Breaking Ranks (More and more U.S. soldiers speaking out against the war)

[kskiska]

More and more U.S. soldiers are speaking out against the war in Iraq -- and some are refusing to fight.

MIKE HOFFMAN would not be the guy his buddies would expect to see leading a protest movement. The son of a steelworker and a high school janitor from Allentown, Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1999 as an artilleryman to “blow things up.” His transformation into an activist came the hard way—on the streets of Baghdad.

When Hoffman arrived in Kuwait in February 2003, his unit’s highest-ranking enlisted man laid out the mission in stark terms. “You’re not going to make Iraq safe for democracy,” the sergeant said. “You are going for one reason alone: oil. But you’re still going to go, because you signed a contract. And you’re going to go to bring your friends home.” Hoffman, who had his own doubts about the war, was relieved—he’d never expected to hear such a candid assessment from a superior. But it was only when he had been in Iraq for several months that the full meaning of the sergeant’s words began to sink in.

“The reasons for war were wrong,” he says. “They were lies. There were no WMDs. Al Qaeda was not there. And it was evident we couldn’t force democracy on people by force of arms.”

(snip)

Back in his hometown of Waynesville, North Carolina, Massey got a job as a furniture salesman, then lost it after speaking at an antiwar rally. Two or three times a week, he puts on his Marine uniform and takes a long walk around the nearby town of Asheville carrying a sign that reads: “I killed innocent civilians for our government.” The local police now keep an eye out for him, he says, because people have tried to run him over.

more…
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_400.html

[aquart]

1. People still can't face what we did in Vietnam.

They need to believe that war is conducted as John Wayne would have done it, on a Hollywood back lot.

[MADem]

13. Or Ronald Reagan

...in his inspiring performance in "HELLCATS OF THE NAVY."

It's sick, isn't it. The GOP loves the glory, and denies the gore. Send them all to fight, let's see how they like it.

[BrotherBuzz]

19. Denial is rampant

I read this short letter in National Geographic (Sept 04) and shook my head.

.....

Your article states, "Not until 1975...did Vietnam and Hanoi see the end of war and foreign subjugation." I, and other veterans I knew, did not go to South Vietnam to help subjugate South Vietnamese people. We went there to try to help protect them from being oppressed by North Vietnam.

Ken Rought
Williamstown, New Jersey

.....

Apparently some of us have not learned a damn thing.

[Eloriel]

2. OMG, what a courageous man.

God bless him. Wish I could go give him a big hug.

Except he probably ought to change "government" to "Halliburton."

What a story. Thanks for posting this.

Edited to add, from the link (WooHoo!!):

So far, only six U.S. soldiers are known to have fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq. But in 2003, the Army listed more than 2,774 soldiers as deserters (military personnel are classified as having deserted after not reporting for duty for more than a month), and many observers believe the actual number may be even higher; the Army has acknowledged that it is not aggressively hunting down soldiers who don’t show up. The GI Rights Hotline, a counseling operation run by a national network of antiwar groups, reports that it now receives between 3,000 and 4,000 calls per month from soldiers seeking a way out of the military. Some of the callers simply never thought they would see combat, says J.E. McNeil, director of the Center on Conscience and War. But others are turning against the war because of what they saw while serving in Iraq, and they don’t want to be sent back there. “It’s people learning what war really is,” she says. “A lot of people are naive—and for a while, the military was portraying itself as being a peace mission.”

snip

(And an OMG -- )

Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey may be the most unlikely of the soldiers who have come out against the war. A Marine since 1992, he has been a recruiter, infantry instructor, and combat platoon leader. He went to Iraq primed to fight. “9/11 pissed me off,” he says. “I was ready to go kill a raghead.”

Jimmy Massey went to Iraq a gung-ho Marine, but returned shaken after killing civilians.

Shortly after Massey arrived in Iraq, his unit was ordered to man roadblocks. To stop cars, the Marines would raise their hands. If the drivers kept going, Massey says, “we would just light ’em up. I didn’t find out until later on, after talking to an Iraqi, that when you put your hand up in the air, it means ‘Hello.’” He estimates that his men killed 30 civilians in one 48-hour period.

snip (and another hero:)

Jeffry House is reliving his past. An American draft dodger who fled to Canada in 1970 (he was number 16 in that year’s draft lottery), he is now fighting to persuade the Canadian government to grant refugee status to American deserters.

“In some ways, this is coming full circle for me,” says the slightly disheveled, 57-year-old lawyer. “The themes that I thought about when I was 21 years old now are reborn, particularly your obligation to the state when the state has participated in a fraud, when they’ve deceived you.” A dormant network has been revived, with Vietnam-era draft dodgers and deserters quietly contributing money to support the legal defense of the newest American fugitives.

------ more ----

Thank God for the Vietnam Vets too.

[Zhade]

3. THESE are the troops to support.

Not the murderers in Hersh's latest, horrific story, but these brave men (and women) whe refuse to kill and die for imperialism.

These are the heroes.

[Paris2004]

4. Anthrax vaccine scandal

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/10/12biden,carper,ca.html

Biden, Carper, Castle want answers
Delegation asks military to investigate whether pilots, crews used as guinea pigs

The military has secretly experimented with squalene to test its ability to boost the effect of some vaccines. But the military denies it tested squalene in Dover and has said any contamination in the vaccine must have occurred accidentally.

"If it was intentional, I want to see people go to jail," Biden said. "I am outraged if it's intentional."

