American paratroopers in WWII are war criminals?

According to this guy on Youtube, they were.

• • @deconneurnot I read years ago Donald Burgett's "Curahee," & remember the part where he wanted to scalp the long blond locks of a german he killed. He thought it would look good at home in his den. Only German MG fire kept him from doing it. And on 3/12/06 in Iraq in the notorius Mahmudiyah affair, Several soldiers of the 501 infantry, 101st airborne gang raped & then murdered a 14 yr old girl, & massacred her family. No, the WW2 conduct of US paras hasn't changed. Still a band of war criminals.
    
    Lyndle54 2 hours ago
    
    
    
  • @deconneurnot I don't see any "rebuttal" of Lt. Winters anywhere. You wouldn't be lying again would you, dickweed? Beyond a doubt, a great many of our WW2 paras were undisciplined war criminals. They still are today in Iraq & Afghanistan, as are many others in other units. American military discipline has become the laughing stock of the world. One of every three women in our military get sexually assaulted by their fellow servicemen. War crimes w/NATO troops & UN troops is bad as well.
    
    Lyndle54 3 hours ago
    
    Reply
    
    
  • @deconneurnot I already put up, jew-boy. The complaints against the US airborne troops by French & Dutch civilians were so numerous (rape, pillaging & murder) that Ike wanted to publically hang some of them. The wiki article names the 70 men, method of execution, place & date. But doesn't list the units. But there's no doubt some paras were among them.
    
    Lyndle54 3 hours ago
    
    There are some attacks on modern day troopers as well.My question is there truth to what he says or is it complete nonsense? His use of "jew-boy" tells me that he is more than likely anti-Semitic.
    
    
    

 

Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bExNuW1OdA&feature=related

 

The man is making things up. He says that "current US crimes" are the worst of all time. He asserts that 3/4 of all Desert Storm veterans are dying or dead of illness due to the use of depleted uranium. That equates to some 400,000 soldiers. I did not realize the scope of this person's ignorance before this. The man has no clue of what he speaks.

 

First, I would say that he is most definitely anti-Semitic, among other things which I cannot put in a forum post.

As to the question of is what he said true, I would say that depends on what you mean. I'll set aside his claims for the moment. If the question is, "In general, are crimes like rape and murder committed by all participants in war?", then the answer is, "Yes." This shouldn't surprise anyone. I believe that by the end of the War, the US Army was over 8 million strong. Is it reasonable to expect any population of 8 million to be morally perfect? Of course not. That's why the Army has the Military Police, Judge Advocate General Corps and Courts Martial.

As for the aforementioned anti-Semite, he errs in attributing the behavior of a few individuals to the group as a whole. Given what we have divined of him thus far, I think the best thing to do is consider the source. Anyone spewing that much bile is not a reliable source of information.

 

Yep. Nuff said.

 

I love how he only quotes one of his sources, admits that there is information missing that would "support" his claim, and then adds in the information himself.

(emphasis mine)

Is it just me, or does anyone else hear the Barnum and Bailey "clown" jingle playing in the background when they read that?

 

Nice catch there, RA. Not only does he fill in the holes to suit hit premise, but his sole named source is Wikipedia? Wiki is fine as long as you have other sources to back it up. This guy really is a piece of work.

 

I could pick this to peices...its an easy rant...but flawed at every turn...Ooh 70 men! That'd be the whole army wouldnt it? And a man that gets his truth from Wiki atrticles...He needs taking to a park and having a quiet word with...Im up for it. Anybody else wanna join me?

 

Let me get my Ninja-Jedi Jose Conseco Bat of Enlightened Wisdom (with +3 HomeRun).

 

I'm currently researching one unsavoury episode in Sicily involving US paras, but even if confirmed that would be one isolated instance in a corps of thousands of men, well below the "a few bad apples are bound to come to light under the stress of combat" bar. Making the paras look like SS or goumiers, units that had a consistently "above average" crimes record wherever they were used, is ridiculous.

 

All armies even ours today have guys who either break, are bad apples or in the heat of the moment and adreneling do things that none of us are proud of..Its no good saying it does not happen...If we hide our eyes to it then we are just as guilty. Thats not me being a liberal thats me being a realist. It happens...But it is not and never has been institutional in the western armed forces...But don't think soldiers sailors and airmen are not capable even our own...Everyone is capable...the whole ethos of Armed forces service is that you are if necesessary a killer...you are trained to do so...Its not the boy scouts. The difference is the word necessary. Some though will always think it is their necessity..They are very much the minority but none the less are and always will be with us. It is pevelant on others to stop and prevent...Even at My Lai...You don't want it mentioned I know...But even there in that shameful episode there were those willing to say wtf...And do their utomost to prevent.

 

Well said, Urqh. The real issue is whether or not it is institutional, which it is not in modern Western militaries.

 

I don't think it is was "institutional" in a any army after the mongols that used terror as part of their strategy, from a purely military standpoint units going on rampage are usually a bad idea, history is full of battles lost because the initial looser managed some sort of comeback while the enemy was busy looting, and of course if you have any sort of "hearts and minds" objective it's a disaster. The point is how much is "tollerated" and that's a lot more murky as the temptation to "cover up" or waive it aside as "understandable because of the stress" is very hard to resist. "My country right or wrong" is a very human trait.

Currently round here the story of a couple of Italian marines who allegedly killed two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates is big news, making a "good" decision in that sort of mess is pretty hard.

 

It is an insult to all of us if someone calls any American soldier a criminal. These guys have crossed oceans and risked their lives to help beat bad guys. They were fighting other people’s war and yet they fought to ensure that freedom and justice prevail in the World. US army helped to stop more bad guys than any other Army in the recent history if not in history in general. Unfortunate things might have happened but that doesn't make any member of US army a criminal. American Army played fair.

Urqh is quite right when he suggests a criterion of necessity to distinguish good guys from bad ones. Some armies like Wehrmacht have institutionalized an unnecessary murder as a routine. Their soldiers had a license to kill anyone for any reason and were pardoned of any guilt in advance. That is an institutionalized murder and an army that institutionalizes murder is a Criminal Army. Complete – from the top to the bottom.

In Wehrmacht by the beginning of 1943 there were 300.000 individuals engaged in genocidal mission, despite of the shortage of units at the front. Organized murders won them plaudit from many Wehrmacht headquarters. They have surpassed Ghenghis Kahn by a large margin.

 

The one thing wrong with Freedom of Speech is that every moron gets to say whatever they like - and now the Internet has given so many of them a world stage.

The only problem with trying to make them stop is that, well, then we wouldn't have Freedom of Speech. So I guess we must endure. Sigh.

 

Against popular belief...freedom of speach was instituted JUST SO that morons could speak without getting lynched...people who have something popular to say dont need the right...only those that say highly contentious things need this right...Its FOR them.

 

Youtube?
A cess-pit of Neo Nazi comments alongside the dullest sort of retarded trollism?
Lordy, what a surprise.

I'm sanguine on discussion of War crimes carried out by any side of a conflict, large Armies being what they are. Though I do think there's a serious difference between a military ideologically directly connected to a murderous regime, and the bad apples found in any Army since time immemorial.

However.
You only have to click onto the original commenter's channel to see just how big an axe the creature is grinding.
Lyndle54's Channel - YouTube
Easily dismissed, and any argument engendered is usually exactly what these sorts seem to want.

He also likes the moody blues...

~A

 

GASP!! anic: