How? (Don't wait for the victims' pleas) We ALREADY KNOW: Repudiate BushCObama and All of US LEAVE NOW!

Amazing, Courageous and Honest. This is probably the best text I have ever read on Truthout. We must thank these young men, and WikiLeaks. I believe that the best jobs program for returning veterans would be to go back to the invaded countries and do humanitarian work to heal the wounds of war, and their karma. One can only hope that ALL US soldiers from Vietnam onward will similarly repent and apologize. Thank you Josh and Ethan.

It takes a lot to come forward with an open and apologetic heart. I was so upset when I saw this video, and the cold reactions from some of my friends and family brought to me a startling truth: our soldiers aren't the only ones who have been dehumanized by this decade of war. Many Americans have not allowed themselves to forgive those misguided people for 9/11. I hope this letter shows these citizens a better way, by letting them know that there is pain on both sides of the rifle.

Thank you both! May god bless you and bring you safely home to your family and friends.

Bill Bartlett

THANK YOU for writing this!!! such courage, humble strength and truth in the face of the madness of the last 8 yrs is the epitome of bravery and what it means to be a human being alive with a beating heart. i hope many more join you in speaking truth to power because this is THE WAY. today reading this i'm proud to be an american. the world can be such a different place, so much more beautiful and this spirit here is the path that needs to be walked by every american citizen, as well as every human being under the sun. peace and blessings to you both.

This official apologism seems to be the current Pentagon PR strategy. Let's denounce these apologies for what they are - blatant hypocrisies. Imagine someone kills in cold blood your wife, or brother, or parents... And then says 'I'm sorry!' Would you forgive such a person, and let him go unpunished?

These thugs committed murder. Don't buy their empty excuses. Don't swallow the Pentagon propaganda.

Michael Gass's above post, on the other hand, is well worth reading.

The mainstream media won't report such matters since it is owned by corporations. It is the power of corporations that drove the US to war in the first place. US corporations profit from US wars. Corporations do not have a conscience - they are amoral, profit making entities. When will Americans realise that their corporations are their own worst enemy. The US corporate system exists because of war not despite it and to stop foreign wars will cause the collapse of US corporate capitalism - now that would be a very good thing for us all.

it's too late to apologize, think before you act and things like this wont happen.

Thank you both for this letter. It eases my mind to know that someone there had, and has, misgivings and remorse. You will always have to live with what you've done in our name. Go easy bros.

I have mixed feelings about this. The two soldiers didn't actually participate in the massacre, but they chose to be silent until now.
The children shot were taken back to an Iraqi hospital and their family had to fetch the costs to treat their injuries and received no compensation.
The other families and widows also received no material or emotional compensation. These actions are based on dehumanizing innocent "foes" civilians. This isn't really different from medieval wars like the crusades..hell even then, there were great examples of humanitarian values, which is a shame since this is 2010. People like to think modern warfare is more noble which is BS.

What's the point of writing an apology letter, no matter how sincere, when you realize the crimes are unforgivable? Honestly, this looks more like a prayer for forgiveness from God rather than an apology to the victims, who would probably not read this letter anyway.

An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. We can't give life, don't be so quick to take it in reciprocity. More violence begets more violence. Justice's goal is balance and your kidding yourself if you human will have mental anguish for taking such life. Their prison has no bars, but tortured daily with the past.

Peace is a mindset...

I am not an American and I am not a Christian.

For me, the key phrase in this open letter is "We did unto you what we would not want done to us."

It was at that point that my opinion of Americans, which has been poisoned by the Bush administration went up a notch or two.

Maybe a few Americans do *get it*

Utterly fake, the U.S. military would never apologize for murdering civilians. "Josh Stieber,"
"Ethan McCord," if those are indeed your real names and your story is indeed true, all that means is that you've just ADMITTED to cold-blooded murder, caught on video-tape.

If you actually MEANT to apologize you would turn yourselves in to the authorities, not post some flowery bullshit letter on the Internet about the matter. You'd approach the media, get your story told. No, this isn't your story at all, it's a story written up by some public relations department.

I would accept your apology. It shows courage, competence and humility to stand up and say I know this was wrong and not hide behind orders, hierarchy or some classification of war. I do not care about the military apologizing, I care about you, the men that actually believe that there is a higher long term goal of a better world for all of us that sometimes has to be fought for and not the men who shoot and ask questions later while not even caring why they are there.

Look up these two before naysaying. At least one of those guys has committed his civilian life to anti-war movements.

