Aaron Bushnell was a US Air Force cyber-defense operations specialist, who tragically gave his life (click CAPTCHA to access article) to protest US complicity in Gaza genocide. He claimed, before he died, that US special forces were not only coordinating military operations with the IDF, but actively engaged on the battlefield. He added (click CAPTCHA) that US commandos were fighting in tunnels inside Gaza:
“He told me [a close friend] on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels, that it’s US soldiers participating in the killings.
His actual job involves the processing of intelligence data. Some of what he was processing had to do with the Israeli Gaza conflict.
One of the things he told me is that coming across his desk … was the US military was involved in the genocides going on in Palestine. He told me that we had troops on the ground, you know, that were there and were killing large numbers of Palestinians.
“…I can tell you that the tone of his voice just had something in it that told me he was scared,’’ the buddy said. “I’ve never heard that tone come out of him.”
…Bushnell claimed he was imparting top secret information to his pal.
This flies in the face of Biden administration claims that US troops are “assisting for strategy for Israeli troops.” That phrase is tantalizingly vague and leaves the door wide open regarding Bushnell’s claim. The US also says that commandos are there to assist in the search for US hostages. How would that be? What would they do that IDF troops couldn’t do?
We already know that US specialists staff top secret intelligence bases inside Israel. But are US boots on the ground, on the battlefield, fighting alongside the IDF?
If so, this is a shocking development that betrays Biden’s own promises to abandon no-win regional conflicts like Afghanistan. It would also contradict repeated promises from past presidents that the US would refuse to become mired in such forever-wars.
Ordinarily, I would be inclined toward skepticism regarding such an incendiary claim. But given that Bushnell was a Signal Corps intelligence analyst with top secret security clearance, I have to attribute weight to his statements.
Granted, we are only hearing second-hand from his friends who relate Bushnell’s statements. On the other hand, this was the equivalent of a dying declaration, which courts treat with great deference, as we should here.
Bushnell’s suicide would likely mark the first time that a US officer died at his own hands protesting a US military operation. It is a milestone, though a shocking one. It should make not only the miliary command–but Pres. Biden himself–take stock of US policy in Gaza.
An additional blow is the Michigan primary result in which over 100,000 voted “uncommitted” in protest against Biden’s cheerleading for Israeli genocide. These are all powerful messages which he ignores at his peril.
Doubtless it will cause the army to revise its intelligence assignment policy in order to weed out candidates like Bushnell. These are precisely the personnel a professonal army should value because of the contrarian views they offer, which question prevailing wisdom.
A Moral-Psychological Profile
In the following section, I’m going to suggest some possible motivations for choices Bushnell made, based on media reports from his close friends, and the video he filmed before his act of immolation. Obviously, this is speculation since Bushnell did not leave a detailed account of his motives. But there is considerable detail on which to base this analysis.
A few caveats: I am not an expert on neurodiversity, though I have extensive experience with the subject within my own family. I am not making a diagnosis. Nor is anything that follows meant in any way to pigeonhole Bushnell or diminish the extraordinary sacrifice he made. Finally, I am not saying that what he did is characteristic of neurodiverse invididuals, who are each unique of their own way.
My goal is to try to place his death in a moral-psychological context that media reporting has either refused, or neglected to offer.
Bushnell was raised in a Christian cult, the Community of Jesus, on Cape Cod. It maintained a rigid structure and discipline common to most such social structures:
…Both of them [Bushnell and a fellow cult member who also left it] dealt with anxiety in their teenage years from the high expectations and tight restrictions imposed by the community’s leaders and teachers.
Followers were indoctrinated into the theological and social rules, and they adhered to them unqualifiedly. There have also been accusations of psychological, and other forms abuse.
Bushnell displayed many of the traits of what is known as a twice-exceptional neuro-divergent adult:
He also wrote about being frustrated over his difficulty connecting with new people. “While I care deeply about people, I tend to find social interactions very challenging, especially with strangers or anyone I’m not close with,” he said.
“Aaron was very analytical, he would have made this kind of a decision after putting a tremendous amount of thought into it. Aaron outwardly presents as the most calm, cool and collected person you will ever know,’’ the friend added. “You watch the video of him, and you see just how calm, cool and collected he is, and that is his normal personality.
The following are some of the benchmarks of neurodivergence. They are not meant to be exhaustive, nor to apply prescriptively to Bushnell:
- laser-focused
- cognitively/intellectually gifted
- highly articulate and rational
- rigid personality traits
- tendency toward absolutist judgments
- challenged by social interactions
- difficulty in interpreting social cues
- low affect/inability to express outward emotion
- tending to rebellious, oppositional behavior
After completing high school, he rebelled and left the cult. In 2019, he and a friend decided to join the US military. He chose the Air Force and eventually was assigned to Air Force intelligence as a Signal Corps specialist. But he quickly became alienated from the rigidity of military life. He also found the moral quandaries posed by US intelligence to be deeply troubling. All of this radicalized him and sent him on a path like that followed by Edward Snowden. In particular, he opposed the US role in the Gaza war, expressing his views on social media platforms and in activist groups he frequented.
