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News :: International Relations |
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Breaking The Silence: Soldiers Speak Out Against War In Iraq |
Current rating: 0 |
by Chris Strohm and Ingrid Drake/DC IMC via ML
(No verified email address) |
14 Jul 2003
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The following story focuses on a Marine who was recently killed in Iraq. He studied and promoted peace, and believed the Bush administration was not justified in going to war with Iraq. The night before he was deployed, he gave an annonymous interview with Pacifica Radio reporter Ingrid Drake. A shortened version of this story originally appeared on www.tompaine.com at http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8341 |
Soldiers take an oath to obey their commander-in-chief but that doesn't mean they keep silent when they disagree with the actions of their government.
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq extends with no end in sight and the death toll for both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians continues to mount, more voices of dissent from military personnel and families are surfacing by the day.
As of July 9, the Pentagon reports that U.S. troops have suffered 30 deaths from hostile action since Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, while 43 other service members have died in incidents unrelated to hostilities.
Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, says more people are becoming outraged that the war against Iraq has turned into an occupation and is leading to high risks and death for deployed loved ones.
Lessin says her organization is receiving correspondence from active-duty military personnel in Iraq who say they oppose the current situation but have no outlet to express their beliefs.
"Now we have a situation where too many U.S. military personnel and way too many innocent Iraqis have been killed," she says. "And what we predicted to be true has come true, that there are no weapons of mass destruction. Everything we said was going to happen is coming to pass, and one of the most frightening aspects of this is that the people of this country haven't completely risen up in opposition to what's going on."
One Marine who was recently killed in Iraq never allowed himself to be silenced. The night before he was deployed to Iraq, he gave an interview with Pacifica Radio's Peacewatch program in which he discussed his strong commitment to peace and said the Bush administration was violating constitutional principles and misleading the country into an unjust war. Because the interview was given under the condition of anonymity, and out of respect for the current wishes of his family, the Marine will not be identified in this story.
His friends describe him as a passionate, intense person who had an insatiable appetite for knowledge, loved people, and strived for peace above all else - especially peace in the Middle East. He studied philosophy and peace with a particular emphasis on Middle Eastern affairs, particularly Iraq and Israel. In the months before being deployed to fight a war he did not believe in, he helped organize anti-war campaigns, mainly working behind the scenes.
Ironically, he wrote in letters from Iraq that he hoped to be home last week to celebrate Independence Day with his loved ones. He didn't return home from the Iraqi desert, but his words and writings, as well as interviews with his friends, leave a legacy of his beliefs.
"It is almost unimaginable to expect that this war is going to create a better peace for anybody with the exception of a very small percentage of people," he said in the radio interview.
With the country on the verge of war, he looked to the highest ideals of the country for inspiration.
"I believe in the United States. I believe in the Constitution," he said. "I think it's perhaps one of the greatest documents ever written. I believe in the idea that we the people are sovereign and we determine our own destiny. We have a democracy and the Bill of Rights and freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and due process. Until the world is such a place that we can really live without the military, individual Americans have to step up and they have to serve."
However, he said the Bush administration did not make a credible case for war with Iraq and was violating constitutional principles by sending troops into combat.
"The constant rhetoric of the administration is that there's going to be one person who decides when we go to war ... and that is such a blatant violation of every constitutional principle that our founding fathers came up with," he said.
"The Declaration of Independence talks about creating independence from England based upon the fact that their lives are being ruled and determined by one man. And it's completely undemocratic to allow one man to decide - or one woman to decide - when we go to war, when we fight, and when people have to sacrifice themselves. And the Constitution is very clear that it is Congress that declares war.
"But even beyond that, it's we the people that this nation is about," he continued. "It isn't about politics or personal agendas or political agendas or economic agendas. And I believe that this war is not the right thing for America because it hasn't yet been proven conclusively that there is a threat to we the people, and I think that is the sole determining factor as to whether or not this nation should ever go to war."
He was outraged that a legitimate public debate did not occur over going to war in which multiple views and options could be heard. He explained there were many options to avert combat, such as using money being spent for war to build a grassroots democracy movement in Iraq that would rival the Baath regime, or promoting democracy throughout the Middle East to show people alternative forms of government.
He said the administration was not talking honestly with the American public about potential consequences of a U.S. war on Iraq, such as the potential for urban combat, the psyche of the Iraqi people, the impact on the United Nations, and the fate of the Middle East.
