Someone sent me a link to this ‘Liberation’ flash movie which is basically the sort of propaganda film that Saddam Hussein might have produced if he weren’t in jail and hadn’t relied on the likes of Baghdad Bob for his PR.
One of the more disgusting parts occurs early when a number of civilians, first a man and then a shot of a woman in rubble, are shown with a quote underneath from Brigadier General John Kelly that, “We shoot them down like the morons they are.” The clear implication of pairing the shots of civilians with Kelly’s quote is that the United States military views Iraqis as morons who can be shot and killed indiscriminately.
In fact, Kelly made his statement in April 2003 in regards to the “battle” to take Baghdad. Kelly noted that Muslim fighters — many of them foreigners — were actually putting up more of a fight defending Baghdad than the Republican Guard had done, but that since these were freelancers rather than military units their efforts were disorganized and had no chance of succeeding. His full quote, referring to the fighters trying to defend Baghdad was,
They stand, they fight, sometimes they run when we engage them. But often they run into our machine guns and we shoot them down like the morons they are. . . . They appear willing to die. We are trying our best to help them out in that endeavour.
But I guess someone besides Michael Moore has to make pro-Saddam propaganda.
Source:
‘We shoot them down like the morons they are’: US general. Lindsay Murdoch, Sydney Morning Herald, April 9, 2003.