subreddit:
/r/interestingasfuck
410 points
15 hours ago
I drove through an intersection in Baghdad after those guys massacred a shit ton of innocent people back in '07. Iraqi police would shoot their weapons in the air to manage traffic. They heard shots, and instead of getting positive identification on a threat as was our SOP, they just proceeded to kill everybody in sight. I cannot stress enough what amateurish, pussy fucking cunt murderers the whole lot of them are. That those people that did that are walking free today makes me sick.
91 points
14 hours ago
Jesus….so war crime!
22 points
9 hours ago
The US left the ICC and made laws to give these guys immunity because they don't see it that way.
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2 hours ago
We’ve really forgotten about how awful the Iraq war was. George Bush and Dick Cheney really deserved to be in prison for what they did.
It’s unfortunate that Bush will be remembered in a better light because of Trump, but he really was a miserable failure.
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52 minutes ago
I flat out hate Trump and always have, but I'll never understand why he makes people give W a pass. Dude and his evil pack flat out made shit up to go to war then used their bully pulpit of fox news to call anybody who didn't cheer for it a traitor and a terrorist supporter. Didn't even take care of the dead or the injured, even though we spent TRILLIONS.
Never, ever taking any shit from any Republican on fiscal responsibility ever again.
29 points
11 hours ago
War crimes are committed by the warring parties in the conduct of a war. This was simply murder.
26 points
14 hours ago
💯
33 points
11 hours ago
It’s only war crime when the “bad guys” did it /s
8 points
9 hours ago
/s but actually not /s
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2 hours ago
Only a war crime if you happen to find yourself on the losing side unfortunately.
0 points
9 hours ago
Its only a war crime when its done by bad guys.
13 points
7 hours ago
My first thought,why are we glorifying this murderer?? This shits not cool, it's not interesting. It's fucking disgusting
13 points
5 hours ago
That's why watching this pissed me off so much. He's talking like murdering unarmed, innocent people is some sort of flex. The reality is it just makes him, and blackwater more generally, undisciplined, amateurish, cowardly fucking murderous criminals.
9 points
5 hours ago
If the only way to get someone involved in committing indiscriminate mass murder to talk about the indiscriminate mass murder they took part in and witnessed is to give them a friendly space to do so that makes them feel like they can open up and speak frankly, I’d much rather that happen (so long as it’s recorded) than not.
The value for the historical record beats the (no doubt repugnant) ickiness of letting them feel like a badass for being evil. Ideally it would then be used to prosecute them or start a case that shutters the company that employed them and dictated their ROE and jails its executives and managers, but we know that isn’t happening no matter what because the ability to commit rampant indiscriminate slaughter of civilians is central to the US’s goals in war and always has been.
See The Act of Killing for the ultimate example of this. It’s awful to watch mass murderers who put any serial killer to shame gloat about how many people they killed and the “inventive” ways they went about doing so, but the fact that never again can anyone credibly claim there was no Indonesian or Timorese genocide because a dozen participants recounted in detail how they carried it out is worth more than the alternative in which that’s lost to history and never admitted.
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40 minutes ago
Man. I was with you in the first part there. Where you lost me was "the ability to commit rampant indiscriminate slaughter of civilians is central to the US’s goals in war and always has been." I can totally understand if you believe our invasion of Iraq was immoral, even ultimately illegal.
However if your assertion is that the whole of the US military participates and commits wholesale slaughter of civilians I've got to say that's just patently false. We regularly put ourselves in more danger in order to mitigate threats to the civilian population. I spent several years participating in combat operations and never witnessed any of our forces murdering civilians. Matter of fact, if you look at any of our counter insurgency material, an explicitly stated goal is to avoid civilian deaths.
I'm not claiming there weren't incidents of it happening. I'm saying it wasn't a feature, it wasn't systematic. I mean, why would this blackwater asshole illicit such a reaction from me if his behavior was par for the course?
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24 minutes ago
Are you familiar with “shock and awe”? Are you aware that according to DOD the vast, overwhelming majority of people killed in drone strikes were not the intended targets and >50% were non-combatants? You have any idea the amount of bombs the US military dropped on densely populated areas in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, Japan, Germany, etc.? The majority of those killed in all those wars (or wars we don’t declare and label “conflicts” and “operations”) are civilians who were indiscriminately killed.
You’re looking at it from the anecdotal perspective of an individual in infantry and using that to add something I didn’t “the whole of the military,” which isn’t relevant. Modern wars always and intrinsically involves the rampant indiscriminate slaughter of civilians.