"This could have repercussions in terms of the war on terrorism. It could have repercussions on international diplomacy. It could have repercussions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It could have repercussions in terms of our ability to get anything else done in the U.N. And even if we come out scott clean and victorious and there are no American casualties and everything goes the way it's supposed to go, what does that mean for the world order? It says that we basically can do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it because we are the world's sole super power."
Although he didn't believe in an Iraqi war, he was a Marine and did not abandon his duty to deploy when his government called.
His friends can only imagine the torment that racked his soul and mind. He was at once preparing for and trying to stop a war. Yet he willingly offered himself as a bridge over the elusive divide between soldiers and peace activists.
On one hand he was a Marine, bound by oath and obligation to carry out the will of the U.S. government and, in this case, the Bush administration. On the other hand, he was deeply passionate in his pursuit of peace. In letters, he described the peace movement as "awesome" and said he hoped it would grow larger, never relent against the Bush administration, and help bring an end to the war.
His friends say he went into the military under the Clinton administration to gain credibility so that one day his beliefs on how to build a lasting peace in the Middle East would be taken seriously by those who make decisions. His friends say he never did anything half way, whether it was becoming a Marine or fighting for peace.
"He was never anti-American," says Jeni, one of his best friends. "He was just against this war and against the way it was done. He just did not feel that this was the right thing to be doing to these people and to that region. And to go in there and create more conflict when we need to be creating peace was wrong to him. He was proud of this country. He was proud of what it stood for, what it was founded on, and he knew that we could do better than this. He wanted to be one of the ones to do better. He wanted to influence foreign policy. He wanted his life's work to be influencing our government to create peace in the Middle East."
With chilling foresight, he also predicted that much could go wrong in a war with Iraq, saying the outcomes outlined by the administration were based on highly optimistic and rosy scenarios. He said it was unlikely that Iraqis would cheer the arrival of a U.S. occupying force, and that long-term urban combat could be a likely outcome.
"He really feared that we were getting ourselves involved in something that we had no idea what we were doing," says another one of his best friends. "I think what's happening is pretty much exactly what he expected to occur."
Yet, even while serving as a Marine in Iraq, he continued to pursue peaceful options. One of his commanders wrote a letter after his death explaining a situation in which he negotiated a peaceful settlement to a potentially deadly situation. A group of Baath Party officials were found inside a house. Because he spoke Arabic, he went into the house and talked with the officials until he negotiated a surrender. His actions potentially saved the lives of both U.S. soldiers and Iraqis.
His friends say he was a prolific writer and kept regular journals documenting his beliefs, and they are now thinking about publishing his journals.
Jeni, for one, says his life and passion for peace has given her hope and inspiration.
"He stood for peace above all else," she says. "Even being a Marine. Even having to shoot a gun. Even having to shoot at the people that he knew had not wronged him. He stood for peace and he knew it was possible.
"I think it's really, really easy to get discouraged, and to get overwhelmed by what this administration is doing, and to feel like there is nothing we can do,” she continued. “What can we do? How can I save this world? How can I heal what our country is doing to the world? But I think that in [his] life and in his death, I'm learning that it is possible for me to make a difference. And I don't have to heal the world by myself. I've got plenty of help and all I have to do is reach out and seek it."
Chris Strohm is a freelance reporter and volunteer with the DC Independent Media Center. Ingrid Drake is a correspondent for Pacifica Radio's Peacewatch program. Additional reporting for this article was provided by Andrew Korfhage. |
Related stories on this site:
'Major Combat' In Iraq May Be Over, But The Dying Continues. So Does The Dread
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More Coverage |
by via ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
14 Jul 2003
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Pacifica Radio's Peacewatch featured an interview with this Marine the day before he deployed. It is available here:
http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=76407&group=webcast
Democracy Now! coverage:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/08/1458258
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'I Don't Know What I'm Doing Here In This City' |
by Lee Gordon
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
14 Jul 2003
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Sitting ducks for snipers' bullets, far from home and unable to contact their families, US troops in Iraq are finding their morale slipping away. Lee Gordon talks to servicemen and women for whom victory in the Gulf now has a hollow ring
13 July 2003
'We didn't win this war, not at all," said reserve infantryman Eric Holt, on guard outside the Republican Palace in Baghdad. "I don't know what I'm doing here and I don't like what's happening in this city," continued the 28-year-old from New York State. "It ain't right for the folks here. You know, there are a whole lot of our girls getting pregnant just so they can go home quick."
