against the Taliban.
>
> The 'kill team'
>
>
> According to statements given to investigators, members of the unit -
> 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment - began
>  talking about forming a "kill team" in December, shortly after the
> arrival of a new member, Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, 25, of Billings,
> Mont.
>
>
> Gibbs, whom some defendants have described as the ringleader, confided
> to his new mates that it had been easy for him to get away with "stuff"
> when he served in Iraq
>  in 2004, according to the statements. It was his second tour in
> Afghanistan, having served there from January 2006 until May 2007.
>
>
> The first opportunity presented itself Jan. 15 in the Maiwand district
> of Kandahar province. Members of the 3rd Platoon were providing
> perimeter security for a meeting between Army officers and tribal elders
>  in the village of La Mohammed Kalay.
>
>
> According to charging documents, an Afghan named Gul Mudin began walking
>  toward the soldiers. As he approached, Cpl. Jeremy N. Morlock, 22, of
> Wasilla, Alaska, threw the grenade on the ground, records show, to
> create the illusion that the soldiers were under attack.
>
>
> Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes, a 19-year-old from Boise, Idaho, saw the grenade
> and fired his weapon at Mudin, according to charging documents. The
> grenade exploded, prompting other soldiers to open fire on the villager
> as well, killing him.
>
>
> In statements to investigators, the soldiers involved have given
> conflicting details. In one statement that his attorney has subsequently
>  tried to suppress, Morlock said that Gibbs had given him the grenade
> and that others were also aware of the ruse beforehand. But Holmes and
> his attorney said he was in the dark and opened fire only because
> Morlock ordered him to do so.
>
>
> "He was unwittingly used as the cover story," said Daniel Conway, a
> civilian defense attorney for Holmes. "He was in the wrong place at the
> wrong time."
>
>
> Morlock, Holmes and Gibbs have each been charged with murder in the
> shooting. Attorneys for Morlock and Gibbs did not return phone calls
> seeking comment.
>
> A father's warning
>
>
> On Feb. 14, Christopher Winfield, a former Marine from Cape Coral, Fla.,
>  logged onto his Facebook account to chat with his son, Adam, a 3rd
> Platoon soldier who was up late in Afghanistan. Spec. Adam C. Winfield
> confided that he'd had a run-in with Gibbs, his squad leader. He also
> typed a mysterious note saying that some people get away with murder.
>
>
> When his father pressed him to explain, Adam replied, "did you not
> understand what i just told you." He then referred to the slaying of the
>  Afghan villager the month before, adding that other platoon members had
>  threatened him because he did not approve. In addition, he said, they
> were bragging about how they wanted to find another victim.
>
>
> "I was just shocked," Christopher Winfield said in a phone interview. "He
> was scared for his life at that point."
>
>
> The father told his son that he would contact the Army to intervene and
> investigate. It was a Sunday, but he didn't wait. He called the Army
> inspector general's 24-hour hotline and left a voice mail. He called the
>  office of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and left another message. He
> called a sergeant at Lewis-McChord who told him to call the Army's
> criminal investigations division. He left another message there.
>
>
> Finally, he said, he called the Fort Lewis command center and spoke for
> 12 minutes to a sergeant on duty. He said the sergeant agreed that it
> sounded as if Adam was in potential danger but that, unless he was
> willing to report it to his superiors in Afghanistan, there was little
> the Army could do.
>
>
> "He just kind of blew it off," Christopher Winfield said. "I was sitting
> there with my jaw on the ground."
>
>
> Winfield said he doesn't recall the name of the sergeant he spoke with.
> Billing records that he kept confirm that he called Army officials; he
> also kept copies of transcripts of Facebook chats with this son. He said
>  he specifically told the sergeant of his son's warning that more
> murders were in the works.
>
>
> Army investigators have since taken a sworn statement from Christopher
> Winfield, as well as copies of his phone and Internet records.
>
> Other killings
>
>
> Eight days after Winfield tried to warn the Army, according to charging
> documents, members of the 3rd Platoon murdered someone else.
>
>
> On Feb. 22, Marach Agha, an Afghan civilian, was killed by rifle fire
> near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar province, where the 3rd
> Platoon was stationed. The Army has released few details about the
> slaying but has charged Gibbs, Morlock and Spec. Michael S. Wagnon II of
>  Las Vegas with murder.
>
>
> Wagnon has also been charged with possessing "a skull taken from an
> Afghan person's corpse." He allegedly took the head sometime during
> January or February 2010, but court documents do not specify whether it
> belonged to the Afghan he is charged with killing.
>
>
> An attorney for Wagnon, who was on his second tour in Afghanistan and
> also served in Iraq, did not return a call seeking comment.