I hear from soldiers' mouths about how they pee into empty plastic water bottles and toss them at Iraqi children, or how they give candy to the children not to win their hearts but in order to obtain human shields, or how they shoot into a car or a house for the fun of it.

The Iraqis will remember this for years to come. The brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of those killed and tortured and raped will remember for years and years to come. This is the stuff of blowback, that no neo-con general or politician or pundit would acknowledge before the war started nor will they acknowledge in the decades to come.

America will continue to reap what is sown. I can only weep.

These soldiers (the real ones) shouldn't have to apologies. These were NOT innocent people. The people of Iraq (just as much as the people of Germany and Japan in WWII) were willing useful idiots for not taking Saddam out of power themselves.

All of you have allowed your self to be fooled into believing that Iraq was some peace loving great place before we came alone. And HELL YES we were there to protect OUR interest in the region as we should have, and should ALWAYS. Do be so fucking ignorant. Should be force our hand no. But he WAS a belligerent tyrant.

The people who have allowed the same type of tyrants to come to power in America should be dealt with the same way. All of this hatred of military, and liberty in this country is utterly disgusting.

I cannot believe the comments here.

The letter from the two veterans is one of remorse and shame.

And yet they are condemned by a minority of the commenters.

I was Regular Army during the Vietnam War and I can tell you that the Army goes to great lengths to dehumanize the enemy--whether it was "gooks" then or "hajis" now.

They acknowledge that their apology will not lessen the suffering of the families, nor will it lessen the suffering of all Iraqis. It does not change anything in Iraq.

But, these two soldiers should not be condemned. In Israeli, some of the strongest opponents of war are their veterans who come back to tell what really happened.

We have returning veterans who are against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

These two veterans are showing us the side of war we do not see on television or read about in the mainstream news.

And, contrary to what people think is an urban legend, I was personally called a baby killer when I returned. It's the same sh*t all over again with a minority on the Left.

And, I'm not on the Right. I'm on the Left.

These guys weren't pulling the trigger in the video, they're showing courage and honor in taking responsibility, and expressing sorrow over what happened.

As a former 11B2p myself, I know there are some truly sick people in the military (like any where else - except these sicko's are well armed) who get their kicks from doing evil. They're usually chest-beaters who prove to be cowards under fire.

I also know there are good soldiers who truly want to do the right thing, and do their best to stop this kind of horror from happening. This isn't about "liberty", or "America", or "patriotism"; It's about criminal behavior. It's about murder.

Let's pursue these war crimes, let's convict and punish the guilty; and maybe appreciate the witnesses who have the guts to come forward!

Where's the apology from the soldier(s) that gave you the orders to shoot?

Mr. Scaminaci has made some good points in his comment.

It is unfair to scorn all soldiers returning from war for the actions of a few. However, in this instance, that isn't the case. These soldiers were part of the unit involved and their unit slaughtered a group of people. By their own admission, that incident wasn't the only one. If the two children in the van had of died, would it not have been justified to call those in the unit "baby killers"?

When you watch the interview he gave to RT in a youtube video he takes a more noncommittal attitude compared to the letter.

Indeed, there are many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that are against the wars. And, to his credit, Josh Steiber is one of them.

It takes courage to admit you were wrong! I feel Remorse that You felt , you were protecting the country by this action. In turn the countries leaders like it when stuff like this happens, they make big money off of war and your tragedy! We forgive you and I personally hope you forgive yourself! You can not reverse what happened and I think the only way you could right your wrong is by stepping out the way you did! Start to wake your fellow military up to the fact that they are being used by shadow governments, They pull the pins and move the pawns around, you and your fellow military are expendable! Wake up as many people as you can to the lie!! John

Three years & a release of a video later seems a little late to me. It's that it's after the leak of the video that is the bigger problem for me. I can see (given what I've read & observed of PTSD, etc.) that it might take 3 years for someone to deal with what's been done/ what he/she might've done. But had the video not been leaked, would the apology never have occurred? The timing is suspicious.

And yes, given how the military, DHS, the DoD and both administrations have lied & misled & approved of torture (Bush administration seems to have promoted torture), warrantless survelliance, indefinite detention under sometimes horrible conditions (Gitmo) with no chance of a real trial (or defense), the first thing that came to my mind was--what "marketing" decision produced this? It seems like propaganda, we've made our mea culpa, so nothing more to see here move along, good citizens shop 'til they drop isn't it time you took a trip to the mall? Or sat down at your computer & charged a few items?

