A Reasoned AWOL

[babylonsister]

Run time: 04:24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mkcsmfydoM   Posted on YouTube: October 02, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 03, 2007 By DU Member: babylonsister Views on DU: 628

 
AWOL Army paratrooper protests war
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-10-03 15:23. Nonviolent Resistance

By James Circello Jr. and Courage to Resist

Sergeant James Circello Jr. is an Army Airborne Infantryman who went AWOL in April 2007 because of his opposition to U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

James enlisted in the Army in 2001 following the attack on the World Trade Center. He spent a year in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq with the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade from March 2003 to March 2004.

After much soul-searching, James left his base in Vicenza, Italy (Caserma Ederle) on April 10, 2007. Recently he has attended the Veterans for Peace National Convention in St. Louis this August, the mass anti-war march on Washington DC last month, and is currently working with Iraq Veterans Against the War and Courage to Resist.

James plans to turn himself over to military authorities soon and will undoubtedly need our support.



I saw kids turn into animals
By James Circello, AWOL Army Sgt.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27395

I enlisted in September 2001
and reported to my unit in Italy in June of 2002.
I was an alright Private—
got along with everyone, did my job the best I could,
trained and jumped from airplanes....

I saw kids turn into animals.
Members of my own unit, who I will never speak negatively about,
doing things that one day I know
will haunt them.

I saw soldiers mistreating detained Iraqis.
Detained on nothing more than pure suspicion in some cases.
But why not, it was the Old West, anything goes and anything did go. Honestly.

Questionable shootings.
Questionable decisions by superior commanders.
Nothing ever questioned by your superiors.
You as the Soldier were always in the right.

One platoon in particular killed so many people,
some legally,
some others
maybe not so legally.
They were investigated.
Nothing ever came from it.
Everyone always knew nothing would come from it.
In the military you watch each other's back, against the "bad guys"—
including the investigators.

I did see a side of Iraq I didn't know existed.
A courageous group of people, fighting for their own survival,
compassionate and friendly.
It was always so easy to make friends with an Iraqi—
whether he was Kurdish, Arabic or Turkish—
it never made a difference.

I left the country feeling awful.

It was so hard to speak to anyone in America about it,
because they had no idea.

[peace13]

1. Thank you for posting this.

He is a brave young person and I regret what our country has asked him to do. Illegal war is correct. peace, Kim

[The Wielding Truth]

2. The soldiers need us to get them out.

What a mess * and his supporters have made of this world!

Here's a idea.Draft the backwater employees and management in to the army and pay them army wages and make them follow army rules.

If they don't want to serve make them unable to profit in any way from war.

Then give the soldiers the option to leave now. If they continue it should be under contract to serve no more than their agreed time.

If we cannot acquire enough fighters voluntarily,then there is not enough support for the war and it should be ended.