A govenment of the people, by the people, for the people is not a two-party plutocracy where corporations and the uber-wealthy control the government and control the very narrative we hear every day. It's a war between personal freedom and liberty versus authoritarianism and tyranny.
"(I'm
announcing this news a lot sooner than I ever expected due to the
constant trolls who have nothing better to talk about!!!)," the former DWTS contestant began. "I wanted you guys to be the first to know that I am pregnant."
"Honestly,
I've been trying my hardest to keep my chin up on this one," she
continued. "At the end of the day there's nothing I can't do with God by
my side, and I know I am fully capable of handling anything that is put
in front of me with dignity and grace. Life moves on no matter what.
So no matter how you feel, you get up, get dressed, show up, and never
give up. When life gets tough, there is no other option but to get
tougher."
Palin welcomed her first child, Tripp Easton Mitchell
Johnston, in December 2008 when she was just 18 years old. She was
previously engaged twice to Tripp's father, Levi Johnston, although the
two split for good in 2010.
"I know this has been, and will be, a
huge disappointment to my family, to my close friends, and to many of
you," she wrote in her blog post. "But please respect Tripp's and my
privacy during this time. I do not want any lectures and I do not want
any sympathy."
She concluded by adding, "My little family always
has, and always will come first. Tripp, this new baby, and I will all be
fine, because God is merciful."
Palin provided no further information on her pregnancy. She did not reveal the identity of her baby-to-be's father.
Last month, Palin called off her wedding to 26-year-old Marine Dakota Meyer (right) days before the two were scheduled to tie the knot.
"I
guess you have seen by now that the wedding—that was supposed to happen
last weekend—was called off. I'm sure you've seen this has been all
over the media, but this is a painful time for family and friends and I
would just really appreciate your prayers," Bristol wrote in a blog post
at the time. "I know God's plan is greater than anything else, and
Tripp and I are in Alaska beginning to rebuild our lives under much
different circumstances than we anticipated."
Palin's first pregnancy drew national attention when it was announced
on the opening day of the 2008 Republican National Convention after her
mother was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate. She
later began working with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy and became an ambassador for the Candie's Foundation raising awareness about teen pregnancy prevention.
"It
changes literally every aspect of your life, and if girls realized how
hard it was to be a teen mom, they would think twice about having sex
without the proper education and proper knowledge," she said in an interview with Today back in 2010.
'Please STOP Me!!!! Ha, Too Late!!!! What more could we expect from the 'Party' of 'Family Values'??? Come on now, don't get carried away, you know GOD is looking after these empty Nut Shell of a head Trailer Trash Losers???' 'No Pun Intended!!!' 'If per chance she had 'Kept her Chin Up', perhaps she would not be Prego???' ;)
This is an abomination. This is a clear abdication of of the Senators' responsibility and authority. Here are the Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass the bill:
The Hill reports that the 14 Democrats who voted in favor of
Fast Track are Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Ben
Cardin (Md.), Tom Carper (Del.), Chris Coons (Del.), Dianne Feinstein
(Calif.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Claire McCaskill
(Mo.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.),
Mark Warner (Va.) and Fast Track co-author Ron Wyden (Ore.).
Washington (CNN)-Democratic
presidential contender Bernie Sanders is portraying his rival Hillary
Clinton a newcomer to the left's fight against income inequality.
"It's
one thing to talk about it. It's one thing to act on it," the Vermont
senator said during an interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar aired Sunday
on "State of the Union."
"You are
looking at the most progressive member of the United States Senate," he
said, touting his relationship as a "good friend" of firebrand
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Sanders
said he's led efforts to challenge Wall Street, push for universal
health care, tackle climate change and combat "disastrous trade
agreements."
He also said Clinton
should take a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive
12-country deal that President Barack Obama is pushing to the dismay of
liberals.
"You can't be on the fence of this one," he said. "You're either for it or you're against it. No fence-sitting on this one."