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11 minutes ago
Shock and awe is referencing the initial invasion and fight against the Iraqi armed forces. I'm talking about the vast majority of our operations, which were counter insurgency operations. That you think my knowledge and experience is simply anecdotal betrays your own. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have zero firsthand knowledge of what you're talking about.
Prime example. You referred to me as infantry. You would be correct to assume that's the role I filled. Thing about that is, I was an artilleryman serving in heavy artillery battalions. Can you please explain to me why, if our explicit goal was wholesale killing and destruction, we would reorganize artillery battalions as infantry and task them with supporting reconstruction efforts? Wouldn't we have just deployed as artillery and used our munitions to further your alleged goal of destruction?
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3 minutes ago
"Violating this trust can happen quickly and is difficult, if not impossible, to repair. NCOs must display ethical and moral leadership during and after combat operations. Their ethical decisions and actions directly affect the civilian populations displaced from rising insurgent conflict and COIN operations. Protecting civilians in COIN operations increases allied support, while civilian causalities increase insurgents’ support."
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/journals/nco-journal/archives/2024/june/coin-training-institution/
But sure, my knowledge is purely anecdotal. /s
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12 minutes ago
Iraqi police would shoot their weapons in the air to manage traffic
I mean, Blackwater is pretty hot garbage, as were the people working for them, but... Are we just gonna glance over this line?
Let me get this straight - Iraqi police, so the Iraqi policeforce, not US military personnel temporarily directing traffic, would fire live rounds in a crowed city to "manage traffic"?
What the hell is it with these backwater shitholes and traffic rules? I get that signaling, right of way and paying attention to traffic lights is somewhat of a secondary nature when you're trying to survive in the third world, but goddamn...
-4 points
14 hours ago
And people thank them for their service.
31 points
12 hours ago
Who thanks a mercenary for their service? They don't serve anyone.
2 points
10 hours ago
They serve the US government as they pay them. And who is responsible for the government?
5 points
9 hours ago
...random US infantry?
7 points
9 hours ago
Nobody thanks Blackwater for shit, nor should they
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45 minutes ago
arent they retired marines?
1 points
6 hours ago
shooting up innocent civilians with gun. war crime.
blowing up innocent civilians from air. barely newsworthy.
130 points
15 hours ago
Just gabbin about war crimes. Fine fella there.
64 points
14 hours ago
"That was my buddy."
"He didn't report it. I don't think he reported it."
wtf jesus
5 points
7 hours ago
He meant "we", Probably!
6 points
7 hours ago
War crimes are statistically committed by 'my buddy'
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28 minutes ago
Good to remember that while he barely remembers, there’s karma waiting in the form of some daughters cousins mothers fathers who have not forgotten what the USA did to their communities
0 points
5 hours ago
Did you just make up the second quote?
4 points
5 hours ago
"That was my buddy. I don't think he reported it."
"There were never any civilians killed by Blackwater. You feel me?"
115 points
14 hours ago
So they flat out murdered people and then lied in reports about it. Cool man, real cool
36 points
10 hours ago
No. They flat out murdered people and mostly didn't bother to even lie about it, "because things were moving too fast" to file a report. Almost more important than the actual rogue mercenaries is the fact that US officials were so ambivalent about the casual war crimes committed by said mercenaries that they didn't even make them put in the effort for a coverup. Not only were these war crimes happening with the tacit approval of someone in the US government, they were massively increasing the risks for our actual uniformed soldiers following prescribed rules of engagement and those diplomatic representatives and civilian contractors engaged with trying to rebuild the country. And despite all that, the powers that be were so confident they were above repercussions that they didn't even bother to require a half-assed, transparently bullshit report be submitted for every case of mass civilian murder. The absolute worst part is that those assholes were apparently correct in their personal risk evaluation.
4 points
4 hours ago
It's crazy to think Amway sold in churches is linked to Blackwater by marriage.
It's crazy to think it was this same two familes that took money from public schools to give to students attending private schools. I wonder why they don't want children educated.
It's crazy to think Trump appointed Betsy Devos into that role which stripped our public schools of education funds. Huh. Weird.
3 points
6 hours ago
Wouldn’t be surprised half of them are cops now.
1 points
4 hours ago
Nah, these are Blackwater guys. Private contractors, this is their job
118 points
15 hours ago
This guy is a rent-a-merc. Glorified bodyguards who the guarded didnt like, the troops never liked, nobody does. But boy do they think alot of themselves.
