BERLIN, April 17, 2007
Instructor On Racist Military Video Fired
Dismissed After Criticism Of Racist German Army Tape Told Machine Gunners To Pretend Shooting Blacks
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Play CBS Video Video German Army Clip Called Racist Only On The Web: Controversy is brewing over video of a German army training session in which a soldier is told to imagine he is shooting at blacks in the Bronx. Elisabeth Smick reports.
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Scene from a German Army training video, shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg, in which soldiers are instructed to curse at and shoot African-Americans. (CBS)
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An outside view of German Army barracks "Feldwebel-Schmid-Kaserne" in Rendsburg, northern Germany Sunday, April 15, 2007. The Germany Defense Ministry said Monday that an instructional video depicting unflattering remarks against the Bronx and black Americans was "absolutely unacceptable." (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper)
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The instructor was let go under a provision that permits the immediate dismissal of personnel who violate service obligations, or whose continued service would harm the order or reputation of the military, a ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, as is customary.
The incident, captured in footage posted on the Internet, led the Bronx borough president to call for discipline against those responsible.
The clip shows an instructor and a soldier dressed in camouflage in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act."
The soldier fires his machine gun and yells an obscenity several times in English between bursts. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.
The Defense Ministry on Monday described the incident as "completely unacceptable" but said an investigation could take several weeks.
The instructor, whom authorities have not named, has admitted being the person in the video, the ministry said. The soldier who made the video is also being investigated.
In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. demanded an apology.
"The German government obviously has work to do to correct something that is insidious. ... Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," he said Saturday, after the video was aired on German television.
The incident is the latest embarrassment for the German military.
A group of army instructors is currently on trial on charges they abused and humiliated recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with skulls — including one soldier who exposed himself.
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Heavens, just because one is hostile and black and in the Bronx shouldn't be enough to enrage one into battle mode. And, do you really want your machine gunner enranged anyway? I'm no expert in this but it would seem to me that a cool head would be preferred.
Posted by neoconRcrazy at 01:06 PM : Apr 17, 2007
Because first come the jokes,the taunts, the slurs, then the cartoons, then the derogatory comments. When these are acceptable, they are quickly followed by the stereotyping, profiling and scapegoating--then the "bad group" is blamed for everything from crime to greed to mental and moral decay. Finally comes the organized propaganda with psuedo scientist to justify why the "bad group" is different and less humane.
Finally comes the violence--either in pogroms or lynchings maybe more organized into country invasions or concentration camps and death camps. To destroy other humans--you must first justify taking those lives--humans do it by dehumanizing and it starts with the first step. Why so overly sensitive? First it starts with the jokes, the taunts, the slurs.....to have the greatest chance of defeating evil--it must be nipped in the bud--why are some people NOT sensitive to this?
A German fantasy of an angry black American gang in the bronx!
What did Bogart say in Casablanca to the snotty German who said they may soon be in America?
"Well, if you do come, avoid New York, especially the Bronx (or something like that) !!
Why are people so overly sensitive....
It must be something call prejudice, it certainly couldn't be money.