Sanders
said he personally likes Clinton. He said he's willing to challenge
her on policy issues -- but that he hopes media will cover those
differences without Sanders having to launch "reckless attacks."
"Are
you in the media prepared to allow us to engage in that serious
debate?" he said. "Or do I have to get media attention by simply making
reckless attacks on Hillary Clinton or anybody else? I don't believe in
that. I believe in serious debates on serious issues."
'I too am curious where Hillary stands on TPP, I am all for Bernie as I think, as he says 'It's time to talk about the Issues' and more that have to do with the 'People' and not 'Corporations'!!!'
It’s easy to understand why Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind remains one of bassist Steve Harris’ favorite albums. The disc, which was recorded less than a year after Number of the Beast and marked the second album with singer Bruce Dickinson, showcased the sound of a band at full steam and plenty more energy to burn.
“Piece of Mind was just special,” Harris told journalist Mick Wall in band’s official biography Run to the Hills. “We felt like we were on a high, and you can hear that mood on the album. Most of all though, it was just the songs. “Between us, I thought we’d really come up with the goods this time.” The record, which arrived on May 16, 1983, was the first to feature drummer Nicko McBrain (ex-Trust, Pat Travers), who replaced Clive Burr, cementing the historic powerhouse lineup of Harris, McBrain, vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Reportedly, Burr couldn’t keep up with the band’s demanding touring schedule, and McBrain was only too happy to take over, demonstrating his prowess straight from the start with the opening drum salvo of album-opener “Where Eagles Dare.”
Iron Maiden wrote most of the songs for Piece of Mind at Hotel le Chalet in New Jersey during the hotel’s off-season, and even rehearsed in the restaurant. Then in February, 1983 the band traveled to the Bahamas to record at Nassau’s Compass Point Studios with Martin Birch, who they had worked with since 1981’s Killers. When they returned from the Bahamas sunburnt from too much beach time, Iron Maiden mixed the album at Electric Lady Studio in New York. That so much of the album was created in the United States is significant. One of the pioneers of the New Wave of the British Heavy Metal movement, Iron Maiden were fiercely proud of their homeland, but, like Judas Priest, they were eager to make a mark on America.
While the band already had a strong cult following here, it was the mid-paced, strongly melodic Piece of Mind track “Flight of Icarus” that broke U.S. radio, hitting No. 12 on the Billboard Rock Radio Charts, helping the album peak at No. 14 on the Billboard album chart (in the UK, the disc entered the charts at No. 3). While the band’s label made the right move by releasing the song as the first single, the opinion on the song was split. “Steve never liked it,” Dickinson said in the book Run to the Hills. “He thought it was too slow, but I wanted it to be that rocksteady sort of beat. I knew it would get onto American radio if we kept it that way, and I was right.”
The calculated decision to introduce Maiden to mainstream America with “Flight of Icarus” was astute, but the Piece of Mind song with the most longevity and crowd appeal was “The Trooper.” Harris wrote the galloping, guitar-blaring number about a soldier in the Battle of Balaclava, which took place during the Crimean War in 1854 and based the lyrics in part on the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The song was just one of the literary or film-themed songs on Piece of Mind.
Harris wrote “To Tame a Land” after reading Frank Herbert’s Dune (the track was originally called “Dune,” but fearing legal action the band changed the name). The bassist wrote “Where Eagles Dare” partially about a 1968 Brian G. Hutton movie, and “Still Life” was inspired by short story by Ramsey Campbell called “the Inhabitant of the Lake.”
While Harris, as usual, was the main contributor to the album, Dickinson wrote “Revelations” and he and Smith penned “Flight of Icarus.” Most of the songs on Piece of Mind are based around serious themes and the music, though triumphant, is largely fist-to-the-floor metal. Still, the band couldn’t resist having a bit of fun by mocking those who had already accused Iron Maiden of being Satanists after Number of the Beast came out. Between the songs “The Trooper” and “Still Life,” Iron Maiden included a brief section of backwards masking. In his best impression of British actor John Bird imitating African dictator Idi Amin, McBrain says, “What ho said the t’ing with the three ‘bonce,’ do not meddle with things you don’t understand.”