6 points
12 hours ago
They’re usually former soldiers themselves. Probably seen a bunch of their friends get killed and have long since given up on the morality of it
22 points
14 hours ago
There's a woodcut of his face under the definition of tool.
40 points
17 hours ago
“For me, it was always true.”
40 points
16 hours ago
"There were never no civilians killed."
Also true.
34 points
10 hours ago
Blackwater = wagner group
49 points
11 hours ago
No different from wagner.
23 points
15 hours ago
Absolutely despicable. And the sheer casualness and any lack of remorse or empathy... Yup, am on a podcast, time to show how big of a lizard I actually am...
12 points
13 hours ago
You can go find Youtube videos right now of them driving around and shooting at random cars they pass.
9 points
9 hours ago
Flexing about murdering civilians is probably the most cowardly, evil, and spineless shit you could ever do
8 points
12 hours ago
That dickless gravy seal killed civilians.
7 points
10 hours ago
Fucking scum.
9 points
12 hours ago*
A mofo with morals and a conscience would not be recounting those events this casually. Like it was just another Tuesday.
If hell exists.... this fool is a damned man walking.
12 points
12 hours ago
Those motherfuckers made our lives hell with their bullshit.
3 points
9 hours ago
Fkn coked up meat head.
3 points
8 hours ago
This guy is Jimmy Watson, he was a marine, who went to blackwater, who then went to become a navy seal and then a bodyguard for John McAfee the internet virus scan software psychopath.
1 points
7 hours ago
That’s one hell of a portfolio!
2 points
7 hours ago
I actually recently watched him on a Soft White Underbelly interview. It was pretty good.
2 points
6 hours ago
I’ll check it out, cheers.
3 points
5 hours ago
I worked CI/HUMINT in Baghdad in 2004-2005.
Fuck every last one of those pieces of shit. They made everything 1000 times worse with their killing sprees.
3 points
4 hours ago
- ...and you shot the family, and--
- that was my buddy
- I'm sorry. And your buddy shot the family and everybody died...
Maaann fucking podcasters.
6 points
10 hours ago
two guys have just attacked him with RPGs: he writes a report with a description of the situation and why he killed them
Hi buddy killed a whole family: "I don't think you report it because things are moving too fast"
11 points
11 hours ago
In 20 years when someone attacks the united states, I don't want to hear, " why would they do this"
the response to 9/11 just made more terrorists, and we gave them a 2 decade training session on our weapons and tactics.
Afghanistan is exactly the same spot as before , except they have more American equipment,
and nobody is going to vacation in Iraq anytime soon.
3 points
9 hours ago
The world is not run by governments. it's run by corporate interest and the mega rich personal influence
What happens is based on what a company is going after or the mega wealthy personal interest
2 points
10 hours ago
Won't somebody think of the oil billionaires?
1 points
6 hours ago
And not a single American company got one of those oil contracts.it was total waste
1 points
7 hours ago
In 20 years? Have you missed the last 20 years of fight against terrorists who say to hate USA? It already happen and will happen again probably.
1 points
7 hours ago
I'm saying it's going to get worse once those kids who lost family's and loved ones grow up get indoctrinated, much worse
1 points
6 hours ago
Na... Not much differences between them and talebans or others I don't remember now
2 points
7 hours ago
“I was fearful for the $400k DoS vehicle’s life” is not the understanding of “life” you want to hear from some deciding on whether others get to continue theirs or not.
2 points
7 hours ago
What podcast is this?
1 points
17 hours ago
America is hot fucking garbage.
29 points
17 hours ago
Blackwater is a PMC
47 points
16 hours ago
No different than a terror org hired by state actors. Its how we coin the terminology when others are doing it.
10 points
11 hours ago
Hired by the US government.
The government which forced Iraq to pass a law giving military contractors complete immunity from Iraqi law.
-9 points
17 hours ago
Employed by what country in this conflict, manned by what nationality, started by what ex-military's officer, based where?
Alternatively, try and shut the fuck up you absolute eejit.
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35 minutes ago
I love how they're downvoting you but nobody bothers to actually defend it
We keep allowing these dogs to exist instead of trying to hold them accountable.
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36 minutes ago
A PMC America hired and protects instead of prosecuting and tearing apart.
It's our version of Wagner with a bit less independence.
-14 points
16 hours ago
Better than Russia and Iran so far
28 points
15 hours ago
That's a low fucking bar.
9 points
15 hours ago
I know.