Morale among troops in the Iraqi capital has plunged, not least because of new orders that could see them there for a year instead of six months. Four soldiers have been shot by snipers or at close range near Baghdad University in the last seven days, in apparently random killings similar to that of the British journalist Richard Wild last weekend. The 24-year-old former British army officer was killed by a single shot to the back of his head after leaving the university, where he had been meeting Islamic groups.
The investigation into Mr Wild's death has been hampered by the decision of the military police to withdraw from the campus, where religious edicts have appeared on the walls ordering females to cover their heads. Only one company of about 100 former New York and LA army policemen is responsible for investigating crimes, and the order to stay away from the university means it has not been able to interview witnesses or find forensic evidence such as the spent bullet. Meanwhile Mr Wild's body is understood to be at the airport waiting transfer to Britain. The British embassy has declined to say more.
Violence is commonplace in Baghdad. On Monday a soldier was killed and three others injured when a home-made bomb was tossed on to a military convoy as it emerged from an underpass. The explosion ripped into a Humvee military car, tossing it across the road.
A crowd gathered to watch as the three injured soldiers were loaded into another Humvee. Sergeant Patrick Compton, who bore the brunt of the explosion, lay across the front seat of the damaged vehicle holding his torn and badly burnt arm, screaming for help. He was helped into the rescue vehicle but later died of his injuries. Asked about the incident, a sergeant in the military police smiled and lifted his helmet to wipe the sweat that was running down his face. "We're going to help clean up this mess and move out of here. Quickly. There is no damn chance of us catching anyone." Pointing to his men, who were trying to hold back a crowd of around 100 pushing towards the debris, he said: "There is nothing more we can do."
Outside Baghdad the situation is also difficult. Border guards, far away from internet cafés and international telephones, find contacting their families particularly problematic. Forbidden from using military satellite communications, they often stop passing Iraqi traders and ask to use their telephones. A 22-year-old guard, part of a tank unit at the border, said he had not spoken to his wife for three months. It takes at least two months to receive a reply to a letter.
Perhaps not surprisingly, anecdotal evidence points to a growing number of breaches of military discipline. A spokesman said any soldier who fell pregnant would almost certainly be dishonourably discharged from the army and might even face a court martial, unless she was pregnant by her husband.
Prostitutes have now appeared. Rana, a 21-year-old Iraqi woman from Saddam's home town of Tikrit, said she had been working as a prostitute for a month near the army barracks in Abu Nawaz Street, central Baghdad. Most of her clients are US soldiers. She charges $50 for a night, including a room in a hotel in nearby Saddoon Street.
A receptionist at the hotel, where rooms are $30 for a twin, said there was no prostitution before the invasion. "We don't want our women to do these things," he said, adding that soldiers also try to sell handguns to make money. "They come in here and ask if I want to buy small guns a few times a week but we don't need any, we have a Kalashnikov."
The 11pm curfew means prostitutes and the brothels conduct their business early in the day. "Commanders turn a blind eye to soldiers who consort with prostitutes," a tank soldier said. "They understand the pressure on their troops."
"We're working 14 hours a day guarding and on patrol," a 21-year-old female reservist from Oklahoma said. "I finish and go straight to sleep then wake up an hour before duty, shower and start again. I don't think I can take an extra six months. I was looking forward to going home in October. But we're lucky in our squad because we drew down some cops from New York. The sergeant is from the Bronx. They're real tough and they're holding us together."
She spoke on the condition that she remain anonymous after her commander ordered troops not to give media interviews. Her colleague, a 26-year-old reservist from Houston who was studying to become a police officer, said she planned to quit the army as soon as she got home. "I've been in the army eight years and I can't do it any more, not after this. We're sitting here like targets and the Iraqis are getting bolder. They're taking a pop in broad daylight." One of the military policemen from her squad had cracked up and been sent home this week after a skirmish with Iraqi attackers, she said. "When I heard we might get another six months I wanted to cry."
© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
http://news.independent.co.uk |
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Abrupt About-Face On U.S. Iraq Troops As Casualties Mount |
by Nadim Ladki
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Jul 2003
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BAGHDAD - The U.S. military announced thousands of key soldiers would be staying in Iraq indefinitely even as the number of American combat deaths neared the 1991 Gulf War total.
