a former us army specialist, who was part of the same unit that killed iraqi civilians from a helicopter in 2007, says dehumanizing is part of basic us army training.
In an interview with press tv, josh steiber explained the three years he spent in the us army before he asked to be released as a conscientious objector.
Steiber said "the dehumanizing of people from other countries" was the main reason that he quit the army.
"as far back as basic training, we were singing songs as we were marching around, joking about killing women and children," he told the press tv correspondent in washington.
The whistle-blower website, wikileaks, released a shocking video earlier this month showing us soldiers in an apache helicopter killing dozens of iraqi civilians, including two reuters employees, in cold blood.
Steiber noted that he sang the following song together with other members of his unit:
I went down to the market where all the women shop
i took out my machete and i began to chop
i went down to the park where all the children play
i pulled out my machine gun and i began to spray
steiber pointed out that he did not personally know the pilot in the video because they were attached to his unit only on that one fateful day.
However, the former us army specialist was not surprised by what was on the tape.
"you're focused on the physical aspect, but all along there is a psychological aspect."
"i think it would be wrong to put all [the blame] on the individual soldier. I think it's very telling that the secretary of defense, [robert gates], came out over the weekend and said there is no wrongdoing in the video."
"and so if you're only adjusting a few soldiers when the secretary of defense is putting his stamp of approval on this, then the system is not gonna change."
steiber concluded that there are other soldiers and veterans who are as disillusioned and war-weary as he is.
A very sad part of war is the dehumanization. Very few people are "Narural Born Killers" and are reluctant to kill. To overcome this reluctance all armies train their soldiers to see the perceived enemy as subhumans who would kill them if they get the chance.
This is the worse part of war as it brings about a mentality and a national mindset that lasts for generations. Sometimes for many centuries. It brings about an almost eternal prejudice against those, a nation has fought a war against.
This "dehumanization" of the enemy, if we could ever bring it to an end, it would render war impossible. A soldier can not kill an enemy he sees as a human capable of care and compassion.
This same type training is part of every Army's training even those who are fighting American forces. Stop and think, how many people could or would kill American soldiers if they saw them as individual human beings with traits of love and compassion.
You can not kill a person you truly love. If each person on the earth learned to love the people of every nation, who would be left to fight a war and what need would there even be for war? Idealistic idea that I will never see happen in my lifetime. People are essentially prejudiced and few see a person who is "different" as not being fully human.
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