Troops out Now. Iraq for Iraqis
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GI Special: [email protected] 9.24.07 Print it out: color best. Pass it on. GI SPECIAL 5I22:
“Who Are We?” “IRAQ VETERANS” “Troops Out Now. Iraq for Iraqis” “No Justice, No Peace” “U.S. Out of the Middle East!” Iraq Veterans Against the War lead seven thousand demonstrators on a march through the streets of Washington to the steps of the Capitol Building on September 15.
In a straight line followed six more flags, all black, each with a different corporate logo — one for Halliburton Corp., Bechtel Corp., Lockheed-Martin Corp., Blackwatch Corp., CACI Corp., and Dyncorp Corp — all on the very short list of winners in this conflict.
Photo: Tyler Dave
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September 18th, 2007 By Mike Ferner, Dissidentvoice.org [Excerpts]
Other demonstrations against the war in Iraq have been larger, but the one that happened in Washington, DC this past Saturday was significant in another way because of a very different feel about it.
Contingents of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Veterans for Peace lined up at the front of the march, sponsored by the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, stepping off on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.
One sight, never before seen in a protest march nor certainly any parade in the nation, was the IVAW “color guard.” Geoff Millard, President DC Chapter of IVAW, dressed in full desert camouflage barked, “IVAW. Fall in. Columns of four.” Immediately, to the front of the rows of veterans marched seven of their number, each holding erect a different flag. Following tradition, the U.S. flag was in the lead, except this time it was upside- down.
In a straight line followed six more flags, all black, each with a different corporate logo — one for Halliburton Corp., Bechtel Corp., Lockheed-Martin Corp., Blackwatch Corp., CACI Corp., and Dyncorp Corp — all on the very short list of winners in this conflict.
Making the color guard stand out even more prominently in grim relief, Carlos Arrendondo solemnly pulled a small, flag-draped casket on a carriage. On the casket stood the oversized photograph of his son that accompanies him everywhere, and a pair of empty, desert combat boots that belonged to him before he was killed in Iraq.
The words spoken by the solemn-faced IVAW members were even more arresting than the visuals they carried.
A young vet led a sing-song, call-and-response cadence familiar to soldiers everywhere. The answers echoed off the houses of power and back to him. “Who Are We?” “IRAQ VETERANS.” “Whatta We Say?” “WAR IS NOT A GAME!”
A platoon of America’s finest young men and women, raised in a society that idolizes all things martial, indoctrinated during months of basic training, highly skilled as riflemen, tank operators, police, satellite communications operators and medics — proficient in every skill needed to run the world’s most powerful military, marched confidently down the main street of their nation’s capital, chanting “Troops Out Now. Iraq for Iraqis” and “No Justice, No Peace. US Out of the Middle East!”
Minutes later, the IVAW’s confident message came under attack as their front rank approached a thousand or so [a count by a reporter found “several hundred”] angry, screaming people calling themselves “A Gathering of Eagles,” occupying three blocks of sidewalk reserved for them by police.
Their snarled taunts and invective were quickly drowned when the vets bellowed in unison, “Support the Troops. WE ARE THE TROOPS!”
Then in one of the most memorable moments of the day, IVAW Board of Directors member, Adam Kokesh, marching in command alongside the color guard, ordered, “Column, HALT! Left FACE!” whereupon he spun on his heel, faced the angry crowd, and held for several long seconds his best USMC salute.
The surprise maneuver left the gathered eagles momentarily taken aback and the crowd cheering.
The final action began to move when Kokesh stood to read a letter he had sent to members of Congress:
“Dear Congress,
“We have come before you today with a simple message: as a representation of the people you have failed us and you have blood on your hands. “This is blood that the American people will not allow to continue to be spilled in our name any longer.
“Today we are marching in solidarity with the Iraqi people who want the occupation to end. It is fully within your power to stop this tragedy.
“You have just heard the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.
“General Casey was replaced by General Petraeus because he would not support the President’s agenda of keeping as many troops deployed as long as possible, keeping our military teetering at the breaking point.
“General Petraeus was selected for this position not only because of his abilities as a soldier, but also for political purposes. When he testified before you he was acting in his role as a political appointee.
“He told you the surge was working.
“This is the same absurd optimism that we have been hearing since the beginning of this occupation from its proponents: the insurgency is in its last throes; we are turning the corner. Why do you still believe these people?