“We were sick and tired of being labeled as Devil worshippers and all this bollocks by these f—ing morons in the States, so we thought, ‘Right, you want to take the piss? We’ll show you how to take the bleeding piss, my son!,’” McBrain told Wall. “So one of the boys taped me in the middle of this Idi Amin routine I used to do when I’d had a few drinks.”
By July, 1983, Piece of Mind went gold, thanks largely to the success of “Flight of Icarus” and by 1986 it was platinum. Iron Maiden supported the album with the World Piece Tour, which launched in Europe in late April 1983 and crossed into North America that summer. The first U.S. date was in Casper, Wyo., on June 21 and the band remained in the States until Oct. 24 in St. Louis. The only hitch came when Dickinson was stricken with bronchitis and the band had to reschedule three shows.
Saxon, Fastway and Coney Hatch opened most of the shows, but Quiet Riot took the opening slot between Sept. 30 in Chicago and Oct. 21 in Atlanta.
1-I've Got The Fire (Montrose Cover): (45:44 - 48:20) 2-Cross Eyed Mary (Jethro Tull Cover): (48:22 - 52:12)
Members:
Vocals: Bruce Dickinson Guitar: Dave Murray Guitar: Adrian Smith Bass: Steve Harris Drums: Nicko McBrain
'WOW, I remember when this album came out, it seems like it was yesterday, I really threw some Coool Shit into this post, I do hope you enjoy, 'Up the Irons' MoFo's!!!!'
I have taken a lot of time to seek out news on David Wayne of Metal Church, a band I think was the most Underrated of the mid 80's and probably one of the Best Singers of that time period, in my own Opinion. About the only thing I could find is on some Lame Ass Wikipedia who only mentions but does not give an entire overview, which I will post below simply as an acknowledgment of one of my Favorite singers and in wishing him Godspeed ten years after his death.
From 1982 to 1988, Wayne appeared as vocalist on three studio albums
and one live album by Metal Church. He was influenced by singers like Rob Halford and has influenced singers like James Hetfield.
When he left Metal Church 1988, Wayne formed Reverend, which remained active even after his death. His legacy as a vocalist is captured in Metal Church's only live album, Live, recorded in 1986 in Texas while on tour with Anthrax.
He also started a band called Wayne (or David Wayne's Metal Church) after leaving Metal Church and joined ex-Cradle of Filth guitarist Stuart Antsis in Bastardsun.
Wayne died on May 10, 2005 from complications following a car crash. Before joining Metal Church, Wayne was a US Army field medic.
There’s sad news to report as onetime Havok guitarist Shawn Tyler Chavez has passed away at the age of 30. An official cause of death was not revealed. However, Havok vocalist David Sanchez penned a moving tribute to his onetime bandmate about his passing.
In the post, Sanchez reflects on the early days of the band, which he co-founded with Chavez, and how much influence the guitarist had on him. You can check out his touching tribute below.