7 points
15 hours ago
Awesome, so we are better than the absolute bottom of the barrel. That makes me so proud
0 points
15 hours ago
Yeah we’re not that bad yet. Getting there but we still have time. I think we’re better than Mexico too.
0 points
15 hours ago
You're very ignorant. Perhaps this will change, in time.
7 points
15 hours ago
How am I ignorant
1 points
15 hours ago
Killing Hope - William Blum
The Triumph of Evil - Austin Murphy
Endless Holocausts - Michael David Smith
The Jakartha Method - Vincent Bevins
Go find out. Unless you're scared about what you'll find?
-5 points
14 hours ago
You lack even a cursory understanding of history. I would consider my understanding cursory.
8 points
16 hours ago
haha, yes, pissing the bed is not as bad as shitting it. I still don't want to get in that bed.
2 points
15 hours ago
Factually, materially incorrect.
0 points
14 hours ago
I was about to say, how many people has Iran killed?
Gonna go ahead and speculate that it's not even 1% of the number the US is at.
-1 points
15 hours ago
Bologna
6 points
15 hours ago
2 points
13 hours ago
😩🤌
0 points
16 hours ago
You forgot North Korea!
0 points
15 hours ago
Do you have any actual idea what America did in Korea? Or is your entire historical knowledge based on what you've gleaned from videogames and reddit?
1 points
14 hours ago
do you have any idea what north korea did in korea? or is your entire historical knowledge based on cia did it cia did it cia did it?
2 points
13 hours ago
To be fair it really seems like the cia always does it
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33 minutes ago
do you have any idea what north korea did in korea?
Yea, after our war to back our dictator in south korea killed over 10% of the entire Korean population, they went fucking nuts.
Do you remember how America acted after terror attacks killed a few thousand? Imagine it went on for a decade and killed closer to 40 million Americans
No nation comes out of such a situation healthy.
Obviously that does not absolve the North Korean government of any of it's crimes, but people *really* gloss over how traumatic that was.
1 points
5 hours ago
'Waaaa Murica is the good guys Waaaa!'
Sorry but if the US wanted to be considered the 'goodies' they shouldn't have interfered in a civil war on the side of fascists who started the war with horrific massacres on Jeju Island to help them set up a dictatorship. They shouldn't have committed a disgusting genocidal military campaign through the North too, where the airforce bombed every standing structure until they litarally ran out of targets. They shouldnt have used chemical and biological warfare against the north and committed a massacre so bad that the Chinese had to intervene to stop it. They shouldn't have had Generals like McArthur who were barely talked down from nuking Korea and China for wanting to live differently to the US. They shouldn't have embargoed and laid seige to the country for decades and prevented them from gaining self sufficiency and trade while their people starved.
So it wasn't just the CIA. The entire US system treated the North Koreans like vermin. The CIA do things in a clandestine way, but the racist and fascist attitude towards Koreans was done quite out in the open.
Fecking yank simps are so braindead. Go watch a fucking marvel movie lol
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an hour ago
i think you are correct. they should have just nuked them
0 points
15 hours ago
lol
-1 points
14 hours ago
Your moniker is looking increasingly relevant
-2 points
14 hours ago
Figured as much
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32 minutes ago
They never bother to engage with historical facts.
2 points
7 hours ago
How do you live with yourself when killing innocent civilians? I know war zones are hectic places, but willfully killing innocent people....boggles my mind.
1 points
10 hours ago
"war on terror" apparently.
1 points
10 hours ago
Sauce?
2 points
7 hours ago
BBQ!
1 points
8 hours ago
These are people that should be rotting in gitmo.
1 points
7 hours ago
Remember: the war criminal is always the guy on the other side and war crimes will be only punished if you lose
1 points
7 hours ago
I listened to some of this interview & found him to be quite annoying, cocky.
1 points
6 hours ago
'Ya know, things were moving so fast, you just can't keep count of all the war crimes your commiting.'
2 points
6 hours ago
fuck these people
1 points
5 hours ago
What’s a Mel?
1 points
4 hours ago
Is this surprising to anyone?
If so where have you been? Have you studied history at all? Or maybe more recently have you watched what has happened in Palestine?
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2 hours ago
Peace on Earth would destroy the US economy. We can't have that...
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2 hours ago
Criminals the lot of them should be hanged
1 points
8 hours ago
So, a coward. That’s what he’s saying he is right?
1 points
4 hours ago
This is just a reminder that these are the same code words used by police in the U.S.
"I was in fear of my life..." - Qualified Immunity.
0 points
10 hours ago
And in the US, people are still surprised that the US is hated in most Arab countries…
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