“We have come before you to ask that you consider the cost in human life of this conflict so far. We are also here to tell you that we will not stand for this corruption of our democracy any longer.
“We the people are in the streets. We the people are fed up.
“We the people are ready to rise up and take back our democracy.
Signed, – The Empowered Patriots
Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward GI Special along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Project, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657
IRAQ WAR REPORTS
U.S. Soldier Dead In Diyala Wreck September 22, 2007 Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
A Task Force Lightning Soldier died in a vehicle accident in Diyala province on Saturday.
Longview Marine Killed In Iraq
John Christian Stock was a Longview High School graduate. Special to the News- Journal
September 07, 2007 By SHERRY KOONCE, Longview News-Journal
A Longview U.S. Marine who friends and loved ones say epitomized all that is good about East Texas died in combat Thursday while serving in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. John Christian Stock, 26, was killed in Western Anbar Province while manning a traffic checkpoint. His father, Jerry Stock, said his son's death was the result of a suicide car bomber.
Stock, a member of the 2nd Marine Division 3rd Battalion Bravo Company, initially served four years in the Marines. He was out for six months and then re-enlisted.
He leaves behind his wife, the former Lindsey Tyner of Longview, an 8-year-old stepson, Levin, the couple's 9-month-old son, Wyatt, his father and his mother, Gwen Stock, and four sisters and a brother.
A rosary in Stock's honor will be recited at 8 a.m. today at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 2108 Ridgewood. Led by St. Mary's Catholic School, the rosary is open to the public. "I've received many visitors throughout the day, and it's very comforting to know how well thought of my son was in the community," Jerry Stock said.
Jerry Stock said his son had been in Iraq since March, which was his first tour of duty there.
Along with his five siblings, John Stock attended St. Mary's Catholic School and was active in the church.
"He was a fine young man, very committed to trying to do something valuable with his life and very committed to his family and his country," said the Rev. Gavin Vaverek, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Vaverek said he talked with Stock and his bride-to-be before the couple wed.
"He was considering going back into the Marines, and that was a very serious commitment to make, and his wife Lindsey was very supportive of that choice," Vaverek said. "He very intentionally chose to go back into the Marines to fight the war against terrorism."
Before re-enlisting, Stock studied automotive repair in Houston and continued friendships he'd made in grade school.
Bosten Gisi, 26, had been friends with Stock since early childhood.
"I've known him for 20 years. He was a great guy, very outgoing, had a lot of friends, and always kept a smile on his face," Gisi said.
The boys started Cub Scouts together, then Boy Scouts and earned their Eagle Scout rank when they were both 15, Gisi said. Gisi's father, Mike, was Stock's assistant Scout master and remembers a jovial young man.
"He was always fun; you could always kid him about something, and he loved to play practical jokes," he said.
When not Scouting, Stock enjoyed athletics. He played soccer at St. Mary's, where he attended through the eighth grade. After transferring to Longview High School, he was a member of the varsity swim team.
Like many East Texas boys, Stock loved music, rock and traditional Southern country artists. "He like Waylon Jennings, and all the Hanks: Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr. and Hank III. He had an adventurous and fearless spirit that was evidenced in the many pastimes he enjoyed: kayaking, camping, white water rafting, and mountain climbing," Bosten Gisi said.
"He was a good East Texas boy through and through. He was not scared; he had no fear, and that's why Iraq did not scare him. He said he knew what he had to do, and he was proud to do it." Local Marine Killed In Iraq
September 10, 2007 Mary Jo Denton, Herald-Citizen Staff
COOKEVILLE -- A U.S. Marine from Cookeville has been killed in Iraq, his family has been told. Lance Corporal Lance Murphy Clark, 21, of Jager Lane, Cookeville, the son of John Dale and Susie Scott of Cookeville and Jackie and Pam Clark of Chestnut Mound, died in southern Iraq on Sept. 7, Marine officers told the Scott family late Friday night. More information, including details of when his body will be returned, was expected to be given to the family today, according to LCpl. Clark's mother, Susie Murphy Scott.
She said U.S. Marine officers knocked on her door about 10:30 p.m. Friday to inform her of her son's death. They reported that he died of a gunshot wound, but had no further information at the time.
LCpl. Clark, who would have turned 22 on Dec. 5, graduated from Cookeville High School in 2004 and joined the U.S. Marines in April of 2005. He completed basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and had recently been stationed at Camp Pendleton in California, his mother said.