It is with deep regret that I must inform fans, friends, and family of HAVOK that Shawn Tyler Chavez, the former lead guitarist of HAVOK, passed away on April 30, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 30 years old. Shawn was the very first lead guitarist of HAVOK and helped forge the band’s sound in the early years. Without Shawn’s dedication during the first 6 years of the band, HAVOK would not be where it is today. Shawn entered HAVOK just in time for the band’s first scheduled performance, a high school talent show. He was a founding member and gave the band its very first guitar solos and harmonies. He also contributed to many of the lyrics on the “Burn” album. At one of the first meetings I had with him, I remember Shawn bringing a red Strat-style guitar into the rehearsal room with the word “Shawnacaster” tagged onto the headstock in his swirly, graffiti-esque handwriting. Shawn used to wear a tie-dye shirt at least once a week and I will never forget the times we made tie-dye HAVOK shirts to fit his style. When he was being himself, Shawn was a riot. The guy was super funny and entertaining… He made me laugh a lot with his jokes, slang, witty comebacks, rhymes, and hilarious physical comedy accompanied by beatboxing. I met Shawn when he was a 17 year old Jimmy Page lookalike, so it was quite interesting to see him grow from a shy young man into a flying V-weilding lead guitar player for a heavy metal band. He loved Led Zeppelin and could play just about any Page solo better than Page does on the records! He was an extremely talented blues player and it’s obvious on songs like “Path To Nowhere”, “Identity Theft”, and “To Hell”. Shawn was VERY smart and I learned a lot from him through our discussions about history, religion, politics, and music. Though we would argue at times, he was quick to let things go and move on with life. This is a quality I admired in him and I wish more people in the world possessed this quality. The usual icebreaker after an argument was a stupid joke that would make me laugh and ease any tension. People that knew him can remember his passion for meaningful debate and a desire to see ideas evolve to their best conclusions. The world would benefit from having more intelligent, funny, charming, kind, thought-provoking individuals like “Shawnathan”. I would like to wish condolences to his family and those close to him. Shawn was a gentle, likable, sensitive, and well-spoken individual. He was one of my best friends during adolescence and he taught me a lot about an array of topics. It is sad to see him pass at such a young age. Shawn’s contributions can be heard throughout the first HAVOK full-length album, “Burn” and various other early recordings. May he rock in peace. -DAVID
As stated, Chavez was one of the founding members of the band in 2004. He also appeared on the band’s 2009 album Burn, before current guitarist Reese Scruggs took over on the band’s last two discs.
Our condolences to Chavez’s family and the members of Havok.
Watch Shawn Tyler Chavez in Havok’s “Morbid Symmetry” Video
The Israeli group Breaking the Silence issued a report this morning
containing testimony from Israeli soldiers about the savagery and
criminality committed by the Israeli military during the attack on Gaza
last summer. The Independent has a good article
describing the report’s findings: “The Israeli military deliberately
pounded civilian areas in the Gaza Strip with incessant fire of
inaccurate ordinance” and “was at best indifferent about casualties among the Palestinian population.” At best.
This should surprise nobody who paid any attention to the brutal
Israeli destruction of Gaza or, for that matter, countless Israeli
attacks before that. The U.N. has said
that 7 out of 10 people killed by the Israelis were civilians,
“including 1,462 civilians, among them 495 children and 253 women”; video of Israelis killing four Gazan boys as they played on a beach sickened anyone decent.
Nonetheless, reading the accounts from these Israeli soldiers is
revolting and important in equal parts. It shines considerable light on
the reality of what Israeli loyalists have long hailed as “the most moral army in the world,” one unfairly held to a difference standard that ignores their great “restraint.”
The Intercept has chosen some selected, representative
excerpts from the report, with the rank of the testifying soldier
indicated (each one was granted anonymity by the report’s organizers). This is the savage occupying force known as the Israeli Defense Forces:
An Israeli soldier posted this photo of a Palestinian child in his rifle's crosshairs on Instagram
After 48 hours during which no one shoots at you and they’re like
ghosts, unseen, their presence unfelt – except once in a while the sound
of one shot fired over the course of an entire day – you come to
realize the situation is under control. And that’s when my difficulty
there started, because the formal rules of engagement – I don’t know if for all soldiers – were, “Anything still there is as good as dead.
Anything you see moving in the neighborhoods you’re in is not supposed
to be there. The [Palestinian] civilians know they are not supposed to
be there. Therefore whoever you see there, you kill. . . .
The commander [gave that order]. “Anything you see in the
neighborhoods you’re in, anything within a reasonable distance, say
between zero and 200 meters – is dead on the spot. No authorization
needed.” We asked him: “I see someone walking in the street, do I shoot
him?” He said yes.
