They Told Him He Was Fighting For Freedom:
This Is What The Traitors In Washington DC Call Freedom

Geoffrey Millard, Iraq Veterans Against The War, is taken prisoner by U.S. Park Police for attempting to join in the Independence Day parade July 4, 2006 in Washington. Millard carried a sign that read: Support the Troops, Bring Them Home Now. (AP photo/Codepink/Iraq Veterans Against the War, Julie Cunigilo)

Local Marines Returning Service Medals To Bush In Protest

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

July 3, 2006 NewsNet5.com

AKRON, Ohio

A local Marine who service in Iraq earned several medals for serving his country, but he’s giving back one of the medals to the White House as a form of protest.

Sgt. Matthew Bee is a decorated Akron Marine who spent seven months in Hadeetha, serving with the 3rd Battalion 25th Marines Weapons Company based in Brook Park.

Bee received six medals of commendation, but one of them he will give back to President George W. Bush, calling the medal political, NewsChannel5 reported.

The medal is the War on Terrorism service medal, and Bee calls it “eye candy” from Bush.

“So, he took something noble and honorable and made it kind of dirty. And I always thought that medal was the one he pinned on us and said, ‘This is my war. This is my stamp in history,’” said Bee.

Bee said he is not anti-war, but rather pro-peace.

He plans to travel to Washington, D.C., with a small group of Marines who feel the same way he does. They will all try to return their War on Terrorism medal to Bush personally or to members of Congress.

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL 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, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Joyous Leave Awaited Soldier:
Texan Killed In Iraq Was Coming Home In July For His Fifth Wedding Anniversary

June 27, 2006 By ROSANNA RUIZ, Houston Chronicle

Staff Sgt. Alberto V. Sanchez Jr. had planned to celebrate his fifth wedding anniversary next month while on leave from the war in Iraq.

Now his wife, Yesenia, is planning a funeral instead.

“It just takes a piece of your heart,” his mother, Olga Sanchez in Houston, said through tears. “Nothing we can say or do will ever bring him back.”

Sanchez, 33 and a Milby High School graduate, died Saturday from wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Sanchez was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Carson, Colo. He had served in the Army for nine years and had been in Iraq for six months, his mother said. He previously had served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Korea, but this was his first experience in a war zone.

“He was lucky that he never served in a country that had a conflict,” Olga Sanchez said. “This time he had to go, and we were all sad and worried.

“When it’s your time, it’s your time.”

Alberto Sanchez chose the Army so he could earn money for college tuition, but the military became his career.

“He chose to be in the Army and he said, ‘This is just a job, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do,’” Olga Sanchez said.

Alberto Sr. and Olga Sanchez moved to Houston from Reynosa, Mexico, when their son was an infant. The couple also has another son and daughter.

“They’re in disbelief like we are,” said Olga Sanchez of the other adult children.

Yesenia, as well, is in mourning. Olga Sanchez said her son’s widow is in Houston now, but will have to return to Colorado to retrieve their belongings. She said the family is expecting the soldier’s body to be flown here in about a week.

The family last saw Sanchez in November before he deployed for Iraq.

“He never felt worried,” his mother said. “If he felt worried he never showed it. Like I said, all the pictures we have of him he always had a big smile.”

Ramadi:
800 Marines Vs. 400,000 Iraqis:
“In Three Years The Marine Corps And The Army Have Tried Nearly Everything To Bring This Provincial Capital Of 400,000 Under Control”
“Nothing Has Worked”

The threat of snipers is ever present; marines start running the moment they step outside. Joao Silva for The New York Times

[Thanks to Phil G and PB, who sent this in.]

Last week about $7 million disappeared from the Rafidain Bank, most of the bank’s deposits, right under the nose of an American observation post next door. An Iraqi police officer was shot in the face and dumped in the road, his American ID card stuck between his fingers.

July 5, 2006 By DEXTER FILKINS, The New York Times Company [Excerpts]

RAMADI, Iraq, July 4

The Government Center in the middle of this devastated town resembles a fortress on the wild edge of some frontier: it is sandbagged, barricaded, full of men ready to shoot, surrounded by rubble and enemies eager to get inside.

The American marines here live eight to a room, rarely shower for lack of running water and defecate in bags that are taken outside and burned.

The threat of snipers is ever present; the marines start running the moment they step outside. Daytime temperatures hover around 120 degrees; most foot patrols have been canceled because of the risk of heatstroke.

The food is tasteless, the windows boarded up. The place reeks of urine and too many bodies pressed too close together for too long.

“Hey, can you get somebody to clean the toilet on the second floor?” one marine yelled to another from his office. “I can smell it down here.”

And the casualties are heavy. Asked about the wounded under his command, Capt. Andrew Del Gaudio, 30, of the Bronx, rattled off a few.