He had already completed one tour of duty in Iraq and was called back for a second tour in July, with plans to return to the U.S. in February, she said.
"He had been gone this time about eight weeks and had called us three times since then," she said.
"He had given me the new address, and I sent him some things -- one of those little spray fans because it's so hot over there, some candy, some socks and underwear -- I believe he had had time to receive that package."
She said her son told her before being deployed to the war, "Mom, if I don't get back home, I'll be waiting for you in heaven."
"He was a good person, a sweet boy that never gave us any trouble," she said. "He was always concerned about how other people felt." He was a member of Eastwood Baptist Church, she said, and he was very close to his brother, Travis Lee Clark and his stepbrothers, Greg Scott and Jason Scott of Cookeville and Kevin and Adam Huff of Chestnut Mound.
His family also includes his maternal grandmother, Jessie Carmack Murphy of Cookeville. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Donald W. Murphy, and his paternal grandparents, Lanzy and Opal Clark.
He joined the Marines after the war had already started, fully aware of the danger, his mother said. He liked the military life, but was looking forward to getting back home, she said. He often mentioned his grandfather, the late Donald W. Murphy, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II, saying that "if Pa could do that, I can do this."
LCpl. Clark was a boy who was always interested in cars, his mother said. He loved to work on vehicles, and he liked guns and hunting and fishing, as well as wrestling and other sports, she said.
In the Marines, he had won awards for his shooting skills.
Funeral arrangements are awaiting further information from military officials.
FUTILE EXERCISE: ONLY 15 MILLION MORE TO GO: COME ON HOME NOW!
U.S. soldier performs an explosives residue test on an Iraqi citizen during an operation in Abu Garma August 14, 2007. REUTERS/U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Martin K. Newton/Handout TROOP NEWS
THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME: BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE
The coffin of Marine Lance Cpl. Jon T. Hicks, Sept. 20, 2007 in Atco, N.J. Hicks died in Iraq. (AP Photo/David Gard)
“The Role Of GI Resistance Is Still Underrated Both Within And Outside The Anti-War Movement”
Steve Morse, July 2007 Newsletter, Veterans For Peace [Excerpt]
As we keep our eyes on the prize of ending war, we need to never forget the key role that resisting soldiers can play in ending this particular war and war in general.
I'm proud of having been part of the GI Resistance during the Viet Nam war; please do see the movie Sir No Sir if you haven't already. In spite of the movie, and in spite of increasing soldier resistance in the current Iraq war, the role of GI resistance is still underrated both within and outside the anti-war movement.
OOPS: 20 Mystery Soldiers Parachute Into A Prison Cornfield August 2007 Prison Legal News
Colorado: On July 12, 2007, 20 unidentified soldiers parachuted into a cornfield on the grounds of the Fremont Correctional Facility after missing their landing zone at the Fremont county airport.
The soldiers claimed they were with the Department of Defense but refused to tell prison employees which branch. The soldiers were armed with rifles and rubber bullets.
IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP
GET THE MESSAGE?
An Iraqi man burns a symbolic U.S. flag during a protest against the Occupation in eastern Baghdad, Sept. 16, 2007. Protesters denounced the behavior of U.S. soldiers and called for the Iraqi government to intervene. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
FORWARD OBSERVATIONS At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. Frederick Douglas, 1852
“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787.
"The mighty are only mighty because we are on our knees. Let us rise!" --Camille Desmoulins
“My Son Died. He Was Killed By A Suicide Car Bomber 29 April 04” “Whom Do I Blame For His Death?”
From: Mary Ann MacCombie To: GI Special Sent: September 22, 2007 Subject: Public
My son died. He was killed by a suicide car bomber 29 April 04.
He should have been home on block leave by then yet was extended involuntarily a month before for unspecified additional months.
Whom do I blame for his death?
His chain of command who ignored the demoralizing effect of such an extension.
Specifically Staff Sgt Smiley, Lt. Vinyard, Capt. Hickman, Major Kiernan of the 1st Armored Division.
Oh, and yes, ultimately, President Bush.
The smirker, the shirker.
--Mary Ann MacCombie
Troops Invited: What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email [email protected]:. Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Replies confidential. Same address to unsubscribe.
Iraq--You Have The Right To Remain Silent...
From: Mike Hastie To: GI Special Sent: September 22, 2007 Subject: Iraq--You have the right to remain silent....
