There’s a 3-day event called Winter Soldier 2008 where American veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been giving testimonies about atrocities they and their fellow soldiers have committed. KPFA has been running a live broadcast and I only had enough strength to listen to about 20 minutes of these powerful stories. During a segment called “Rules of Engagement”, these men described how they came to lose their humanity. I had to turn off the radio to avoid sinking into deep depression but here’s the link:
http://warcomeshome.org/
On the Air: Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan continues .

Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz anchor the first day of a historic three day broadcast of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans speaking out against the US occupations of those countries.

“While people did “go crazy’–killing in horrible ways, raping, and mutilating–its important to note that the massacre was not the result of men snapping under the strain of combat, but rather of men who were under the impression they were carrying out orders. Nobody kills in an out of control rage for four straight hours, taking a break for lunch. I write they were under the impression, because there is still some controversy about whether or not such orders were actually given. But from the testimonies I’ve read, I have no doubt that orders were give, and the soldiers were told to go into the village and kill everyone: men, women, children, and “even the pigs” as one said. Some carried out those orders reluctantly, afraid not to obey; others went “crazy”–what they were told to do liberated some dark places within them. Of course for even the ones just carrying out orders–with all the chilling resonance and connection to the Nuremberg trials that phrase evokes–were guilty of a war crime. As Ron Ridenhour, the other great hero of My Lai, said, “they were young, away from home for the first time and were following roders in a context in which they’d been trained to follow orders and right after they did, they realized they had probably made the biggest mistake of their lives.” But it doesn’t excuse them. They should all have been held responsible for their actions, from the top down–but especially at the top.
At the same time, there were many who refused to participate, among them Mike Bernhart, Harry Stanley, Herbert Carter–who shot himself in the foot rather than participate–and more. Hugh Thompson and his crew are the only examples of people who deliberately tried to stop the killing, but other helicopter crews Thompson called in, landed to evacuate, i.e., rescue people who otherwise would have been killed. It is important, I think, to emphasize all that behavior, not to try to mitigate the criminality and horror of the massacre, but to demonstrate that even in the worst circumstances it is possible for people who are morally strong enough to make the right choice. We need those models, and models like Ridenhour, who refused to allow the army to cover up the crime. ”

NB: About Ron Ridenhour, from Wikipedia: A helicopter gunner, Ridenhour heard of the massacre from friends while serving in Vietnam. While still on active duty, he gathered eyewitness and participant accounts from other soldiers. On his return to the United States, he sent letters to 30 members of Congress and to Pentagon officials, spurring a probe that led to several indictments against those involved, and the conviction of William Calley.

Ridenhour, a 1972 graduate of Claremont McKenna College, went on to become an investigative journalist, winning a George Polk Award in 1987 for his expose of a tax scandal in New Orleans, based on a year-long investigation.

Also, see: http://www.fertel.com/causes/ridenhour_award/index.htm