MCCORD: Not only are you going to have to deal with the people who you serve with calling you a traitor and a piece of crap and everything else you know, you're going to have to go through court-martials cause they can say that anything is classified. But, let's take a look at this WikiLeaks video for just one second here. The video was released on April 5th of 2010. However, the entire incident was written about in a book by David Finkel called The Good Soldiers. So, they're stating that this was classified, but it was already released back in 2009 through a book so how is it classified if it's already for released? I mean, word for word this video is described in the book The Good Soldiers so yet we're going to charge Bradley Manning for releasing classified information. Shouldn't we also be charging David Finkel for writing this book detailing the entire engagement in his book in 2009? I think that this incident was unclassified as soon as it was written about and put in this book in 2009.
GOSZTOLA: You raise a key dilemma of when information on war ceases to be classified and it does appear most soldiers are not supposed to look at even declassified information because superiors will say it was once classified and if it wasn't declassified properly you don't have a right to know. What does that mean for people in the military that do have to process information?
MCCORD: You're told to serve your country and it's not your place to ask when and why and how. It's your job to just do. So, it becomes an extreme moral dilemma for soldiers and you know a lot of soldiers they tend to self-justify what's going on, what they're seeing, what they're doing. But, you know, here in lies the problem because once the self-justifying is done and you come back to the United States and you can no longer self-justify what you did, you end up having the problem like we do now with so many soldiers committing suicide. When the self-justification's run out, you have to face your own soul, your own mind. Unfortunately, it becomes very tough to deal with and to justify what you did and so, yeah, it's a huge moral dilemma for soldiers in the military. I know it was for me.
GOSZTOLA: My question also is wasn't this video or some account of it released before WikiLeaks actually -- That it did come up in the news and there was some account of it and it did appear to be incomplete and I've read an account that Bradley Manning saw--It's suggested that he saw this coverage and he thought this isn't exactly what happened and it raised an alarm in his mind and it's possible that it had some role in motivating him to give it to WikiLeaks, if he in fact did leak it to WikiLeaks. What's your reaction to the fact that sometimes these accounts are actually sanitized and what the impact can be on someone who has been involved in these incidents?
MCCORD: I know for a fact that incidents are whitewashed. Taking a look at the Afghanistan "Kill Teams" where they were using drop weapons--Many people in my unit used drop weapons in Iraq. And, we were always told if you engage and you kill somebody we're going to have your back. This is the officer speaking. We're going to protect you. So, you're walking around Iraq with the idea--Many of the young soldiers had the idea we're protected, we can do whatever because we're the big bad USA. People are going to protect us. And I'm pretty sure that's what the Afghanistan "Kill Team" was thinking at the time. You know, unfortunately in the military it's only wrong if you get caught.
GOSZTOLA: In closing and going forward here, we've now expanded our military involvement in countries into Libya and I know that you've done some works with veterans addressing that need that they have. I know you've been active with Iraq Veterans Against the War and are very outspoken. So, I'd like to give you some time to talk about the expansion of our military into countries with little regard for the individuals who we are asking to be involved in these operations and also the fact of the reality of mission creep that can take place in these wars.
MCCORD: To me--and this is my personal opinion on the matter--You know, if you take a look all around the world, we're the only country that has bases in other countries. There's nobody else with a base or post in the United States or anywhere close to it. We've been branching out and putting bases everywhere. Look at World War II, Japan and Germany. Look at that we have bases in both those places there. So, Iraq is going to turn into a military base. Korea is a military base. So, are we going to probably put something in Libya? Who knows? You know, we only tend to step in when it's beneficial to us or to our allies. And, you know with Libya being the large supplier of oil to Europe, you know it was in our best interest to help them.
I like that they say we are just aiding in this, the bombing, although we fired like what 122 missiles and Britain fired like two. And then they are saying well we are handing this over to NATO. Well, NATO--We're the primary funder of NATO so again the weight is going to fall back on the United States in dealing with this.
GOSZTOLA: I do want to give you one more chance to talk about, before I let you go here, one more time connecting with children and kids on this and what's it like when you are telling them this story. I imagine a lot of them maybe haven't heard something like this and a lot of them maybe have a tough time processing it but they. I mean, I want to know if kids actually get it and appreciate hearing from you.
MCCORD: I actually think most kids appreciate it. Ninety-eight percent of them have no idea what war is. They play "Black Ops" or "Call of Duty" on Xbox but they have absolutely no idea that it's not a video game. When you get shot, you don't respond. When you kill somebody, they don't respond. You're actually taking the lives of people and you can't go on about your day after you kill somebody like nothing happened. It lingers. It stays with you. And of course there's some of these kids who are completely lost to the system, that are going to join the military no matter what you say. But, I've spoken with a lot and I, in fact, keep in contact with a lot who still message me on Facebook to let me know how they are doing, people who were going to join the military but once they saw my video and listened to me talk decided it wasn't going to be the best for them.
I try to teach kids alternatives in joining the military. I speak--It's not this glorified, glamorized job that TV and movies make it out to be. It's a horrible horrible thing. And you know not only are you going to live in war but after the war you are going to live with and it's just not worth it.
GOSZTOLA: Alright Ethan I want to thank you for coming on the show. Do you have anything that you feel like you would like to plug? Anything people should see? I should mention if anybody listening to this is in and around New York City you're featured in a short documentary film that's going to be screening at the Tribeca Festival and it's called "Incident in New Baghdad."
MCCORD: Correct --
GOSZTOLA: And do you have anything that you want to say?
MCCORD: I'm actually through that movie I'm releasing all my pictures of that day. They will be in that documentary. So, you'll be able to see what I saw, what everybody else saw. It shows everything. I didn't hold anything back in the pictures.
GOSZTOLA: Thank you again and good luck to you.
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