“Let’s see, Lance Corporal Tussey, shot in the thigh.

“Lance Corporal Zimmerman, shot in the leg.

“Lance Corporal Sardinas, shrapnel, hit in the face.

“Lance Corporal Wilson, shrapnel in the throat.”

“That’s all I can think of right now,” the captain said.

So it goes in Ramadi, the epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency and the focus of a grinding struggle between the American forces and the guerrillas.

In three years here the Marine Corps and the Army have tried nearly everything to bring this provincial capital of 400,000 under control. Nothing has worked. [Typical blind reporter. It is under control. It’s under the control of the resistance, expect for deadly, pathetic little outposts like the one this article describes. Duh.]

Now American commanders are trying something new.

Instead of continuing to fight for the downtown, or rebuild it, they are going to get rid of it, or at least a very large part of it. +

They say they are planning to bulldoze about three blocks in the middle of the city, part of which has been reduced to ruins by the fighting, and convert them into a Green Zone, a version of the fortified and largely stable area that houses the Iraqi and American leadership in Baghdad. [Gee, now why didn’t the German Army think of that at Stalingrad? What a brilliant tactic for victory. And who are the candidates to do the demolition work? Any volunteers?]

While the focus in Baghdad and other large Iraqi cities may be reconciliation or the political process, here it is still war.

Sometimes the Government Center is assaulted by as many as 100 insurgents at a time.

Last week a midnight gun battle between a group of insurgents and American marines lasted two hours and ended only when the Americans dropped a laser-guided bomb on an already half-destroyed building downtown.

Six marines were wounded; it was unclear what happened to the insurgents.

“We go out and kill these people,” said Captain Del Gaudio, the commander here. “I define success as continuing to kill the enemy to allow the government to work and for the Iraqi Army to take over.”

That day seems a long way off.

The Iraqi government exists here in little more than name. Last week about $7 million disappeared from the Rafidain Bank, most of the bank’s deposits, right under the nose of an American observation post next door. An Iraqi police officer was shot in the face and dumped in the road, his American ID card stuck between his fingers.

The governor of the province, Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani, still goes to work here under an American military escort. But many of the province’s senior officials deserted him after the kidnapping and beheading of his secretary in May.

The previous governor was assassinated, as was the chairman of the provincial council, Khidir Abdel Jabar Abbas, in April.

At a meeting of the provincial cabinet last week, only six of 36 senior officials showed up.

“The terrorists want to keep Anbar people out of the government,” said Taha Hameed Mokhlef, the director general for highways, who went into hiding last month when his face appeared on an American-backed television station here showing him in his job. He has since re-emerged. “My friends told me that the terrorists were planning to kill me, so I went to Jordan for a while,” he said.

The Iraqi police patrol the streets in only a handful of neighborhoods, the ones closest to the American base. In the slow-motion offensive that has been unfolding, in which the Americans have been gradually clearing individual neighborhoods, nearly all of the fighting has been done by American marines and soldiers, not the Iraqi Army.

The 800-member Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, which until recently was responsible for holding most of the city on its own, has lost 11 marines since arriving in March. Commanders declined to disclose the number of wounded. Over all in Iraq the number of American wounded in action is roughly seven times the number killed.

One of the “habits of mind” drilled into the marines from posters hung up inside: “Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”

The humor runs dark, too. On a sheet of paper hung up in the Government Center, marines wrote down suggestions for their company’s T-shirt once they go home. Most are unprintable, but here is one that got a lot of laughs: “Kilo Company: Killed more people than cancer.”

The marines at the Government Center have held on, but the fighting has transformed the area into an ocean of ruin. The sentries posted on the rooftops have blasted the larger buildings nearby so many times that they have given them nicknames: Battleship Gray, Swiss Cheese. The buildings are among those that will be bulldozed under the Green Zone plan.

“Aesthetically it will be an improvement,” Lt. Col. Stephen Neary said.

Holding the place has cost blood. A roadside bomb killed three marines and a sailor on patrol here in March. Another marine was shot through the forehead by a sniper, just beneath the line of his helmet.

The number of Iraqi casualties, insurgents or civilians, is unknown and impossible to determine in the chaotic conditions.

As in the rest of Iraq, the insurgents’ most lethal weapon is the homemade bomb. The bombs virtually cover Ramadi: an American military map on display here showed about 50 places where roadside bombs had recently been discovered. Two weeks ago a marine sniper was killed by a homemade bomb when he ran from a house where he had been spotted.

Sometimes it feels as if the bombs are everywhere. On a single hourlong patrol one night last week, a group of marines spotted two likely bombs planted in an area that is regularly inspected, meaning that they had been laid within the previous few days.