Iraq--You have the right to remain silent...
If you don't have any history, you don't have any denial. Mike Hastie Vietnam Veteran September 22, 2007
Photo and caption from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: ([email protected]) T)
Farewell Dave Cline
From: Displaced Films Sir! No Sir! To: GI Special Sent: September 18, 2007 Subject: Farewell Dave Cline By David Zeiger
I am very sad to have to report the news that Dave Cline died this past weekend.
There are many wonderful tributes to Dave being written (veteransforpeace.org), and I would like to add some personal reflections on the part of his life with which I was deeply connected-the GI Movement against the Vietnam War.
I hope you will indulge some nostalgic reminiscing here-there really is a point to it.
Let me say up front that without Dave Cline, Sir! No Sir! would not have been made.
I met Dave in the Spring of 1970, when I joined the staff of the Oleo Strut Coffeehouse outside Ft. Hood in Killeen, Texas.
My introduction to him and the GI Movement was riding in a broken down Chevy with Dave driving 120 mph through central Texas and me convinced I would never get out of there alive. I'm not sure anything defines Dave Cline better than that wild ride.
Dave and I were from different worlds. I was a middle class kid who came to my opposition to the war and growing radicalism intellectually.
Dave, a working class kid from Buffalo, had joined the army and been wounded three times in Vietnam. It was his last wound, from an NLF soldier at point blank range, that changed everything. The soldier shattered Dave's knee, and Dave killed him with a bullet in the chest. His first realization was it was "pure luck" that he was alive and the other guy was dead.
Then it hit him that there was no real difference between the two of them. Finally, the epiphany:
It was the NLF soldier who was fighting for a just cause, while Dave and his comrades were fighting for a lie.
In typical Dave Cline fashion he concluded in 1970, "I had to kill a revolutionary to become a revolutionary."
And revolutionaries we were. Right there in Killeen fucking Texas.
In 1971-with literally thousands of GIs rebelling against the war and joining groups like the Black Panther Party-planning demonstrations by day and hotly debating the writings of Marx, Lenin and Mao by night was a very practical thing to do.
And boy could Dave debate. Even in his sleep. It wasn't uncommon for him to jolt up from his bed at 2 am to continue a discussion from earlier that day, only to have no memory of it the next morning (Dave claimed he had even slept through a mortar attack in Vietnam).
And it was in that cauldron that we grew up. We were part of an unprecedented political upheaval, and we were alive in a way that is very rare-even though we could barely afford to eat two skimpy meals a day. Terry Davis, Dave's wife at the time, reminded me recently that one of her happiest moments was when Mark Lane donated a sack of potatoes to the staff.
Dave was intense, determined, and maddeningly stubborn.
In 1970, the last thing a GI wanted to do after getting out of the army was live in a military town-even if he had been active in the movement. But here was Dave, during high points and low (which were most of the time), refusing to let go or give up.
His connection with the GIs, whether they agreed with us or not, was deep and seamless-and it made the Oleo Strut something special. I can't begin to quantify what I learned from Dave those two years.
Then the war ended, and we all moved into other arenas, believing deeply in the possibility of revolution right here in the United States. For a while we stayed close, but through the years political disagreements developed, and in those heady times that meant a lot. By the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s we weren't in contact any more. Those were very difficult times. In one of the last conversations I had with Dave back then he told me that every morning he woke up thinking "Oh fuck, another day!"
So when I started to make Sir! No Sir! Dave was the first person I wanted to talk to, but I had no idea what or whom I would find.
What I found was the person so many have been writing about these last few days. Wracked by illness, he was extraordinarily energetic and eager to tell his story. The day of our interview, he had just come home from a grueling three-day VFP convention and was worried he wouldn't have much energy. We talked for four hours.
And here's the most important part. After decades of both political and personal conflicts, there are still some out there who would say "Don't talk to so-and-so, 'cause he's a yada- yada." Not only would Dave have none of that, he actively spoke against it.
Dave knew the tremendous importance of telling the story of the GI Movement today, in this world and with this war.
Because of him, several people are in the film alongside others they wouldn't have been in the same room with a few years ago. And he carried that spirit into the dozens of screenings and Q&As he participated in these past couple of years.
He has played a tremendous role in making Sir! No Sir! the spark for today's GI Movement that it has been. And that's on top of his superhuman energy in building the work of Veterans for Peace.