Though he was scheduled to end his service in May, he felt he must act while still in uniform, because it would strengthen the impact of his sacrifice.
But why would he choose suicide instead of other avenues that might be available? He could follow in Snowden, John Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning’s or Reality Winner‘s footsteps and collect and disseminate US intelligence intercepts, exposing US complicity in genocide. He could have approached a major media outlet (again as Snowden did) to publish such materaials. He could have lived to add further credibility to his claims.
But Bushnell followed a strict moral code. Suffering and injustice wounded him deeply. He could not make peace with the evil in the world. He had an irrevocable committment to justice. This helps explain the radical nature of the choices he made.
Regarding his decision to die rather than live to tell his story: he could undoubtedly see the fate of Snowden (permanent exile in Russia), Manning and Winner (years in prison). Given the choice between living on the run, a long prison sentence or death, he likely felt that latter was the greatest moral sacrifice he could make. It would also avoid the harassment and life-long notoriety accompanying such whistleblowers. * *
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I’m linking here all the posts with excerpts, published since the subscriber feature stopped working, in case you’d like to read any of them:
Why Joe Biden Won’t Stop Gaza Genocide: Israel Lobby’s Campaign Cash
Israel Unloads Gaza Ethnic-Cleansing on US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
BREAKING: Egypt Agrees to Ethnically-Cleanse Gaza Refugees, Builds New Camp
Why Joe Biden Won’t Stop Gaza Genocide: Israel Lobby’s Campaign Cash
Netanyahu: IDF to Expel 1.5-million Gazans in Rafah
US Treasury Sanctions Israeli Settlers
US Misguided Post-War Plans for Gaza
IDF: Shocked Its Gaza Intelligence Fuels Campaign to Destroy UNRWA
One can’t look back and think he could have, should have or why did he? He knew what he was doing. He made a statement on how millions feel about biden and his genociding Gazans.
Your conclusions detract from his bold and heroic act against our inhumane congress and administration. Why not end it with that and don’t implant other ideas into people’s heads. This can add to the emotional distress of his family. You are overstretching and being presumptuous. Let him rest in peace. He acted courageously on his convictions. He is a hero. The end.
@Roger: I’ll be the judge of what’s appropriate for me to write and what I have to say.
Nothing I said detracts from what he did or stood for. It is clear that I think he made an enormous sacrifice for a worthy cause. I want to know more than that, because the media are shirking their duty to report on this and on him. That’s what a good journalist does and what I’m trying to do.
If that bothers you, so be it.
Aaron Bushnell had apparently witnessed or came across information in his U.S. Air Force military assignment that verified American boots were on the ground in Israel and fighting with IDF in Gaza while killing Palestinians, which probably did include young children and defenseless women in a society that does not allow any of them to engage in combat as do the Israelis.
Although we were aware American troops are being deployed in Israel for several months, Bushnell’s information about them fighting with the IDF in Gaza killing so many Palestinians is very disturbing and shocking and must be shared with as many patriots in the United States as soon as possible.
Because Aaron Bushnell did not share information to the public before an apparent suicide, strongly suggests the possibility of foul play caused by an unknown type of mind control developed in Dresden, Germany during the Cold War that was then considered to be the cruelest and most dangerous form of brainwashing ever used on an individual human. According to my extensive research after I was set up to observe it being administered to an innocent and vulnerable victim for nearly an entire hour by a 62-year-old male coworker who was the manipulator able to have control of her subconscious mind indefinitely and radically alter behavior as she remained in a trance with kinesthetic gestures with his arms and hands while also giving verbal commands under duress and fear of serious consequences without the victim being aware of the mental torture. This type of mind control will also cause permanent severe damage to the brain. Because, it can enable to completely change and control the victim’s subconscious mind indefinitely, the manipulator can make an individual commit illicit or illegal acts such as prostitution, murder, and suicide.
After the Cold War had ended, the Russians were planning to ban its use, however when Vladimir V. Putin became Director of the FSB, because of being assigned to Dresden in 1985 when East German scientists with Stasi were “experimenting” on girls and very young women with this developing form of mind control, he ordered it to be reinstated where it was “experimented” on or administered to thousands of individual prisoners confined to labor camps along the Gulag in Siberia of Russia.
Because the individual victim is completely unaware of becoming a Zombie, he or she may believe his or her life is still normal except for him or her experiencing so many headaches that will probably be misdiagnosed as a bipolar or schizophrenic condition and wrongly prescribed medication making matters worse. Although I have made several attempts to contact law enforcement agencies to report invisible crimes committed against a minor with physical beatings, deep cuts, and torture as well as a brain tumor diagnosed after an MRI exam, she may no longer be able to function. This technique is used on children and young adults in America now!
Whether or not this type of mind control from Russia was ever administered on Aaron Bushnell, the information divulged by his close and trusted friend probably is very accurate and credible to the extent that we must question America’s moral compass and where our nation is now really headed as what many Russians are also questioning about the atrocities their troops are committing in Ukraine. Keep in mind Netanyahu and Putin have been close friends for many years.
