Marines under attack, crying for their lives

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This thread needs to be locked. It has utterly disintegrated.

I agree this thread is insulting.

You've clearly have shown your intellectual superiority over the US armed forces. You haven't, however, been able to figure out how to use the crop function.

This book looks interesting:


4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
An illuminating peek inside the Corps' "closet", January 25, 2006
Reviewer: Michael J. Mazza (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)
In "The Masculine Marine: Homoeroticism in the U.S. Marine Corps," author Steven Zeeland offers a compelling alternate view of one of the United States' most revered and recognizable institutions. An "About the Author" note identifies Zeeland as a Research Associate at the Center for Research and Education in Sexuality at San Francisco State University. The heart of the book is a series of revealing interviews that Zeeland conducted with several Marines. His interviewees include both gay and straight men, and one woman Marine; he also includes both officers and enlisted men. Particularly interesting is an interview with a gay Black Navy officer who previously had been an enlisted Marine and who, at the time of the interview, was involved in an interracial relationship with a Marine corporal.

Among the many themes covered in the book are Marine tattoos, the "gays-in-the-shower" issue, Marine attitudes about physical fitness and body image, the role of women Marines in the Corps, boot camp experiences, the "selling" of the Corps through advertising, gay relationships, the "coming out" experience, defining masculinity, and the parallel between Marine self-presentation and that of drag queens. A particularly important theme is the unique reputation and mystique of the Corps; in his introduction, Zeeland notes that "Marineness is like a religion." Specific male-on-male sex practices engaged in by Marines are frankly discussed and provocatively analyzed. The book also looks at homoerotic rituals and language of the Corps. The historical backdrop for the book includes the Gulf War, U.S. intervention in Somalia, and the beginning of the Clinton presidency.

The consistently compelling text is complemented by a sixteen-page visual section which explores Marine tattoos, haircuts, physiques, and dress. There are photographs from the Athletic Model Guild and other sources. A particularly interesting part of the visual supplement is a 12-panel comic by Jerry Mills entitled "Poppers"; this ironic, richly detailed piece is essentially a complete short story in comic form.

The book is full of fascinating anecdotes and observations, both from Zeeland and his interviewees. Although Zeeland is doing a serious scholarly project, complete with end notes, he makes no pretense at scholarly detachment. He notes in his prologue that his research technique involves befriending servicemen--"sometimes in an intimate way." He is sort of like an extreme Jane Goodall, passionately connected to the objects of his study. At times his writing and interview questions struck me as too self-indulgent, but in the end he has produced a human document that is both informative and profoundly moving. The book interrogates iconography, challenges stereotypes, and gives gay Marines a space to tell their first-person stories. For a companion text, I recommend "Generation Kill," an account of Marines in the Iraq War written by embedded reporter Evan Wright. Wright documents some startling examples of Marine homoeroticism; he even quotes one Marine as saying, "Man, the Marines are so homoerotic. That's all we talk about." Like Wright, Zeeland has produced a truly remarkable contribution to Marine Corps literature.

... and the neighing and braying of barnyard animals continues.

Still haven't signed up with Her Majesty, yet, huh?

Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily, Inter Press Service

RAMADI, Nov 17 (IPS) - U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.

Iraqi doctors and witnesses at the scene of the attack said U.S. tanks killed 35 civilians when they shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat area of the city.

Ramadi, located 110 km west of Baghdad, has been beset with sporadic but intense violence between occupation forces and insurgents for several months.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people carried the 35 coffins of the dead to a graveyard in a funeral procession which closely resembled an angry demonstration.

"We heard the bombing and we thought it was the usual fighting between resistance fighters and the Americans, but we soon realised it was bombing by large cannons," 60-year-old Haji Jassim explained to IPS at the burial. "We weren't allowed by the Americans to reach the destroyed houses to try to rescue those who were buried, so certainly many of them bled to death."

Jassim claimed that everyone killed was innocent, that they were not fighters. He said that when he and others attempted to reach the rubble of the destroyed homes, located near mosques whose minaret's loudspeakers had broadcast pleas for help, "There was a big American force that stopped us and told us the usual ugly phrases we hear from them every day."

Jassim, speaking with IPS while several other witnesses listened while nodding their heads, said that ambulances did not appear on the scene for hours because "we realised that the Americans did not allow them to move," and that as a result, "there were people buried under the rubble who were bleeding to death while there was still a chance to rescue them."

Jassim then burst into tears and walked away saying prayers to Allah to bless the souls of the dead.

A doctor at Ramadi's main hospital, Abdullah Salih, told reporters that 35 bodies had been brought in and he also believed that others had not been retrieved since access had been limited by ongoing U.S. military operations.

