BOOK REVIEW
‘We blew her to pieces’
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan by Aaron Glantz
Reviewed by Dahr Jamail
Aside from the Iraqi people, nobody knows what the United States military is doing in Iraq better than the soldiers themselves. A new book gives readers vivid and detailed accounts of the devastation the US occupation has brought to Iraq, in the soldiers’ own words.
Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan is a gut-wrenching, historic chronicle of what the US military has done to Iraq, as well as its own soldiers.
Authored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and journalist Aaron Glantz, the book is a reader for hearings that took place in Silver Spring, Maryland, between March 13-16, 2008, at the National Labor College.
“I remember one woman walking by,” said Jason Washburn, a corporal in the US Marines who served three tours in Iraq. “She was carrying a huge bag, and she looked like she was heading toward us, so we lit her up with the Mark 19, which is an automatic grenade launcher, and when the dust settled, we realized that the bag was full of groceries. She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces.”
Recomended site: Iraq Veterans Against the War