One was hidden under a pile of trash. Another was thought to be under a pair of gasoline cans that had been set in the middle of the road. The marines spied them with their night vision glasses; without them, it is likely that the Humvees would have run over them.

Indeed, the marines often manage to spot bombs — covered in trash, made of metal and wires — in streets that are themselves covered in trash, metal and wires.

“Right there, look at that,” Gunnery Sgt. John Scroggins said from the passenger seat of his Humvee, pointing to the street.

And there it was: a thin metal tube, with a long green wire protruding and sticking into the pavement, almost certainly a bomb. The pipes typically contain what is called a pressure trigger, which closes an electrical circuit — and detonates a bomb — when crushed by a vehicle. The Humvee was about two feet away when the marines spotted it.

Some of the marines have been hit by so many bombs that they almost shrug when they go off. On Sunday a Humvee carrying four marines on a patrol dropped off a reporter and photographer for The New York Times at the Government Center. The Humvee rumbled 100 yards down the road and struck a bomb. No one was killed, and the marines returned to base as if they had encountered nothing more serious than a fender bender.

“It’s my fifth,” said Cpl. Jonathan Nelson, 21, of Brooklyn. “It’s the best feeling in the world to get hit by one and live — like bungee jumping.”

A few moments later, Corporal Patton and his men were reminded of just how bewildering this city could be. As he turned slowly down a street, all the Iraqis milling about, maybe 30 people in all, suddenly disappeared.

“They’re going to hit us,” the corporal said, convinced that the crowd had been tipped off to the presence of a bomb or an impending attack.

When the Americans left the street, the Iraqis returned. Corporal Patton turned onto the street again, and the people vanished a second time.

“We’re going to get hit,” he said, bracing himself.

The attack never came.

The provincial Government Center in Ramadi is defended by the Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment. Joao Silva for The New York Times

FUTILE EXERCISE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

A Bradley Fighting Vehicle drives through Ramadi June 21, 2006. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Patrol Attacked, Foreign Soldier Killed In Paktika Province:
Nationality Not Announced

7.6.06 Reuters & Release # 060706-03

Guerrillas attacked a patrol of in the Gayan District of Paktika Province, killing one member of the force, the latest foreign soldier to be killed in the bloodiest phase of Afghan violence since 2001.

The U.S. military said the patrol came under small-arms fire in Paktika province, on the border with Pakistan, on Wednesday.

It did not give the nationality of the soldier who was killed but U.S. forces are in charge in that area.

Same Old Same Old:
Occupation Attacks;
Resistance Gone, Attacking Someplace Else

7.5.06 London Daily Telegraph

Taliban fighters have escaped the allied military offensive in southern Afghanistan to launch attacks in other parts of the country. On Monday a bomb exploded in Herat, the capital of western Afghanistan, about 250 miles from the main area of fighting in the south.

Western sources say that some provinces in the west and north and especially provinces close to Kabul are less prepared to face up to sustained attacks or heavy fighting. They have neither sizeable police or army contingents nor foreign troops.

Frustration In The Air As Sixth British Soldier Dies:
Three Weeks Ago Officers Worried About ‘Hearts And Minds’
“Now They Are Just Focused On Staying Alive”

[Thanks to Z, who sent this in. He writes: “like the Soviets”]

July 6, 2006 Declan Walsh in Camp Bastion, The Guardian

Sunlight swilled through the shuddering helicopter as it skimmed the Helmand desert, banking and circling to avoid possible enemy fire. A platoon of Royal Engineers sat tensely inside, gripping their weapons as they prepared to touch down in Sangin, Afghanistan’s most dangerous place.

But at the landing zone five miles ahead the battle was already raging. The Taliban had ambushed a squad of paratroopers sent to secure the landing area, apparently anticipating the helicopter’s arrival.

As the fighting intensified, the four aircraft – two Chinook troop carriers and two Apache escorts – orbited south of the town. The Guardian was on board as pilots debated with commanders in Camp Bastion 35 miles away. Should they attempt to land?

Moments later the helicopters turned tail and returned to base, where the Engineers exited, slugging bottles of hot water in the intense heat. One said he was “half-relieved, half disappointed”. It was the fourth time their mission to reinforce the embattled base had been aborted.

But one soldier would not be returning home. Officers later confirmed that a paratrooper had been killed in the landing zone skirmish, Britain’s sixth fatality in three weeks. “It is with deep regret that we confirm that during the incident a British soldier has been killed,” said spokesman Capt Marcus Eves. His identity was withheld until next of kin were informed.

Yesterday’s ambush came as the 3,150 British troop deployment to Helmand ended its first week at full capacity.

It has been a baptism of fire. Commanders insist they were prepared for a fight but few anticipated one this intense.