Did the commander discuss what happens if you run into civilians or uninvolved people? There are none. The working assumption states – and I want to stress
that this is a quote of sorts: that anyone located in an IDF area, in
areas the IDF took over – is not [considered] a civilian. That is the
working assumption. We entered Gaza with that in mind, and with an
insane amount of firepower.
We were in a house with the reconnaissance platoon, and
there was some soldier stationed at the guard post. We were instructed
[during the briefings] that whoever’s in the area is dangerous, is
suspect . . . .
A soldier who was in one of the posts saw an old [Palestinian] man
approaching, so he shouted that some old man was getting near. He didn’t
shoot at him – he fired near him. What I know, because I checked this,
is that one of the other soldiers shot that grandpa twice. . . .
I went up to a window to see what was going on out there, and I saw
there was an old man lying on the ground, he was shot in his leg and he
was wounded. It was horrible, the wound was horrible, and he looked
either dead or unconscious to me. . . . . And then after that, some guy
from the company went out and shot that man again, and that, for me, was
the last straw. I don’t think there was a single guy in my platoon who
wasn’t shocked by that. It’s not like we’re a bunch of leftists, but –
why? Like, what the hell, why did you have to shoot him again? One of
the problems in this story is that there was no inquiry into it, at
least none that I know of.
They warned us, they told us that after a ceasefire the
population might return . . . . The instructions were to open fire. They
said, “No one is supposed to be in the area in which you will be” . . .
.
We asked, “Will the civilian population return? What will the
situation look like now when we go in [to the Gaza Strip] again?” And
they said, “You aren’t supposed to encounter the civilian population, no
one is supposed to be in the area in which you’ll be. Which means that
anyone you do run into is [to be regarded as] a terrorist.”
The instructions are to shoot right away. Whoever you spot –
be they armed or unarmed, no matter what. The instructions are very
clear. Any person you run into, that you see with your eyes – shoot to
kill. It’s an explicit instruction.
No incrimination process is necessary? Zero. Nothing.
During the entire operation the [tank] drivers had this
thing of wanting to run over cars – because the driver, he can’t fire.
He doesn’t have any weapon, he doesn’t get to experience the fun in its
entirety, he just drives forward, backward, right, left. And they had
this sort of crazy urge to run over a car. . . .
I mean, a car that’s in the street, a Palestinian car, obviously. And
there was one time that my [tank’s] driver, a slightly hyperactive guy,
managed to convince the tank’s officer to run over a car, and it was
really not that exciting– you don’t even notice you’re going over a car,
you don’t feel anything – we just said on the two-way radio: “We ran
over the car. How was it?” And it was cool, but we really didn’t feel
anything. . . .
So he came back in, and right then the officer had just gone out or
something, so he sort of whispered to me over the earphones: “I scored
some sunglasses from the car.” And after that, he went over and told the
officer about it too, that moron, and the officer scolded him: “What,
how could you do such a thing? I’m considering punishing you,” but in
the end nothing happened, he kept the sunglasses, and he wasn’t too
harshly scolded, it was all OK, and it turned out that a few of the
other company’s tanks ran over cars, too.
“The citizens of Gaza, I really don’t give a fuck about them”
It was during our first Sabbath. Earlier that day one of
the companies was hit by a few anti-tank missiles. The unit went to raid
the area from which they were fired, so the guys who stayed behind
automatically cared less about civilians. I remember telling myself that
right now, the citizens of Gaza, I really don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t deserve anything – and if they deserve something it’s either to be badly wounded or killed. . . .
So this old man came over, and the guy manning the post – I don’t
know what was going through his head – he saw this civilian, and he
fired at him, and he didn’t get a good hit. The civilian was laying
there, writhing in pain. We all remembered that story going around, so
none of the paramedics wanted to go treat him. It was clear to everyone
that one of two things was going to happen: Either we let him die
slowly, or we put him out of his misery. Eventually, we put him out of
his misery, and a D9 (armored bulldozer) came over and dropped a mound
of rubble on him and that was the end of it. In order to avoid having to
deal with the question of whether he was booby-trapped or not – because
that really didn’t interest anyone at that moment – the D9 came over,
dropped a pile of rubble on his body and that was it. Everyone knew that
under that pile there was the guy’s corpse. . . . .