In these last years of his life, I don't think Dave was saying "Oh fuck, another day!" anymore.
This has been a tough year. Along with Dave, two other veterans of the GI Movement who were integral parts of the film have also died-Oliver Hirsch of the Nine for Peace, and Terry Whitmore, who deserted to Sweden after watching federal troops invade his home town of Memphis as he lay wounded in a hospital bed in Japan. Along with Dave, their lives had deep historic meaning.
For more about Dave, and information on funeral and memorial plans, please go to http://www.veteransforpeace.org
Signed, David Zeiger
Sir! No Sir!: At A Theatre Near You! To find it: http://www.sirnosir.com/
The Sir! No Sir! DVD is on sale now, exclusively at www.sirnosir.com.
Also available is a Soundtrack CD (which includes the entire song from the FTA Show, "Soldier We Love You"), theatrical posters, tee shirts, and the DVD of "A Night of Ferocious Joy," a film about the first hip-hop antiwar concert against the "War on Terror." BUY SIR! NO SIR! FOR ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIERS NOW
HELP GET SIR! NO SIR! INTO THE HANDS THAT NEED IT MOST
Why ???
From: Dennis Serdel To: GI Special Sent: September 22, 2007 Subject: Why ??? by Dennis
By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan
Why ??? the brain damage is the thought
and the first sentence and then being able to remember the next sentence trying to remember the next sentence and the point mumbling another sentence to remember what the last sentence but then talking mundane buying time then remembering the main idea that was in the thought in the first place many times talking and circling out there beyond and one two three family people listening to a zeppelin over size brain in thinking what the hell is going on here somethings wrong something can not think anymore and soon life this view in front of the eyes is something to fear and it wants to kill to wound and to hurt and this looking out this view will do that in once purple mountains a field of sunflowers trying to think of the right word the one-ist the the-ist but failing like in first grade the feelings close up in tears a spectacle as alzheimer's a crucible scars on the head wounded by an ied while popped up in the hole in the top of the tank only to talk is unbearable even to whisper in half dead sounds wondering where the man in the tank went where are the others what happened don't want to be here want to go back like before the ied the war.
w ritten by Dennis Serdel VFP 50
“The Soldier And Veteran Protest Had A Direct Effect” “The Policymaking Elites Lost Control Of The Ability To Wage War To A Degree Unprecedented In Recent American History” “Indeed, The Troops Exercised Control” “Low Morale And High Discontent Had Apparently Convinced Many Officers That ‘You Can't Just Hand Out Orders’”
The fall 1968 GI-Veteran March for Peace was the first major demonstration of active- duty GIs. Michael Locks, Susan Schnall, and Hugh Hester (first, second, and third from left, front row) led the march. Hester was a retired army general and supporter of the Veterans for Peace in Vietnam. Student Mobilization Committee poster; photo reproduction, Aubrey Haynes. “I knew I was going to the peace march. I went there and I wore my uniform. My feeling was, I was not a civilian, I was a member of the armed forces. And if Westmoreland could wear his uniform talking to Congress about increasing aid to fight with Vietnam, I could certainly wear my uniform talking out against the war publicly.”
THE NEW WINTER SOLDIERS: GI AND VETERAN DISSENT DURING THE VIETNAM ERA; Richard R. Moser; 1996; RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS; New Brunswick, New Jersey [Excerpt]
In September 1968 San Francisco was the site of the first antiwar march led and organized by active duty soldiers. The GI-Veteran March for Peace was an outstanding example of GI activism.
Susan Schnall, a navy veteran, recalls how the limitations of military organizing were creatively and dramatically overcome in preparation for the GI march.
“We needed publicity. . . . It was also the time the United States was flying B-52 bombers over Vietnam with leaflets. . . urging the Vietnamese to defect. And I thought if the United States could do that in Vietnam, I could do it in the United States. . . .
“I had a friend who was a pilot. . . . We loaded up the airplane with leaflets urging people to come to the GI-Veterans March for Peace.
“And we dropped the leaflets on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island and of course on my hospital. And on the deck of . . . the Enterprise, that was stationed at Alameda Naval Air station, and also in the Presdio. . . . It was on the news and in the newspapers.”
Schnall's leaflet bombing mission was learned from the logic of the military itself.
Like other dissident soldiers, Schnall insisted on wearing her uniform to the demonstrations.
Again she relied on the example set by military leaders.