Over the past fortnight, Sangin, a small district centre notorious for drug smuggling and tribal feuds, has become the focus of their perilous mission.

A company of about 150 British paratroopers posted inside a police compound had been attacked six out of the past seven nights. Three soldiers have died, one yesterday and two last Saturday night.

In recent days the town has emptied of civilians as Taliban fighters flood in to take their place. They are proving a tenacious, daring and tactically sophisticated enemy. Every night rockets, machinegun fire and AK-47 rounds thud into walls of sandbags and pepper the police headquarters.

The insurgents perch on nearby rooftops and behind a clutch of trees about 300 metres north of the base, according to soldiers who have served there. “By day we are building our defences and by night we are engaging in contact. It’s not Disneyland up there,” said 2nd Lt Kerry Bull, who left on Monday.

Both sides have a point to prove. The British want to show they can wrest control from the ruthless insurgents and clear the way for millions of pounds in development aid that will convince sceptical locals that president Hamid Karzai is worthy of their confidence.

The Taliban are determined to prove the opposite, even if it means dying in droves. They seem increasingly bold. Whereas the first attacks took place under cover of darkness, yesterday they struck at three o’clock in the afternoon.

“It’s an enemy that puts a lot of thought into what it is doing and is extremely persistent,” said Lt Bull.

Dozens – maybe more – of fundamentalist fighters have died. Yet, the tolls are difficult to establish because the paratroops rarely leave their base. Under British rules of engagement, they only attack when fired upon – most of the time. “We try to be as restrained as we can, said Major Huw Williams, deputy commander at Camp Bastion. “We are not going out to attack, they are coming to us. We only strike if there is an isolated group that has been identified as the Taliban.”

The fighters are a complex mix of armed farmers, paid recruits from other provinces and militiamen linked to drug smuggling, centred on a hardcore of Taliban.

Living conditions inside the Sangin riverside base are mentally and physically draining. There is no escape from temperatures that regularly touch 50C. Neither is there any respite from the threat of attack. Most soldiers try to snatch a few hours rest during the daytime, sleeping inside their flak jackets.

They share the base with a handful of Afghan police drawn from local militias who are untrained, without uniforms and of questionable allegiance. “They assist us in defending but let’s say they’re significantly less robust than our own forces,” said Lt Bull.

Foreign Office officials have ambitious plans for splurging £38m in development aid across Helmand this year. But first, the military must contain the insurgency and overcome deep-rooted suspicions.

“We thought we would play the ‘British not American’ card,” said Major Williams. “But it hasn’t been so easy. There’s a lot of history here and a danger that people will see us like the Soviets.”

In places like Sangin the plans have been put on ice.

Three weeks ago, for example, officers worried about “hearts and minds” and made plans for a new bridge across the river that snakes behind their base. Now they are just focused on staying alive.

“Afghans Know The Foreigners Will Leave Sooner Or Later And Taliban Is Here To Stay”

Taliban now have “excellent weapons” and “new field equipment” — prized by the equipment-poor ANA — and “new IED technology and commercial communications,” McCaffrey said. “They appear to have received excellent tactical, camouflage and marksmanship training,” and “they are very aggressive and smart in their tactics.”

June 29 By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large

Three years ago the Taliban operated in squad sized units. Last year they operated in company sized units (100+ men). This year the Taliban are operating in battalion-sized units (400+ men).

So reported Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret), professor of International Affairs at West Point, after his second trip to Afghanistan to assess the balance of forces.

Taliban now have “excellent weapons” and “new field equipment” — prized by the equipment-poor ANA — and “new IED technology and commercial communications,” McCaffrey said. “They appear to have received excellent tactical, camouflage and marksmanship training,” and “they are very aggressive and smart in their tactics.”

“The Afghan Army is miserably under-resourced,” the report concluded.

“This is now a major morale factor for their soldiers. They have shoddy small arms — described by Defense Minister Wardak as much worse than he had as a Mujahideen fighting the Soviets twenty years ago.

Afghan field commanders told me they try to seize weapons from the Taliban who they believe are much better armed… (They) have little ammo… no mortars, few machine guns, no MK19 grenade guns, and no artillery… no helicopter or fixed transport or attack aviation now or planned… no body armor… no Kelvar helmets… no light armored wheeled vehicles.”

The Afghan National Police is even worse off than the army:

“They are in a disastrous condition, badly equipped, corrupt, incompetent, poorly led and trained, riddled by drug use and lacking any semblance of… infrastructure.”

Taliban will soon adopt a strategy of “waiting us out,” McCaffrey predicted. Anyone who has spent any time in Afghanistan in recent years says, “Afghans know the foreigners will leave sooner or later and Taliban is here to stay.”