Faced with mounting security threats in Iraq and a political storm at home over the war, President Bush defended the quality of CIA intelligence used to justify the decision to disarm former leader Saddam Hussein by force.
But two former U.N. weapons inspectors kept up the pressure, with one accusing Bush of going to war based on "a lie."
In an abrupt about-face, the U.S. military said Monday thousands of troops from the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) would stay in Iraq until further notice instead of returning by September in line with an announcement only last week.
The division has already had a protracted stay in Iraq since it was the first American unit to enter Baghdad during the war.
A U.S. soldier was killed in a Baghdad ambush Monday, bringing the death toll of U.S. troops killed in hostile action since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq on March 20 to 146, one less than the 1991 war over Kuwait.
Thirty-two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
The growing death toll has intensified pressure on the Bush administration to defend itself against charges that it misled the public by using dubious intelligence to justify the war.
Democrats and even some Republicans in the United States are raising questions about Bush's statement in his State of the Union speech last winter that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa in its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
But in Washington Monday, Bush defended the quality of CIA intelligence as he tried to calm the growing storm.
"I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have given were backed by good intelligence," he said.
An Israeli diplomatic source, speaking during a visit to London by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, leapt to Bush's defense, saying Israel and Britain had reached the conclusion Iraq had weapons of mass destruction separately from Washington.
"These three countries independently reached the same understanding of the potential dangers....It is hard to believe all those forces reached the same conclusion (without it being true)," the source said.
Former U.N. arms inspectors Scott Ritter and Hans Blix, meanwhile, continued to dispute Bush's version of events.
"The entire case the Bush administration made against Iraq is a lie," Ritter told reporters at U.N. headquarters, while Blix told Denmark's Politiken daily Washington, London and their allies had ignored his advice on Iraq's banned weapons.
NEW THREATS
Underlining the security threats in postwar Iraq, two previously unknown Iraqi groups Tuesday warned countries against sending troops to the occupied country.
"We strongly reject and will resist with weapons any military intervention under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Security Council, NATO, or Islamic and Arab countries," a group calling itself the Iraq Liberation Army said in a statement shown on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television.
Al Jazeera television also showed a statement from another Iraqi group -- the "Iraqi National Islamic Resistance: 1920 Revolution Brigades," in reference to Iraq's history of fighting British colonial rule -- warning against further foreign intervention.
The statement said anti-U.S. attacks had forced Washington to seek help from multinational forces and speed up the creation of a Governing Council, which was launched Sunday.
Troops from Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic states and possibly from the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and Fiji are likely to be part of the peacekeeping forces in Iraq.
A group claiming to be an Iraqi branch of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. soldiers in an audio tape broadcast on al-Arabiya Sunday but its rhetoric sounded more typical of Saddam supporters than Islamic militants.
The U.S. military is braced for a surge in attacks this week to coincide with anniversaries linked to Saddam, his Baath Party and Iraqi nationalism.
The U.S. and Turkish military Tuesday expressed regret at a bitter row between the NATO allies over the arrest of Turkish commandos by U.S. troops in Iraq and pledged to work closer together in future.
A statement following a joint investigation avoided any explicit recrimination over the incident that tested relations already soured by Turkey's refusal in March to allow U.S. troops to use Turkish soil for an attack on Iraq.
U.S. troops arrested 11 commandos in northern Iraq on July 4. Diplomats said the Turks were suspected of planning an assassination attempt on a Kurdish governor -- a charge Ankara denied. The men were released two days later.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited
http://www.reuters.com |
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Another Scenario Emerges In Death Of Army Reservist |
by Jen Fish
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Jul 2003
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Time magazine has outlined a new scenario (http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030721/nsoldier.html) for the death this month in Iraq of an Army reservist from Kennebunk, adding more confusion as the family awaits the results of an official investigation.
First Sgt. Christopher Coffin, 51, became the fifth soldier with Maine ties to die in Iraq after his vehicle ran into a ditch on July 1. He was a member of the 352nd Civil Affairs Command assisting convoys traveling between Baghdad and Kuwait.
The details of Coffin's death have been mired in confusion since the day it was announced by the military.
Initially, a press release from Coffin's unit stated he died after his vehicle swerved to avoid a civilian vehicle.
But a report from the U.S. Central Command issued a day before said a member of Coffin's unit was killed July 1 when his convoy was hit by "an improvised explosive device."
