30th Anniversary of Burying 2,000 Iraqi Soldiers Alive via the Gulf War (2_25_1991)

Growing up Catholic in Lockport New York,  James was often bullied in school.  He was outgoing and playful kid who grew into a withdrawn adolescent interested in computers. James had trouble communicating with ladies, but was competent at  hacking into government computer systems.

In May of 1988,  James joined the U.S. Army 1988-1991) trained in firearms,  sniper tactics and explosives.  He was a top gunner with the 25 millimeter cannon of Bradley Fighting Vehicles.  It was here the Army taught him how to turn off emotions.

In Operation Desert Storm (1991 in Iraq),   under President George H. Bush, American citizens were told it was a “high tech” war.  Returning soldiers said the actual orders were to “kill anything that moved.”  In the killing of 25,000,  U.S. airmen called it a “turkey shoot.”  General Norman Schwarzkopf said,  “I want every Iraqi soldier bleeding from every orifice.”

James was one of the finest soldiers you could find.  He experienced near hits with land mines and mortar shells, witnessing dead bloated bodies,  sometimes serving as dinner for packs of dogs.

On February 25th, 1991, reporters were banned from witnessing tanks and earthmovers burying 2,000 Iraqi soldiers alive, piling sand over them as in toe with machine gun fire over them from Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Vulcan armored carriers.  James was there with his  machine gun shooting the enemy in trenches,  or post live burial trying to crawl out of the sand pool death trap.

Pre-mature burial or live burial,  one of the most common human phobias,  leads to death through asphyxiation, dehydration, starvation and/or hypothermia. When it was over,  buried trenches of sand had arms, legs and other body parts sticking out of them.

James signed up for  stress counseling in early 1993, but chose not to when the Army told him he could not sign up anonymously.  He asked to sign up under a pseudonym because in the Army, admitting to Post-traumatic stress disorder was seen as weakness, the stigma attached to having mental illness.  The counseling soldiers received before post-deployment was “Don’t beat your girlfriend.  Don’t beat your wife.”

James spent time on the gun show circuit visiting forty states and selling guns at 80 different gun shows.  He handed out anti-government literature, and sold ATF hats riddled with bullet holes.   In 1993,  he drove to Waco Texas to show his support of the Branch Davidians during the Waco siege.

James’ hatred for the U.S. Government grew when he witnessed the federal raids of the Davidian compound in Waco and the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge.  He wrote letters to the editor complaining of oppressive taxes, and to Congress when it became illegal to carry mace in a purse.  He became enraged with the government who told him he had been overpaid $1,058 while in the army and had to pay the money back.

On April 19th, 1995 around 9am,  a massive bomb inside a rental truck exploded,  blowing half of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City to the ground.  The bomb killed 168 people on the second anniversary of Brand Davidian raid inferno in Waco Texas. 

Ninety minutes after the explosion,  27 year old Timothy James McVeigh was pulled over by an Oklahoma highway officer.  McVeigh’s army buddy,  Terry Nichols, voluntarily turned himself in to the police in Herrington Kansas.

Tim Smith, best friend of McVeigh during the Army days says,  “Tim McVeigh may never have become a terrorist had he received the help he asked for. Tim did not die June 11th, 2001 from lethal injection,  but ten years earlier in 1991 during Desert Storm.  If Tim McVeigh is a monster, the monster was created by the U.S. Government.”