[Paris2004]

5. new book exposes medical experiments on GIs in Iraq

There's a new book on the vaccine coming out next week. The author has a website here: http://www.vaccine-a.com/index.html

[luaneryder]

6. Every three months

we used to have to line up at the troop medical clinic to get shots of some kind because of worldwide moblization. I got into trouble one day because I refused a shot that I thought I had already been given; didn't want a double dose. To this day I wonder what exactly was in those syringes. BTW, welcome to DU Paris:-)

[leftchick]

7. Now HE is what I call a Patriot!

Bless you Mike and stay safe....



After returning home to Pennsylvania, Mike Hoffman founded Iraq Veterans Against the War. "You realize that the people to blame for this are not the ones you are fighting."

[amagusta]

9. Mike is a Green Party member in Bucks county. PA

Mike,

Keep up the good work!

Gus <http://pa.greens.org/bucks/>

[Bandit]

22. Hmmm you would think he would support Kerry

They appear to have very much in common. :shrug:

[IrateCitizen]

29. Ummm... how do you know he DOESN'T support Kerry?

Just because someone is a Green (especially living in a swing state) doesn't mean that they don't support Kerry.

Furthermore, since the expressely stated goal of IVAW is "Bring the troops home NOW!", support for Kerry among its membership is more along the lines of supporting him now, then leaning HARD on him once he's elected.

[amagusta]

32. He had 2 books in Iraq: 1 Nader & 1 Chomsky

I don't know who he's voting for, but Mike took two books to Iraq: Nader's "Crashing the Party," and "The Chomsky Reader." He was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have had a consciousness raising experience through contact with Ralph.

[Tsiyu]

14. Mike Hoffman is a jewel

Hey Mike: :yourock:

They can run from the truth, but Repukes can't hide forever. They won't succeed in killing off all of our kids or all of the Iraqi kids. Even though Repukes seem to be hellbent on doing just that.

When Kerry gets in office, all of those military bigwigs shilling for their big bonuses will find their fringe benefits in the brig....

Our kids and the Iraqi kids will tell the real story, no matter how many violent freaks try to run them over.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Some people just can't stand the thought that all Arabs are not terrorists

The idea seems to obsess them. Good to see there are some soldiers who are smart enough to figure this fact out as Mike Hoffman has. Hope some more come to their senses soon. Before it is too late.

Don

[Starlight]

16. Just like all Americans are not neocons... n/t

[lastliberalintexas]

10. Working class kids

Time and time again, we're reminded of who does the fighting and dying when rich old men send our nation to war. May they find some semblance of peace.

[Say_What]

11. WEBSITE: Iraq Vets Against the War

For anyone interested....

http://www.ivaw.net/

[prayin4rain]

12. Oh my God that makes me so sick...Those poor kids.

How are people in this country so incredibly stupid? I swear I cannot understand it.

[atreides1]

15. People Have Tried to Run Him Over

So can anyone tell me the difference between the people in this NC town and the German people who were just as loyal to Hitler.


THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!!!!!

[leftchick]

18. None....

Zip and Nada! Brownshirts for sure... :grr:

[IrateCitizen]

17. A special KICK for these true patriots!

:kick:

Please do what you can to help support IVAW. What Mike and the rest of the folks involved (I am one, BTW) are doing is EXTREMELY important. I've had the honor of getting to know Mike a bit over the past few months and marching with him for the RNC, and I can tell you that he is the REAL deal, and completely dedicated to this effort (along with many of the others in IVAW).

Do what you can to support this group financially. Every $5 donation helps a great deal. You can donate through http://www.ivaw.net.

[gratuitous]

24. Donations to IVAW are tax deductible!

I'm sending them a check for a C tomorrow. Do good AND lower your tax obligation to this thieving, greedy, imperialistic government. It's one of those win-win things you hear so much about.

[progressivebydesign]

20. Kick for our military.. wherever they are. n/t

[leftchick]

21. kick for these heros...

:kick:

[FizzFuzz]

23. I wish I could give this story to every idiot driving around with a yellow

ribbon on their car. All those "support out troops" and "god bless america" ones make me ill.

stupid self-satisfied bovines.

[VegasWolf]

25. These guy's better be real careful, or awol will reassign them to

pacify Falluga.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[Wapsie B]

26. Looks like some of those military votes

just might be accidently lost this election.

[Lisa]

27. I heard Brandon Hughey speak, several days ago

"There was no Iraq veterans’ group for Brandon Hughey to turn to in December 2003. Alone and terrified, sitting in his barracks at Fort Hood, Texas, the 18-year-old private considered his options. He could remain with his Army unit, which was about to ship out to Iraq to fight a war that Hughey was convinced was pointless and immoral. Or he could end his dilemma—by taking his own life."

How terrible that he should have been brought to that point. He's had to grow up very quickly, and become a man -- in contrast to a certain other person who claims to be a West Texan like Brandon, but never wrestled with his conscience.

[chuckrocks]

28. AMEN BROTHER

if i was 2 yrs sooner or later i could have gone to haiti or iraq in the first gw.
but i don't understand this, when * just said in tempe that no soldier on that plane in conn. got up and told him to his face that they thought it was wrong. :puke:
good luck mike.

[oasis]

30. "You're going (to Iraq) to bring your friends home". The Sarge gets it.

[Out the Parasites]

31. People have tried to run him over?? OMG! He was fortunate enough to live

and now they are trying to kill him for speaking out against what he saw and did. WTF Is he better off back in Iraq? Damn