That report did not name Coffin, but he was the only member of his unit to die that day.
Now a new report from Time, citing "Coffin family members and U.S. government officials looking into the case," says Coffin's vehicle was deliberately run off the road, then surrounded by an angry mob. A Humvee following Coffin stopped to help, but was also overwhelmed and then set on fire.
A third team of soldiers, the article says, was brought in and fired rifles in the air to disperse the crowd.
Representatives from Army headquarters and U.S. Central Command had no comment on Time's report.
Members of Maine's congressional delegation said they, too, could neither confirm nor deny the account. But the Coffin case, they agreed, has been disturbing for a variety of reasons.
"The case raises a very troubling question, which is, are combat deaths being disguised as accidents . . . so it would appear less harm is being caused by the Iraqi resistance than is the case?" asked Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine.
Allen said that although he does not dispute that accidents happen, it seems that there are "an awful lot of accidents."
"I believe we don't want to go through what we went through in Vietnam, where the reports of casualties could not be relied on," he said. "I think there should be an investigation not just of this one accident but the remaining deaths, so the American people know the whole story."
According to the Army, there have been 64 Army casualties since May 1, with 32 attributed to hostile activity.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Olympia Snowe said Snowe, too, is disturbed by the inconsistencies in the Army's reporting of the Coffin case.
"The family's grief has been compounded by conflicting information, and they deserve to know the truth of the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Coffin's death," Snowe, R-Maine, said in a written statement.
Both Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have worked with the family and announced earlier that the U.S. Army Adjutant General's office had convened an official board of inquiry to investigate the case.
A board of inquiry is a higher level of investigation than the routine inquiry conducted in any fatality.
"I have spoken personally with Mrs. Coffin and pledged to do everything I can to get to the bottom of this appalling lack of information," Collins said in a written statement. "It is unacceptable that the family grieving over the death of their loved one should have to endure the added distress of not knowing with certainty how he died."
In the meantime, members of the Coffin family are awaiting the results of the board of inquiry. It could take months for the board to come to any conclusions.
Candy Barr Heimbach, Coffin's sister-in-law, said the family is simply waiting for the investigation to run its course, and will not comment on the case until that process is complete.
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
http://www.pressherald.com/ |
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Official Death Tally Of US Killed In Iraq |
by via Cryptome
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Jul 2003
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http://cryptome.org/mil-dead-iqw.htm |
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"President Bush Has Lost The Respect Of Every Soldier" |
by wwviews.com
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Jul 2003
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From a soldier's father:
"My son is in the U.S.Army and currently stationed in Baghdad. I hear from him every three or four days. He is like most of the young men and women who went to fight over there inasmuch as he was proud to go and achieve what President Bush said was necessary. I have seen his attitude take a U-turn during the last month. At first he was saying: "I wonder why we are not doing this or that to help make life better for our soldiers?" Then he started to wonder why we were not doing more to help the Iraqi people who are suffering under terrible conditions. Not enough water or food, no electricity most of the time, a terrible shortage of medical supplies and medical staff, basically they are living like animals. Then he started to worry about the safety of our troops in the area. He says they are sitting ducks and easy targets for Iraqi people bent upon gaining revenge for slain family members and by those who hold the U.S. responsible for the terrible conditions they find themselves in. Yesterday he had a different message altogether."
"Get us out of here now! There is nothing we can do to pacify the Iraqi people except get out of their country and allow them to restore order in whatever way THEY wish."
And, allow me to give you his remarks when he was informed of President Bush's brash remarks saying "Bring them on." He said:
"Myself and every last man in my unit are deeply offended that our President would make such a statement inviting us to be attacked. President Bush has lost the respect of every soldier I have spoken to because of his speaking those irresponsible words. Those words spread like wild-fire amoung the troops. We are here because he ordered us to be here and now for him to make such a ridiculous statement inviting violence towards us causes us to lose respect for him and his judgement. We are learning that we never should have come here in the first place. Believe me Dad, there is a completely different attitude now. The fact that the President gave rich people a tax cut and didn't do anything for military families is hurtful. Where there was once pride and satisfaction in defeating an enemy there is now regret and shame. God Bless America.
Your loving Son, Donny
read this article n' others like it here http://www.wwviews.com
'one man's lie is another man's truth'
original posting: |
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http://webx.tennessean.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX?14@24.NaVVaJXhniB%5E7@.ee6ea9c/88
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