Arrayed against a resurgent Taliban, McCaffrey says, “We have a very, very small U.S. military presence (17,000 troops) in a giant and dangerous land which is one-third larger than Iraq (the size of Texas).

“U.S. forces face thousands of heavily armed Taliban as well as pervasive criminal and Warlord forces… Afghanistan is awash with weapons. Taliban suicide bombings and IEDs are now constant and rapidly growing in intensity and effectiveness.

TROOP NEWS

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Whyte during his funeral in New York June 30, 2006. Whyte died two days before his 22nd birthday on June 21 while on patrol in Iraq. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (UNITED STATES)

Marine Refusing Iraq Duty Holds Off Cops For Seven Hours

7.6.06 Denver Post

An 18-year-old Marine who was distraught and apparently afraid of going to Iraq held an assault rifle to his head and threatened to pull the trigger.

SWAT officers and the young man, identified by police as Joshua Christianson, engaged in a tense standoff that lasted nearly seven hours, as negotiators talked to Christianson on a cellphone and tried to persuade him to put down his rifle. The incident ended when police, firing rubber bullets, overpowered him. [And he will for sure not be going to Iraq.]

Many Troops Refusing Iraq Deployment:
“The War Is Illegal”

Those who help war resisters say desertion is more prevalent than the military has admitted. “They lied in Vietnam with the amount of opposition to the war and they’re lying now,” said Eric Seitz, an attorney who represents Army Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to the war in Iraq.

[Thanks to Mark Shaprio, who sent this in.]

July 05, 2006 By Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service [Excerpts]

Swept up by a wave of patriotism after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Chris Magaoay joined the Marine Corps in November 2004.

The newly married Magaoay thought a military career would allow him to continue his college education, help his country and set his life on the right path.

Less than two years later, Magaoay became one of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“It wasn’t something I did on the spur of the moment,” said Magaoay, a native of Maui, Hawaii. “It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal.”

Magaoay said his disillusionment with the military began in boot camp in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where a superior officer joked about killing and mistreating Iraqis. When his unit was deployed to Iraq in March, Magaoay and his wife drove to Canada, joining a small group of deserters who are trying to win permission from the Canadian government to stay.

“We’re like a tight-knit family,” Magaoay said.

The Pentagon says deserters like Magaoay represent a tiny fraction of the nation’s fighting forces.

Those who help war resisters say desertion is more prevalent than the military has admitted.

“They lied in Vietnam with the amount of opposition to the war and they’re lying now,” said Eric Seitz, an attorney who represents Army Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to the war in Iraq.

Jeffry House, an attorney in Toronto who represents Magaoay and other deserters, said there are about 200 deserters living in Canada. They have decided not to seek refugee status but instead are leading clandestine lives, he said.

MORE:

“These Guys Have Every Right To Resist Us, Because They’re Defending Their Families And Their Country”

8 July 2006 By Simon Assaf, Socialist Worker (UK) [Excerpts]

Tim Richard and Carl Webb, two war resisters, spoke to Simon Assaf about why there is a growing revolt against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars inside the US army

Some object morally to the war, some politically, others have already completed tours of duty and were revolted by their experiences as an occupying army.

US military deserters have many reasons to refuse to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. They are joining a growing army of soldiers who prefer to go to jail or face exile rather than fight in a war they oppose.

About 20 US war resisters have applied for refugee status in Canada. But seeking refuge in a country that is itself getting sucked into the quagmire that is Afghanistan – there are 2,300 Canadian troops already there – is becoming increasingly difficult.

Canadian authorities have already rejected requests for asylum. Despite this, for 23 year old Tim Richard the route to Canada was still the best option and a risk worth taking.

Tim comes from the mid-western state of Iowa and joined the Army National Guard when he was 17. He served six years as a part time soldier, and his period of service was coming to an end in ?November 2005.

He opposed the invasion of Iraq but, like many other part time soldiers, he became a victim of a process known as stop-loss, a presidential order brought in during the first Gulf War of 1990-1.

The rule was designed to beef up the number of available troops by extending the period during which reservists can be called up. More than 10,000 soldiers are currently covered by the law.

In October 2005, he got the call he dreaded. A letter landed on his doorstep informing him that he was obliged to serve for 608 days. His National Guard unit was ordered to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for special training before being shipped out to Iraq.

“I was morally against the war,” he told Socialist Worker from his refuge in Canada. “So I decided to go my superiors and explain why I did not want to go, and why I considered the invasion of Iraq to be immoral.”

He inquired about applying for conscientious objector (CO) status, but found that he did not qualify as he was not opposed to all wars, just to the occupation of Iraq. “I was informed that even if I did apply for CO it would take 18 months to be processed, and by then I would have been shipped out,” he said.