Why were no border security guards on duty and the alarm system turned off in the early morning of October 7 in 2023 at the time of the Massacre? Who arranged for the training of the Hamas terrorists by professional soldiers? Who was responsible for ordering Hezbollah to attack the U.S. Marines and American military personnel in their barracks at Beirut, Lebanon during 1983?
@John: I am moderating you. YOu may publish short succinct comments. But I will not publish long comments. I assure you few if any readers will bother reading them.
Also, your comment MUST be on-topic.
Richard: Your comments are fair and accepted. However, I was expecting to see a rather strong comment from you for the cold and heartless comment, if I understand correctly, made by Yankel. If this person was expressing concern for the unwarranted shipments of half-ton aerial bombs and artillery shells to Israel that are killing so many Palestinians in crowded or high-density areas, then I would tend to agree, but I interpret the comment as advocating the ongoing genocide being committed by the IDF in Gaza with logistical help from the Biden administration and U.S. Congress. Aaron Bushnell may have been ordered to dispatch U.S. troops and deploy munitions to Tel Aviv. If I am wrong, please accept my apology.
@ John: You misunderstood him. Yankel has been commenting here for years. He’s a good man. Read the comment again.
Please don’t post comments twice. I will approve your comment myself. You will have to wait for me to do that before you will see it yourself.
Thanks, Richard. I thought the meaning was obvious enough.
@yankel: Yup. It was.
Bushnell may have reacted to the immorality and unlawfulness of US actions that Bushnell was powerless to stop or to impede except by self-immolation.
Since Palestinians began to outnumber Zionist colonial settlers in territory under Zionist control, the Zionist colonial settlers have become crazed and frantic. Since Dec 2022, the attacks of Zionist colonial settlers on Palestinians, on Palestinian property, and on Palestinian communities have been steeply increasing. Zionist colonial settlers have kidnapped and imprisoned thousands of Palestinians. Zionist colonial settlers have been terrorizing Palestinian children and schools. Zionist colonial settlers have besieged Palestinian religious sites. Zionist colonial settlers have stepped up efforts of Judaization of Jerusalem and of Hebron.
Hamas is a native resistance movement within stolen Palestine and hardly differs from a native resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe. Just as the Nazis called the native resistance terrorist, the Zionists and their supporters call Hamas terrorist even though Hamas like the French or Polish resistance to the Nazis is heroic. On Oct 7, 2023, Hamas reacted to the unspeakable barbarism of the Zionist regime.
The kibbutzim of the Gaza Envelope are military bases
1. that are intended to make irreversible the ongoing genocide, which started in Dec 1947 and
2. that have been been camouflaged with civilians that have the role of human shields.
A native resistance movement like Hamas is fully justified in attacking such military bases. The civilian residents of such military bases are not protected noncombatants.
Hamas broke out of Gaza to seize Zionist colonial settlers so that they could be traded for kidnapped Palestinians and for a cessation of attacks on Palestinian religious sites. The US federal code defines such hostage taking for exchange to be a legitimate non-criminal act during a war. See 18 U.S. Code § 2441 – War crimes.
When Zionist forces understood the actions of Hamas fighters, the Zionist military perpetrated unspeakably heinous and random slaughter in accord with the Hannibal Directive. Zionist military seems to have caused practically all civilian casualties and deaths during Oct 7.
The incompetent but depraved, murderous, and genocidal Golani Brigade collapsed.
In response, the Zionist regime has revenged itself on the Palestinian population by destroying Gaza just as Nazi forces destroyed Warsaw. Even though genocide is not a legal or legitimate response to any act, the Zionist regime has achieved the grand slam of crimes of genocide:
• mass murder genocide (Gen. Con. Art. IIa),
• physical and psychological maiming genocide (Gen. Con. Art. IIb),
• hostile conditions genocide (Gen. Con. Art. IIc),
• birth prevention genocide (Gen. Con. Art. IId), and
• child-kidnapping genocide (Gen. Con. Art. IIe, mostly in the West Bank).
@Jonathan: I will not publish interminably long comments here. I’ve warned you about this numerous times. You will be moderated. If your comments are short and on-topic I will publish them. If not, I won’t.
Atlanta police chief Schierbaum suspect tried to set themselves on fire an act of extreme protest in front of Israeli consulate | 1 Dec. 2023 |
A Palestinian flag found at the scene was part of the protest
It is strange that no one was ever publicly identified, that no name, age, or gender was ever revealed.
The question whether or not American boots are indeed on the ground in the Gazan inferno, has relatively little to do with the ongoing effort to Finally Solve the Palestinian Problem, compared with the everlasting sacrosanct commitment to supply Israel with the means to carry it out.
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President Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal’ (1830)
In the period 2004-2006 I compared Palestine with the indigenous people of the America’s and the Trail of Tears … the comparison even more apt today as the brutality and massacre know no bounds. Immoral.