Resistance in the Ranks

[Joanne98]

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/resistance-in-the-ranks/

Resistance in the Ranks
Iraq Vets Say No to War

by Socialist Worker / September 14th, 2007

U.S. soldiers have seen and experienced the brutality of the U.S. occupation in Iraq firsthand–and a growing number are becoming open and vocal opponents of the American war machine, setting an example for the antiwar movement as a whole.

After a recent meeting at the Different Drummer Café, a GI coffeehouse in Watertown, N.Y., near Fort Drum, three antiwar soldiers–two veterans and one active-duty–sat down for a roundtable discussion about the occupation of Iraq and the antiwar movement inside the U.S. military.

Phil Aliff is an active-duty member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) who deployed to Iraq in 2005 and is now stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York.

Eli Israel told his commanders while stationed in Iraq that he would no longer participate in an illegal war and was released from the military last month after a court-martial.

Camilo Mejía is the first U.S. soldier to go public with his refusal to continue fighting the U.S. war for oil and empire in Iraq. He served seven months’ confinement for his act. He is the author of Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejía.

Phil, Eli and Camilo talked to Socialist Worker’s Brian Lenzo and Kyle Brown.

Camilo Mejía’s book, Road from Ar Ramadi, provides an eyewitness account of the brutality inflicted by the U.S. in Iraq–and how Mejía made the decision to take a stand against it.

The Bush administration keeps telling us that things are getting better. While you were in Iraq, did you see progress?

Phil
We ended up in Abu Ghraib City, which is a suburb of western Baghdad, under the shadow of Abu Ghraib prison. We were told we would be there for three months, and then hand over control to the Iraqi army.

We went into the city and took it over using Gestapo methods. Attacks dropped for a period, but as we were leaving, attacks rose to such a level that even the main camp outside of our area of operations was being mortared and rocketed heavily every single day.

When we moved west toward Falluja, we saw that we were essentially chasing down the people we had driven out of Abu Ghraib, and now we were just driving them out again.

Camilo
Even as I deployed to Iraq with a political opposition to the war, I guess part of me still believed that we could still do good things through military action.

One of the most striking things that I remember about my time in Iraq was the time that we protected the al-Haditha dam. We came into contact with a lot of people who were professionals–electrical, industrial and chemical engineers.

I remember telling them that you’re going to be set now that we’re here and American corporations are going to take over, and because you guys speak English and are engineers with a lot of experience, you’re going to be making a lot of money.

And I actually believed that, but now I’m ashamed of my ignorance. When the contractors finally came in, I remember that we had geologists, engineers and physicists doing construction work for $5 a day. The jobs that really required a certain level of trust weren’t given to Iraqis but to third-country nationals.

The way that we conducted our missions, with disregard for the lives of Iraqis, going out of our way to do missions near mosques and hospitals, infuriated people. Because we weren’t protecting civilians, this was creating a bigger resistance.

When I came home and surrendered to the military and went public with my criticism, the attitude in the military was not to investigate my claims about torture or killings of civilians, but to quiet me and make me look like I was the criminal–that I had done something wrong.

The military doesn’t pay attention to the people on the ground who actually know what’s going on. And the attitude in the military makes the situation unwinnable, not only because we went there under false premises, but also because of the attitude we have–it’s not about spreading democracy but ravaging the country and taking their natural resources.

The strategy isn’t working because it’s flawed from the beginning–Iraqis know damn well why we’re there, and the delusion of sending more troops only makes the situation worse.

Eli
The Iraqis don’t want us in their country or in their neighborhoods, and we’re not respecting them as people. We’re going into neighborhoods where no one wants to kill us, and six months later, everybody does. And there are reasons for that.

It has to do with our fundamental perspective on the war, the way we maintain a stranglehold on the country, and the way we impose our “assistance” on Iraqis against their will.

A lot of what we are doing is counterproductive and destructive to them as a society. It’s not just disrespectful. It’s destroying lives because our interests–not their interests–are our primary concern.

I don’t say that because I think it may be true, I say it because I know it to be true. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. And I have evidence, which I’m forbidden from being able to tell you, to back this up.

If we try to define “terrorists” in the way that they want us to define terrorists, we’ll never really have any clearly defined enemy. “Insurgents,” “al Qaeda”–these are terms that they use freely to define anyone that they want to.

Most of the insurgents and militants are the equivalent of an armed neighborhood
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/resistance-in-the-ranks/

[CrispyQ]

1. An excellent interview with these young men!

another snip...

Why did you choose to resist?

Camilo
I got tired of being afraid. I realized that with everything that happened in Iraq–and a lot of messed-up shit happened, from the torture of prisoners to the killing of civilians to the unnecessary exposure of our own troops–and the inability to stand for what I believed was the right thing to do, and being there with the political conviction that the war was wrong, freedom really has nothing to do with not being in shackles or chains but with your own ability to do what you believe in your heart to be the right thing to do.

I had to overcome my fear. I knew all along what the right thing was but I hadn’t had the freedom to act upon that belief.

It got to the point where I could no longer conciliate my conscience with my military duty, and I decided that whenever being a good soldier and being a good human being came into conflict, the right thing to do was be a good human being.

[CrispyQ]

2. Please consider cross posting in GD & GD:P.

Phil Aliff is an active-duty member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) who deployed to Iraq in 2005 and is now stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York.

Eli Israel told his commanders while stationed in Iraq that he would no longer participate in an illegal war and was released from the military last month after a court-martial.

Camilo Mejía is the first U.S. soldier to go public with his refusal to continue fighting the U.S. war for oil and empire in Iraq. He served seven months’ confinement for his act. He is the author of Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejía.

Phil, Eli and Camilo talked to Socialist Worker’s Brian Lenzo and Kyle Brown.

...

What effect do you think the surge is having?

Eli
Militarily, you can’t fight “terrorism” by browbeating “terrorists.” You can’t terrify terrorists into not attacking you.

And let’s throw out the word “terrorists.” You can’t browbeat people into not attacking you. Believe it or not, most people want to live in peace. Believe it or not, most Palestinians and Israelis want to live in peace.

I’ve changed my perspective on the world in so many ways because of what’s going on in Iraq. To think that they would continue this situation forever without us doing the things we’re doing is ridiculous.

We’re creating people to attack us tomorrow. The doors that are getting kicked in, the people who are being harassed, the children who are crying, the women who are seeing their houses torn apart in front of them, the men who are being shot while defending their own families, the neighbors who are being interrogated with Tasers to turn in their neighbors–all of those people are going to hate us for what we’re doing.

[ClayZ]

3. K and R