Tim discovered there were others in his unit who were unhappy about the war, but going AWOL was a taboo subject that was never discussed.

“It was during a ‘cultural sensitivity programme’ that I began to have serious doubts about participating in the war on any level,” he said. “There we were learning how to be ‘culturally sensitive’ when searching an Iraqi’s house, and I’m thinking, ‘These guys have every right to resist us, because they’re defending their families and their country’.”

The reality of being part of an occupying army sunk in during one training programme:

“They put us through this exercise where we had to search a mock Iraqi village. They hired around 75 Arabic speakers to act as villagers. During the exercise I opened fire on two of the ?villagers. If the situation had been real I would have killed them.

“I began to fear what would happen to me if I was in Iraq. How could I live with the thought that I could just open fire like that?

“That night I decided the best thing to do was to break out of the camp and get out of the country. But I was beset by guilt and doubts about abandoning my friends – guys who were also unhappy about the war. I also felt guilty about leaving the military, which for the past six years I had proudly served in.

“My only options were to go to Iraq and take part in an immoral war, or to go on the run and risk jail. But in the end I resolved that to desert was the best thing I could do. At the end of the day this option was also available to other soldiers.”

Escape was not easy. The soldiers were constantly monitored and always carried their weapons. “Camp Shelby was like a prison, and because we always had to carry our rifles, I realised that I could not just dump it and run – that would be irresponsible.

“I resolved to flee at the first available opportunity and even talked to some of my friends to see if they would join me, as they too were opposed to the war. But I was alone.”

Tim’s opportunity came on the eve of deployment.

“We were given an afternoon off to go a Wal-Mart store in town to pick up some personal items before shipping out,” he said. “We were allowed to wear civilian clothes, so the chance I was waiting for had finally come round.

“I slipped away from the main group and hailed a cab to the New Orleans airport. I was very paranoid. I phoned my mother and told her to withdraw all my money from my bank, then I destroyed all my military identification.

“I ripped up my military ID and dumped the pieces in different trash cans, then I did the same to my dogtags.

“I booked a flight to Seattle and then rented a car to get across the Canadian border. Despite my fears, the border guards waved me through. When in Canada I contacted the War Resister Support Campaign, which stepped up to help me.”

Tim Richard, whose father is Canadian, can apply for citizenship but opposing the war means he can never return to his home.

“But other resisters face a tough time, as they can expect to be deported back and dumped in military jail,” he said. “In the US, desertion in a time of war still carries a maximum sentence of death. That is a gamble no one should have to take.”

Despite this, some of those refusing to fight have remained in the US. Carl Webb is a 40 year old member of the Texas Army National Guard and an army veteran.

He had a few months left of his service when he was called up for duty in August 2004 under the stop-loss programme. He refused to be mobilised and has openly defied the army by touring the US agitating against the war.

In August 2005 Webb faced another tragedy when he lost his family home in Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina confirmed everything Carl Webb felt was wrong with the invasion of Iraq and the priorities of the Bush administration.

He told Socialist Worker, “We heard that while the Louisiana National Guard were stuck in Iraq, military recruiters were descending on the shelters trying to sign up people made homeless by the hurricane.

“I went down to look for my folks – whom I eventually found alive and well – but I was also hoping I would be arrested doing what the National Guard should have being doing if they weren’t in Iraq – helping the victims of Katrina.”

Classified as a deserter, Carl Webb is still waiting for the knock on his door. “I don’t want to have to face a court martial – but I consider it my duty to encourage others in the military who oppose this war to take a stand,” he said.

Army Charges Officer Who Refused To Deploy To Iraq

[Thanks to David Honish, Veterans For Peace, who sent this in.]

July 05, 2006 By Michelle Tan, Army Times staff writer [Excerpts] & Associated Press

The Army on Wednesday brought three charges against an officer who refused to deploy to Iraq because he believes the war is illegal, according to officials at Fort Lewis, Wash.

First Lt. Ehren Watada, of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis was charged with missing movement, contempt toward officials and conduct unbecoming an officer. His unit deployed to Iraq on June 22.

Eric Seitz, Watada’s attorney, said he’s not surprised that his client was charged with missing movement. The other two charges were unexpected, he said.

“I’m somewhat surprised that those charges have been preferred because it opens up for litigation the substance of what (Watada) said and what his position is,” Seitz said. “It also raises a number of First Amendment issues which we are delighted to litigate with the Army.”

Watada will not be making any more public statements if the Army is going to charge him for speaking his mind, said Seitz, who is based in Honolulu.

“In abundance of caution, I don’t want to multiply those proceedings,” he said.

He said he believes that several of the “major” premises used to make the case for war – including Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and his ties to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks – were fabricated to boost approval for the war and to receive authorization from Congress.