“The military. . . issued a regulation which stated military. . . personnel couldn't wear their uniforms while talking about religious, social, or political ideals in a public forum. . . .
“I knew I was going to the peace march. I went there and I wore my uniform. My feeling was, I was not a civilian, I was a member of the armed forces. And if Westmoreland could wear his uniform talking to Congress about increasing aid to fight with Vietnam, I could certainly wear my uniform talking out against the war publicly.”
Although, Schnall was court-martialed for her actions, she continued to organize the GI movement; traveling and speaking across the country. The five hundred soldiers and veterans who participated in the GI-Veteran March for Peace created what would become a tradition in the antiwar movement.
Later that year Bay Area marches drew up to 300 uniformed GIs and reservists. In July of 1968, 200 troops from Fort Hood attended a "love-in."
In April 1969 soldiers led civilian demonstrations in six major cities.
That August dozens of marines from Camp Pendleton joined with thousands of civilians. to march on Nixon's San Clemente home.
The moratorium demonstrations drew a groundswell of support from GIs in Vietnam and at home.
The gigantic November demonstration in Washington was led by 150 active duty GIs and 400 veterans.
The soldier and veteran protest had a direct effect upon the power of the U.S. military and ruling elites.
The political and military dimensions of this resistance were remarkable and historically unprecedented.
A significant minority of soldiers, sometimes led by antiwar officers, took the execution of the war into their own hands by declaring a grunts' ceasefire.
Passive resistance, shamming, search-and-avoid missions, combat refusals, fraggings, and absenteeism were powerful forms of grassroots democratic diplomacy.
In June 1971 a GI paper called People's Press ran an article claiming that NLF and NVA units were ordered not to open hostilities against U. S. troops displaying red bandannas or peace signs unless first fired upon.
In 1974, an anonymous U.S. Army colonel claimed:
“I had influence over an entire province. I put my men to work helping with the harvest. They put up buildings. Once the NVA understood what I was doing, they eased up. I'm talking to you about a de facto truce, you understand. The war stopped in most of the province.
“It's the kind of history that doesn't get recorded. Few people even know it happened, and no one will ever admit that it happened.”
**********************
The policymaking elites lost control of the ability to wage war to a degree unprecedented in recent American history. The top brass and the government viewed this democracy with horror.
Commenting on the Movement for a Democratic Military (MDM), Marine Corps Commander General Chapman said, "MDM wants nothing less than democracy. “I can think of no organization which is less democratic than the Marine Corps."
The democratic upsurge created new command techniques called "working it out."
Working it out consisted of negotiations between officers and men to determine orders.
By 1970 democratic command was sufficiently widespread that reports of it were featured in popular periodicals.
Low morale and high discontent had apparently convinced many officers that "you can't just hand out orders.”
Indeed, the troops exercised control:
“The marines weren't so bad. You could make your own way. . . .
“The thing that worried them the most was losing control. If they were having trouble with the men, they would put in somewhere, give us a week's leave, or they would make up some reason why the mission had been canceled -- even though everyone knew the real reason.“
“Why Are We Fighting For Guys Who Wouldn't Fight For Themselves?” “Why Are We Fighting For Generals To Get Promoted?” "I Didn't Know Why I Was There. . . . No God, No Flag, No Country"
“Building rage inside and hatred and I remember saying to myself, there better be a good fucking reason for this shit, man. “There better be a good reason for me going through this.
“This better make some sense when I get out of here.”
THE NEW WINTER SOLDIERS: GI AND VETERAN DISSENT DURING THE VIETNAM ERA; Richard R. Moser; 1996; RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS; New Brunswick, New Jersey [Excerpt] “What became real apparent was that Vietnam seemed to be run by officer-bureaucrats. . . . People were getting promoted based upon body count.
“Body count never made sense to me. The disrespect for Vietnamese life never made sense to me..” . .
“Only 10 percent of GIs were combat and 90 percent were support and that didn't make sense. And the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam, South) never fought. . . .
“Meanwhile the Vietcong. . . they would engage you in combat and keep you engaged as long as they wanted. When we'd capture a local guerilla group, they'd fight to the death.
“They. were brave, courageous, and bold. Our allies weren't.
“Why are we fighting for guys who wouldn't fight for themselves?
“Why are we fighting for generals to get promoted?
So powerfully did Vietnam assault common assumptions that the ideals of the citizen- soldier threatened to collapse and disintegrate.