What came up during the investigation when the company commander
asked the soldier, was that the soldier spotted a man in his late 60s,
early 70s approaching the house. They were stationed in a tall house,
with a good vantage point. The soldier spotted that guy going in his
direction, toward his post. So he shot in the direction of his feet at
the beginning. And he said the old man kept getting closer to the house
so he shot a bullet beneath his left ribs. Kidney, liver, I don’t know
what’s in there. A spot you don’t want to be hit by a bullet. That old
man took the bullet, lay down on the ground, then a friend of that
soldier came over and also shot the man, while he was already down. For
the hell of it, he shot two more bullets at his legs. Meanwhile there
was a talk with the commander, and because this was happening amidst a
battalion offensive, it really didn’t interest anyone. “We have
casualties up front, don’t bother us, do what you need to do.”
Shelling and machine-gunning “every house we passed” – then taking them over and using them
I got the impression that every house we passed on our
way got hit by a shell – and houses farther away too. It was methodical.
There was no threat. It’s possible we were being shot at, but I truly
wouldn’t have heard it if we were because that whole time the tanks’
Raphael OWS (machine guns operated from within the tanks) were being
fired constantly. They were spraying every house with machine gun fire
the whole time. . .
During our walk there was no sign of any face-off or anything. There was a lot of shooting, but only from us.
How is the sweeping of a house conducted, when you enter it?
We would go in ‘wet’ (using live fire). I could hear the shooting,
everything was done ‘wet.’ When we entered this house everything inside
it was already a mess. Anything that could shatter had been shattered,
because everything had been shot at. Anything made of glass – windows, a
glass table, picture frames – it was all wrecked. All the beds were
turned over, the rugs, the mattresses. Soldiers would take a rug to
sleep on, a mattress, a pillow. There was no water, so you couldn’t use
the toilet. So we would shit in their bathtub.
“By the time we got out of there, everything was like a sandbox”
By the time we got out of there, it was all like a
sandbox. Every house we left – and we went through three or four houses –
a D9 (armored bulldozer) came over and flattened it. . . .
First of all, it’s impressive seeing a D9 take down a big two-story
house. We were in the area of a fairly rich, rural neighborhood – very
impressive houses. We were in one spot where there was a house with a
children’s residence unit next door – just like in a well-off Moshav (a
type of rural town) in Israel. The D9 would simply go in, take down part
of the wall and then continue, take down another part of the wall, and
leave only the columns intact. At a certain point it would push a pile
of sand to create a mound of rubble and bring down other parts, until
the house was eventually left stripped, and from that point it would
simply hit the house [with its blade] until it collapsed. The D9 was an
important working tool. It was working nearly non-stop.
On the day the fellow from our company was killed, the
commanders came up to us and told us what happened. Then they decided to
fire an ‘honor barrage’ and fire three shells. They said, “This is in
memory of ****.” That felt very out of line to me, very problematic. . .
.
A barrage of shells. They fired the way it’s done in funerals, but
with shellfire and at houses. Not into the air. They just chose [a
house] – the tank commander said, “Just pick the farthest one, so it
does the most damage.” Revenge of sorts. So we fired at one of the
houses. Really you just see a block of houses in front of you, so the
distance doesn’t really matter.
Photo of smoke from an Israeli air strike rising over the Gaza Strip
on July 14, 2014 at the Israeli-Gaza border. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty
Images)
IDF soldiers from various units who fought in last summer’s war
between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip called a recent report by NGO
Breaking the Silence a “total lie.”
The soldiers spoke to Israel’s Channel 2 to tell their side of the story, and to counter the testimonies compiled by Breaking the Silence.