Now that charges have been preferred, Watada will have an Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a grand jury investigation. He will go to a court-martial if the Article 32 investigating officer determines there’s enough evidence for a trial. A date for the Article 32 hearing has not been set.

The charges against Watada are as follows, according to officials at Fort Lewis:

Missing movement (Article 87 of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice): This offense involves an individual who fails to deploy when required to do so and is able to do so.

The maximum punishment is dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and two years confinement.

Contempt toward officials (Article 88): This offense involves an individual who makes contemptuous statements toward the president, vice president, Congress, secretary of defense or other public officials, as listed in the UCMJ. Aggravating circumstances include making statements in the presence of military subordinates or giving broad circulation to those statements.

The maximum punishment is dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for one year.

Conduct unbecoming an officer (Article 133): Officers are held to a high moral and legal standard, and acts contrary to this standard may be tried by court-martial.

The maximum punishment includes dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for a period not more than what’s authorized for the most similar offense for which a punishment is prescribed in the UCMJ. If none, the confinement period should be no more than a year.

Watada’s stance prompted rallies of support near Fort Lewis, in Seattle and in Honolulu, his hometown.

CALL TO ACTION:
N.Y. State DU Testing Bill:
WE MUST GET 100 LETTERS TO PATAKI NOW!

From: Peter Bronson, Veterans For Peace
Sent: July 06, 2006
Subject: NYS DU Testing Bill – WE MUST GET 100 LETTERS TO PATAKI NOW

Elliott Adams, VFP national Board member called me last night with the following request:

Bills A9116B & S6964A have been approved by the NYS Assembly and Senate respectively.

These bills would require that the state develop a screening program for personnel returning from Afghanistan & Iraq.

We have been told that if we can get 100 letters from veterans on his desk in the next few days that he’ll probably sign the bills into law.

Please write and send by snail mail now:

WE GOT THE BILLS THIS FAR, LET’S GET THE JOB DONE.

SHOW WHAT MISSION ACCOMPLISHED REALLY MEANS.

******************************************************

[Sample letter]

Governor George E. Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Pataki,

I am a veteran of the _________________.

Many of us are still dealing with the Agent Orange poisoning and the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

This testing bill is very important to the young New Yorkers returning from active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I would greatly appreciate your taking a few moments to sign this bill so that it will become law.

Thank You

Name
Rank
Branch
Service Dates
Service Details

Rumsfeld Defies Congress:
Gets A Subpoena To End His Cover-Up

7.6.06 Washington Post

The House Committee on Government Reform has issued a subpoena to the Defense Department and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld requiring the production of several documents related to the investigations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison by the end of next week.

Republican leaders of the committee said they were frustrated that defense officials have not turned over documents related to the whistle-blower case of Sgt. Samuel Provance, a military intelligence soldier who was at Abu Ghraib and who spoke publicly about allegations of abuse with the news media.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

Soldiers In Pill Bottles #4

From: Richard Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: July 03, 2006

Soldiers In Pill Bottles

Two and three tours in Iraq, in a war that is
three years old—Insanity!

This is how George Bush supports the troops.

This is why Dick Cheney had 5 deferments to
stay out of the war in Vietnam, because there
was more money to be made in War Business.

“I had other priorities.”

Don’t trust a War Vet who isn’t angry.

Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
July 3, 2006

Photo 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: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)

OCCUPATION REPORT

U.S. OCCUPATION RECRUITING DRIVE IN HIGH GEAR;
RECRUITING FOR THE ARMED RESISTANCE THAT IS

Foreign fighter from the U.S. Marine corps occupying an Iraqi citizens’ home in Ramadi, June 29, 2006. He stands beside a poster of Mecca. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

[Fair is fair. Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqis 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?]

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

Iraqi Prime Minister Says U.S. Troops Commit “Crimes That Stink” “Every Day” &
Wants To Arrest And Try Them

July 5 & July 06, 2006 By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he would raise the issue of U.S. military behavior with American officials in hopes of curbing incidents of abuse “that we see every day” in Iraq.

“We said we want an investigation in order to know the facts,” al-Maliki said. “In addition to the investigation, we will discuss this matter with concerned sides to stop such practices that we see every day, crimes that stink.”

In his strongest comments to date on alleged abuse by American soldiers, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said their immunity from prosecution in Iraq has encouraged atrocities.

“We believe that the immunity given to members of coalition forces encouraged them to commit such crimes in cold blood (and) that makes it necessary to review it,” al-Maliki told reporters during a visit to Kuwait.

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

A man carries the dead body of a Palestinian boy killed by an Israeli bomb in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya July 6, 2006. (AP Photos/Mohamed Al-Zanon/MaanImages)

[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.”]

