July 7, 2006

[Full credit for this story to Jean at Footnotes from a Small Village]

You all know about Steven Green, right? The apparent psychopath who has now pled not guilty to raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and three family members, who is now the designated fall guy for U.S. "apologies" to Iraqis, even though there were multiple American service members involved in both the crime and the coverup. Well, it appears that just six months ago, the U.S. Army was touting him as one of those who was "keeping [the] streets of Iraq safe," while, as the article noted, "still respect[ing] people's rights and property."

This is the picture that accompanied the article:

Note that the word used in the previous sentence was "accompanied," not "accompanies." The ever-sensitive U.S. Army has now (within the last day, it appears) scrubbed the picture from its website. On the left the article as it now appears; on the right the article from a cached version (the colors are where Google highlights certain searched-for words, not actually part of the article as it appeared on the Army's website):

Curiously enough, the picture of Green actually accompanies the latest article on the case at Yahoo News, but without any reference to its origin.

Need I add that the best thing the U.S. Army could do to "keep the streets of Iraq safe" would be to get the hell out. Will there be instant peace and tranquility? Of course not. Will things get worse before they get better? Possibly. But they will never get better unless and until the U.S. and its allies end their illegal, provocative, and murderous occupation.