One soldier called the report “a wicked story” and a “stab in the back.”
Another soldier, Lt. Oren (a pseudonym), was a platoon commander in
the 7th Brigade during the previous Operation Cast Lead, which began in
late 2008. The Breaking the Silence report claimed that one of the tank
commanders in Oren’s platoon carried out a “revenge attack” by targeting
civilian houses in Gaza.
Oren refuted the claim, saying “this nonsense about ‘fire on the house that you want for revenge’ is simply a total lie.”
He said “it is very hard for me to believe that one of ours said something like that, definitely not someone who was there.”
Oren, who was personally involved in the operation, told a different story.
He said that any “revenge” incident might have occurred after Armored
Core Capt. Dmitri Levitas (26) was killed in battle, but that the
Breaking the Silence testimony “simply is not true.”
He said despite the fact that he and his fellow soldiers were
severely affected by the death of Levitas, “we maintained combat
ethics.”
“While it’s true there was heavy [IDF] fire, this fire was directed
at positions from which we were being fired upon, or suspicious
locations,” he recalled.
IDF tanks only fired “in accordance with procedure, and after a very strict identification process,” he said.
Oren emphasized that despite “losing a great commander and friend … we still abided by shooting procedure.”
He said that field commanders operated according to very accurate and
high quality intelligence regarding almost every single home.
Oren said, “They knew where the majority of the tunnels were located
and where there were no civilians … Every shell was fired only after
going through the proper procedure in which we had been trained long
before the Operation.”
He added that, “Before the Operation and also after it, we conveyed
to the commanders and we conveyed to the soldiers the importance of
precise fire, the importance of identifying the target and not to fire
on innocents.”
Oren said that this was not the only instance where his soldiers
exercised extreme caution when it came to Palestinian civilian lives. “I
can tell you about two instances where we could have fired upon what we
suspected was a dispatcher, but we didn’t out of concern for innocent
lives.”
Lt. Oren was not the only soldier to speak out, nor was his story
unique. Another soldier, who was a battalion commander during Protective
Edge and an officer with the rank of Lt. Col., also came forward. He
said that before entering Gaza, “we were provided with a large amount of
intelligence, and we requested permission after permission,
verification after verification.”
The officer said that when he was notified that he and his soldiers
would be entering Gaza, “I conveyed to the fighters the importance of
precise fire and avoiding harming innocents.” According to him, this is a
message that he and many other officers conveyed to their soldiers not
just before entry into Gaza, but during ground operations as well.
He said that every round fired received either his approval or that
of another responsible officer, and that “every entry we made into an
area was done after we told [civilians] to leave the area.”
“Come now, tell me one example in history, one, of an army in the
entire world that notified the enemy where it was planning to act or
what they are planning to do. This is something entirely irrational,” he
said. Channel 2 said many more soldiers and high ranking officers
stepped forward to present a very different story from the one conveyed
in the Breaking the Silence report, emphasizing the IDF’s strict
adherence to international law — which sometimes goes beyond the
requirements of the Law of Armed Conflict – and the caution the army
exercised to prevent Palestinian civilian deaths.
Breaking the Silence offered a response to the interviews, saying,
“in the book that was published this week, testimonies of dozens of
soldiers and officers who served in Protective Edge are presented. We
welcome every discussion taking place among the public over the fighting
in Gaza and we are proud that the publication of these testimonies
encouraged other soldiers to step forward and relate what happened
throughout the operation.”
“Among all of the testimonies that have been published in the last
few days by those other than us, not a single one of them disproved the
central point related to the policy of indiscriminate fire which led to
the harm of innocent civilians,” the statement read, even though the Channel 2 testimonies seemed to indicate otherwise.
“Many different soldiers came out with different feelings about the
operation, and it is our duty as the public to listen to them, and to
ask ourselves if such a policy is acceptable to us, and what our moral
limits are as a community,” said Breaking the Silence.