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

This Is Not A Satire:
Bush’s Shit And Piss Collected In Austria And Taken Back To USA;
“Even Bush’s Toilet Paper Was Flown In From The U.S. Air Base At Ramstein”

July 4, 2006 Wayne MadsenReport.com [Excerpts]

Even Bush’s crap is classified top secret.

According to our Austrian sources, Austrian newspapers are currently abuzz with special security details of George W. Bush’s recent trip to Vienna.

Although the heavy-handed Gestapo-like security measures meted out to Viennese home owners, business proprietors, and pedestrians by US Secret Service agents and local police before and during Bush’s visit received widespread Austrian media attention, it was White House “toilet security” (”TOILSEC”), which has Austrians talking the most.

The White House flew in a special portable toilet to Vienna for Bush’s personal use during his visit. The Bush White House is so concerned about Bush’s security, the veil of secrecy extends over the president’s bodily excretions. The special port-a-john captured Bush’s feces and urine and flew the waste material back to the United States in the event some enterprising foreign intelligence agency conducted a sewage pipe operation designed to trap and examine Bush’s waste material.

One can only wonder why the White House is taking such extraordinary security measures for the presidential poop.

In the past, similar operations were conducted against foreign leaders to determine their medical condition. However, these intelligence operations were directed against dictators in countries where even the medical conditions of the top political leaders were considered “state secrets.”

The Israeli Mossad conducted one such operation against Syrian President Hafez Assad when he visited Amman, Jordan in Feb. 1999 for the funeral of King Hussein. The Mossad and its Jordanian counterpart installed a special toilet in Assad’s hotel room that led not to a pipe but to a specimen canister. Assad suffered from diabetes and cancer and the operation was designed to discover the actual medical condition of the ailing leader.

Even Bush’s toilet paper was flown in from the U.S. Air Base at Ramstein, Germany.

In addition, Bush’s food was flown in from the United States and tested with special chemicals before he ate it.

Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was shot by a firing squad in 1989, was the last major European leader to constantly use a food tester. The last frequent state visitor to Vienna, who always relied on a food tester, was Adolf Hitler.

[Thanks to David Honish, Veterans For Peace, who sent this in.]

BUSH DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM CONSTITUTION
Blasts Historic Document In Fourth Of July Address

July 5, 2006 The Borowitz Report

In a nationally televised Fourth of July address, President George W. Bush stunned the nation by announcing that he was declaring himself independent from the United States Constitution.

“Just as our forefathers threw off the horrible yoke of British rule on July 4, 1976, today I am throwing off the yoke of this truly annoying document,” Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush said that the original copy of the Constitution would be auctioned on eBay and that proceeds from that sale would help pay for a “long overdue” cut in the estate tax.

According to the president’s aides, ever since the Supreme Court decided last week that the use of military tribunals in Guantanamo was unconstitutional Mr. Bush had been looking for a way around that decision, even contemplating sending the Justices themselves to Guantanamo.

Ultimately, one aide said, the president decided that a declaration of independence from the Constitution was the most workable solution: “The fact is, whenever we’re trying to get something done around here, that stupid Constitution gets in the way.”

Mr. Bush acknowledged that some legal scholars would call his declaration of independence from the Constitution unconstitutional, but added, “To those people I say, no backsies.”

The president said that while he was no longer required to obey the U.S. Constitution, he still respected the Declaration of Independence, “because it has a really cool treasure map on the back.”

The Lie Clock

[Thanks to Katherine G.Y., The Military Project, who sent this in.]

A man died and went to heaven.

As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, “What are all those clocks?”

St. Peter answered, “Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move.”

“Oh,” said the man, “whose clock is that?”

“That’s Mother Teresa’s. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.”

“Incredible,” said the man. “And whose clock is that one?”

St. Peter responded, “That’s Abraham Lincoln’s clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire Life.”

“Where’s President Bush’s clock?” asked the man.

“Bush’s clock is in Jesus’ office.”

“He’s using it as a ceiling fan.”

CLASS WAR REPORTS

“We’ll Be Your Iraq”
[Get The Message?]

A sign reading ‘We’ll be your Iraq’ is held by protesting Italian taxi drivers above police officers in riot gear as taxi drivers gather in front of Chigi, the premier’s palace, in downtown Rome, July, 5, 2006. Irate taxi drivers from around the country converged on Rome on Wednesday, cramming the streets surrounding the ancient Circus Maximus with hundreds of white cabs to protest the government’s plans to cut their income. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

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.  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.net

All GI Special issues achieved at website
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www.notinourname.net/gi-special/
www.williambowles.info/gispecial
www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/
www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/gi-special.htm
www.uruknet.info/

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