Another doctor, Kamal al-Ani, said that in addition to the dead, another 17 wounded had been brought into the hospital.

The scene at the hospital was tragic as doctors confirmed the reason of death for many as severe bleeding that had gone on for several hours. Most of the doctors were unwilling to discuss too many details for fear of U.S. military reprisals.

"You can notice the number of dead is at least twice as high as the number of wounded," one of the doctors, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. A local Iraqi policeman who identified himself as Khalif Obeidi told IPS that tanks had destroyed several houses in the area during the U.S. raid, killing more than 30 civilians.

"We know that those killed were innocent," said Obeidi, "although there have been attacks on the Americans from near that area in the past."

Residents of the city and relatives of the dead who were at the funeral were furious.

"There is no other way for the Sunnis than to fight," Ali Khudher, a 25-year-old carpenter who lost a relative in the attack told IPS. "It is a religious war and no one can deny that now."

Others who attended the mass funeral chanted anti-American, anti-Israeli, anti-Iranian and even slogans against the Islamic Party which is now part of the Iraqi government.

Tempers run high in Ramadi also because the city has often been the scene of large-scale U.S. military operations and their inherent forms of collective punishment.

Last June, thousands of residents were forced from their homes due to military operations, according to Maurizio Mascia, programme manager for the Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS), a non-governmental group based in Amman, Jordan that provides relief to refugees in Iraq.

At that time, Mascia told IPS, "The Americans, instead of attacking the city all at once like they've done in their previous operations in cities like Fallujah and Al-Qa'im, are using helicopters and ground troops to attack one district at a time in Ramadi."

Mirroring a complaint heard often from residents of Ramadi, Mascia said, "The main dangers for the population are the MNF (multi-national force) at the checkpoints and the snipers: both usually shoot at any movement that they consider dangerous -- causing many victims among civilians."

In a phone conversation with IPS, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad said he had no specific details of the incident and that "the U.S. military has been conducting ongoing patrols and security details in Al-Anbar for months now. Our efforts are always to attack the terrorists and protect the civilian population."

Here we go, the US Marines are evil homosexuals. That's why they do what they do. Everyone shot by a US Marine was really just an innocent bystander, because US Marines just want to go around the world killing people.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

It would be lovely to be able to lay all of the atrocities at the feet of the US Marine Corps. It would make it easy to wrap all of the sins and abominations up in a nice little package and deliver the Marines to hell for what they've done, but it's not that simple. Claiming it is, doesn't change facts. There is so much wrong in Iraq right now, and aside from pointing the finger at George Bush for starting it all, you can not blame all of it on any one group. Those who are fighting against the US forces don't care if they kill civilians, they use civilians to lure and trap US troops all the time. It's disgusting. It's all disgusting. Yes, there have been serious atrocities committed by US forces; however, those are not military-wide, a very small number of US troops have participated in those things. The vast majority of the men and women who are serving over there are just trying to get through their time until they can come home. They don't want to be there, they don't want to hurt people, they don't want to kill people. They want to come home.

"I'm glad I didn't have to fight in any war. I'm glad I didn't have to pick up a gun. I'm glad I didn't get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood."
-Tom Hanks (1956 - )

OP is an ill-informed ass.

luv that quote MrMark

yeah jaguars-fan i have a cousin that just got back from duty...he wasn't scared..look what he did:

'The military has yet to file charges in the most high profile of the cases - allegations that marines killed 24 civilians in the town of Haditha after one of their comrades went on a rampage.'

so while they may get scared when ppl have weapons to shoot back with....they are very brave when mowing down unarmed civilians! go get em boys!

(before anyone says that sucks....c'mon civilians would be so much easier to take down right? especially when u've 1/2 gone insane after realising ur risking ur life for some rich guys to get more oil/power)

I will not watch it.
I know what's going on, and the whole situation is just wrong whatever side you're watching it from.
It's increasing misery, therefore it is evil.
You're pointing out something that is quite obvious when it comes to warfare psychology, but at the same time you again and again prove that you don't know anything about that subject.
For whatever reason, righteous or not, soldiers have a dirty, psychologically taxing work to do, a work I think you wouldn't be able to survive a day of, and to be able to do that they need to dehumanize the enemy.
So essentially, in my eyes, they are equal in their suffering to any civilians, and none of them would have to be there is it weren't for the idiots in charge.
Seeing someone suffering from a war to me it doesn't matter who it is, because I think whoever it is doesn't deserve to be there, and I wish I could do something for them, but I can't.
Posting a video of anyone suffering from a war and then speaking ill of them, and at the same time reminding me of my own inability to do something about it, is truly a sick and twisted thing to do and is also personally infuriating and you deserve no respect for that.