>
>
> More mayhem followed in March, when Gibbs, Wagnon and three other
> soldiers - Staff Sgt. Robert G. Stevens, Sgt. Darren N. Jones and Pfc.
> Ashton A. Moore - opened fire on three Afghan men, according to charging
>  documents. The documents do not provide basic details, such as the
> precise date of the shooting, the identities of the victims or whether
> they were wounded.
>
>
> Members of the 3rd Platoon found their next victim on May 2, documents
> show. Gibbs, Morlock and Adam Winfield - the son of the former Marine
> who said he tried to alert the Army three months earlier - are accused
> of tossing a grenade and fatally shooting an Afghan cleric, Mullah
> Adahdad, near Forward Operating Base Ramrod.
>
>
> Winfield's attorney, Eric S. Montalvo, said his client was ordered to
> shoot but fired high and missed. He and Winfield's parents say they
> can't understand why the Army has charged their son, given that his
> father tried to warn officials about the platoon.
>
>
> Military police caught wind of the final killing a few days later, but
> only by happenstance. Records show they were coincidentally
> investigating reports of hashish use by members of the 3rd Platoon.
>
>
> After word leaked that one soldier had spoken to military police,
> several platoon members retaliated, records show. They confronted the
> informant and beat him severely - punching, kicking and choking the
> soldier, then dragging him across the ground. As a last warning, the
> documents state, Gibbs menacingly waved finger bones he had collected
> from Afghan corpses.
>
>
> However, the informant talked to the MPs again and told them what he had
> heard about the slayings, according to court documents.
>
>
> Some members of his unit, he said in a statement, "when they are out at a
>  village, wander off and kill someone and every time they say the same
> thing, about a guy throwing a grenade, but there is never proof."
>
>
> This time, the Army acted quickly and made arrests.
>
>
> Staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:13:31 -0400
> From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] civility,, respect and reputation
> Message-ID: <4C94F33B.2010504@bellsouth.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
> On 9/18/2010 1:33 AM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> > On 9/17/2010 11:54 AM, Annie Pollock wrote:
>
> >> Why fear saying 'no' to a deeply non ethical organisation?
> >
> > That organization saved you, and me, from the Nazis, the Japs and the
> Russians.
>
> A friend sent me this today; its offtopic but enlightening:
>
>  >             *'Shifty? By Chuck Yeager*
>  >             *
>  >             **We 're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial
> services.*
>  >             *I want a nationwide memorial service for** Darrell "Shifty"
> Powers.**
>  >             Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with
> Easy
>  >             Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of
> the 101st
>  >             Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or
> the
>  >             History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in
> all 10
>  >             episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of
> them. *
>
>  >             *I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago.
> I didn't
>  >             know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman
> having
>  >             trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him
> that he was
>  >             at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the
> symbol of
>  >             the 101st Airborne, on his hat.
>
>  >             Making conversation, I asked him if he d been in the 101st
> Airborne
>  >             or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been
> in the
>  >             101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he
> served,
>  >             and how many jumps he made.
>
>  >             Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in
> 1941 or so,
>  >             and was in until sometime in 1945 ... " at which point my
> heart
>  >             skipped. *
>
>  >             *At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5
> training
>  >             jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you
> know
>  >             where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.
>
>  >             I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I
> know what
>  >             D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump
> into
>  >             Holland, into Arnhem." I was standing with a genuine war
> hero ...
>
>  >             and then I realized that it was June, just after the
> anniversary of
>  >             D-Day.
>
>  >             I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and
> he said
>  >             "Yes. And it ' s real sad because, these days, so few of the
> guys are
>
>  >             left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip."
> My heart
>  >             was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.
>
>  >             I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was
> back in
>  >             Coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight
> attendant back to
>
>  >             get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty
> came
>  >             forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him
> to have
>  >             it, that I'd take his in coach. *
>
>  >             *He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that
> there are
>  >             still some who remember what we did and who still care is
> enough to
>  >             make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he
> said it.
>
>  >             And mine are brimming up now as I write this.
>
>  >             Shifty died on June 17, 2009 after fighting cancer. *
>
>  >             *There was no parade.
>
>  >             No big event in Staples Center .
>
>  >             No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.
>
>  >             No weeping fans on television.
>
>  >             And that's not right.
>
>  >             Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our
> own quiet way.
>
>  >             Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially
> to the veterans.
>
>  >             Rest in peace, Shifty.
>
>  >             Chuck Yeager, MajGen. [ret.] *
>  >             *P.S. I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our
> "heros" these days...
>  >             Michael Jackson & the like!*
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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>
> End of permaculture Digest, Vol 92, Issue 23
> ********************************************
>
>
>
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