As Schultz recalled his combat experience, "I didn't know why I was there. . . . No God, no flag, no country."
Many soldiers experienced a loss of meaning and direction.
“It was the last six months in 1969 . . . that really did me. . . .
“Building rage inside and hatred and I remember saying to myself, there better be a good fucking reason for this shit, man.
“There better be a good reason for me going through this.
“And there better be a good reason for me carrying these feelings.
“This better make some sense when I get out of here.
OCCUPATION REPORT
U.S. OCCUPATION RECRUITING DRIVE IN HIGH GEAR; RECRUITING FOR THE ARMED RESISTANCE THAT IS
A young Iraqi citizen is arrested Sept. 17, 2007 by foreign occupation soldiers from the U.S. who suspected him of throwing a grenade at American troops in Baghdad's neighborhood of Azamiyah.
The suspect, who is 17, was taken to a U.S. base north of Azamiyah for questioning but was later released. (AP Photo/Hamza
[Fair is fair. Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqi troops over here to the USA. They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence, butcher their families, overthrow the government, put a new one in office they like better and call it “sovereign,” and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in some prison without any charges being filed against them, or any trial.]
[Those Iraqis are sure a bunch of backward primitives. They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship, and consider it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country. What a bunch of silly people. How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by George Bush. Why, how could anybody not love that? You’d want that in your home town, right?]
Blackwater: Weapons For Terrorists: “There Is Enough Evidence To File Charges”
September 22, 2007 By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer & McClatchy
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., where Blackwater is based, is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press.
The investigation is also looking into whether Blackwater was shipping weapons, night- vision scopes, armor, gun kits and other military goods to Iraq without the required permits.
A former Blackwater employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the investigation includes a look at whether Blackwater shipped weapons from its Moyock headquarters to Iraq hidden in pallets wrapped tightly in shrink wrap.
MORE: Brigadier General Karl Horst Said: “They Shoot People, And Someone Else Has To Deal With The Aftermath. It Happens All Over The Place" Colonel Thomas Hammes Said: “They Were Making Enemies On Every Single Pass Out Of Town"
September 21, 2007 Jeremy Scahill, The Nation [Excerpts]
Prepared testimony of Jeremy Scahill before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, September 21, 2007. [Excerpts]
Colonel Thomas Hammes, the US military official once overseeing the creation of a new Iraqi military, has described driving around Iraq with Iraqis and encountering Blackwater operatives. "(They) were running me off the road. We were threatened and intimidated," Hammes said.
But, he added, "they were doing their job, exactly what they were paid to do in the way they were paid to do it, and they were making enemies on every single pass out of town."
Hammes concluded the contractors were "hurting our counterinsurgency effort." Brigadier General Karl Horst, deputy commander of the 3rd Infantry Division said of private security contractors, "These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There's no authority over them, so you can't come down on them hard when they escalate force....
“They shoot people, and someone else has to deal with the aftermath. It happens all over the place."
Horst tracked contractor conduct for a two month period in Baghdad and documented at least a dozen shootings of Iraqi civilians by contractors, resulting in six Iraqi deaths and the wounding of three others. That is just one General in one area of Iraq in just 60 days.
MORE: Videotape Shows Blackwater Scum Slaughtered Iraqi Civilians “Without Provocation”
[Thanks to JM, who sent this in.]
September 23, 2007 By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer {excerpts]
Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command.
MORE: “The Murder Of Citizens In Cold Blood In The Nisour Area By Blackwater Is Considered A Terrorist Action”
23 September 2007 By James Glanz and Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times
The Iraqi government said Saturday that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts within days in connection with a shooting here by a private American security company, and the Interior Ministry gave new details of six other episodes it is investigating involving the company.
The state minister for national security affairs, Shirwan al-Waili, said the government had received little information from the American side in the early days of a joint investigation of the shooting, which involved the company Blackwater USA and left at least eight Iraqis dead.
But he said that the Iraqi investigation was largely completed and that he believed the findings were definitive.
“The shots fired on the Iraqis were unjustifiable,” he said. “It was harsh and horrible.”
Although Mr. Waili did not spell out what the investigative committee would recommend to the criminal court, a preliminary report of findings by the Interior Ministry, the National Security Ministry and the Defense Ministry stated that “the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation.”
NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER Telling the truth - about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance - whether it's in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)
OCCUPATION PALESTINE [Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]
[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”] IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE END THE OCCUPATION
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