If as an earlier comment states, that one of the signatories is a vet who has been active in anti-war rallies & activities since his return from Iraq, then my first impression could be wrong.

This article seems to make no attempt to verify properly or authenticate.

We don't need any more "yellowcake" style "news" coverage.

as WWII veteran I can tell you that when you train young men to kill and think of others as "enemies" they will kill and commit "atrocities.
So, if you start a war, it had better be for a damn good reason, because you have to know that innocent people will be slaughtered by soldiers who would never be killers in civilian life.
The administrations that started and continue these phony wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the ones who bear the real responsibility for all those deaths.
Worse is that they are so corrupted, they can't even think of those terrible consequences in human terms.
Instead they think in terms of numbers and speak of "collateral damage.
There will be a lot of American high government officials in the deepest holes in Hell.

Yes, please view "North Tower Exploding" on you tube. The tower in question WAS NOT hit by either of the 757's. Listen to the gentleman on the video and HEAR his descriptions.

The Veterans of WW II were in for the duration. We Vietnam Vets did about 11 to 13 months in country. Iraq and Afghanistan tours of duty are open ended.
The more one sees carnage the more one does not care and really does not give a s**t.

These guys did not do the shooting, nor say the callous words. Those on the ground - who have to clean up afterward - have a different perspective from those shooting from a helicopter or plane.

These two could not control over what the guys in the air did. You can't blame them for the deaths in this video, even if they belonged to the same unit, which I'm not sure is the case. The troops on the ground probably couldn't even hear what the shooters were saying.

It doesn't exonerate the shooters or lessen the horrors visited by our side, but the people shooting at our soldiers say the same kinds of things, or even worse. Both sides dehumanize those on the other side and point to what "the other" did as an excuse for their own violence.

The forces the U.S. fights also kill children and other innocent people indiscriminately, even fellow citizens.

Anonymous "Mixed feelings," how do you know no one was compensated?

As to those who say this was written by the Pentagon or its "spin-doctors," the Pentagon would never have written these words:

"Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the values of our nation's leaders no longer represent us. Our secretary of defense may say the U.S. won't lose its reputation over this, but we stand and say that our reputation's importance pales in comparison to our common humanity."

if one man had taken his fortune and exiled himself none of this would have happened,but then that would put an end to $25,000 to every family who lost thier terrorist child in a suicide bus bomb in Isreal, all good men have to do is nothing for evil to prevail,all these things were forseeable and the iraqis did nothing even after the kuwait debacle they did nothing but continue to support a ruthless regime,it is sorrowful so many innocents have to suffer,god is compassion ,not a despot waving his rifle in the air

@ "willing useful idiots" — that tears it. YOU are a willing useful idiot in the corruption and degradation of the USA! Chew on that for a while.

You are a true hero who serves his country, unfortunately some soldiers these days defend actions unconditionally and tell other Americans they have no right to speak if they haven't served themselves. It is up to the American people to bring our troops home and let our representatives and the world know these wars do not represent us, the people in our government will not do it unless we take action.

It doesn't matter if we should be there or shouldn't be there. We ARE there. These young men have nothing to apologize for. They were doing a job. They do NOT have the ability say they will NOT do that job without risking prison terms. War ain't pretty people!! Never has been and never will be!!
End of story.

I would simply like to know WHEN the real war criminals will be brought to trial... Bush, Cheyney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Rove. I would also add treason and mass murder to the charges. I don't think that Dumbya picking up roadside garbage for an eternity is sufficient. I believe they should all be tried, found guilty on the prima facie evidence, and hung by the neck until dead. I believe there are enough lamp poles on the National Mall to suffice, and, even though I am poor, I would gladly supply the rope.

This apology comes three years too late. The time to have stood up and made a difference in those moments has passed and the fact that these confessions and apologies come on the tail wind of that video becoming public makes every word suspect.

I agree with those who said that the soldiers seemed to be seeking forgiveness more so than actual change. It is too late for such a thing and none of those involved have the right to ask it from the families of their victims.

People must be accountable in the moment. Regardless of training, or of excuse, the common thread of human decency, of humanity itself dictates that there will always be a few who will rise to ensure compassion and follow a Universal Moral Code.

But these days, those men and women are too few and far between.

I neither condemn nor defend these men. That will always come from within them.

Kinda reminds me of when children are caught getting into something they weren't supposed to. They *say* they're "sorry", but they almost never mean it.

The military swarms this place and leaves like ants would with food.