COMMENTS: 6
From U.S. War Resisters, A Letter of Solidarity to Israeli Army Resisters
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We are U.S. military servicemembers and veterans who have refused or are currently refusing to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We stand in solidarity with the Israeli Shministim (Hebrew for 12th graders) who are also resisting military service. About 100 Israeli high school students have signed an open letter declaring their refusal to serve in the Israeli army and their opposition to "Israeli occupation and oppression policy in the occupied territories and the territories of Israel." In Israel, military service is mandatory for all graduating high school seniors, and resisters face the possibility of years in prison.
We have also refused to participate in unjust acts of military aggression, and many of us have gone to prison or currently live with that possibility as a result. We believe that resistance to unjust war is a bold assertion of humanity in the face of overwhelming violence.
The Global War on Terror, like the Israeli occupation, is propped up by racism and dehumanization and sets the stage for never-ending war and occupation. We are inspired by the brave refusal of our brothers and sisters in Israel to take part in these destructive policies, and we want to let them know today, December 18th -- the day of international solidarity with the Shministim -- that they have our deepest respect and support.
In Solidarity,
Stephanie Atkinson
Specialist, US Army Reserve. Went AWOL to resist October 1990 deployment to Iraq. Discharged in lieu of courts martial.
Chris Capps-Schubert
Specialist, US Army, communications. Went AWOL March 2007 to resist Iraq redeployment. Discharged in lieu of courts martial.
Eugene Cherry
Specialist, US Army, medic. Went AWOL June 2005 to resist Iraq redeployment, later won honorable discharge.
Matthis Chiroux
Sergeant, US Army, journalist. Currently refusing Inactive Ready Reserve recall.
James Circello
Sergeant, US Army, airborne infantry. Went AWOL April 2007 following Iraq deployment. Discharged in lieu of courts martial.
Carl Davison
US Army, security. Refused Iraq deployment in 2008. Served one month in the brig.
Matthew Edwards
US Army, Resisted Iraq deployment in March 2003.
Stephen Funk
Lance Corporal, US Marine Corps, logistic support. Went AWOL February 2003 to resist Iraq deployment. Served six months in the brig.
Andrew Gorby
Second Lieutenant, US Army, infantry. Discharged May 2007 as a conscientious objector.
Patrick Hart
Sergeant, US Army. Went AWOL in 2005 to resist Iraq deployment and has lived in Canada since.
Ryan Johnson
Private First Class, US Army. Went AWOL June 2005 to resist Iraq deployment and has lived in Canada since.
Dale Landry
Airman, US Air Force. Went AWOL in 2004 following Afghanistan deployment and has lived in Canada since.
Benjamin Lewis
US Marine Corps, mortar man. After two Iraq deployments, now refusing Inactive Ready Reserve recall.
Christopher Magaoay
Lance Corporal, US Marine Corps. Went AWOL in 2006 to resist Iraq deployment and has lived in Canada since.
Camilo Mejia
Staff Sergeant, Army National Guard. Refused to redeploy to Iraq in 2004. Served nine months in the stockade.
Geoff Millard
Sergeant, Army National Guard. Went AWOL after a deployment to Iraq 2004-2005.
Brandon Neely
US Army, military police. Refused recall from the Inactive Ready Reserve in 2007.
Perry O'Brien
US Army, medic. Discharged as a conscientious objector November 2004 following Afghanistan deployment.
Jeff Paterson
Corporal, US Marine Corps, artillery control. Refused Desert Storm deployment August 1990. Served two months pre-trial confinement. Discharged in lieu of courts martial.
Chanan Suarezdiaz
Hospital Corpsman, Third Class, US Navy. Discharged following 2004 Iraq deployment.
Hart Viges
US Army, airborne mortar man. Discharged as a conscientious objector following 2003 Iraq deployment.
Dean Walcott
US Marine Corps, military police. Went AWOL in 2007 following Iraq deployment and has lived in Canada since.
David Wiggins MD
Captain, US Army, doctor. Resigned commission near the Iraq border during Desert Storm 1991.
Steve Yoczik
Private, US Army. Went AWOL November 2006 to resist Iraq deployment and has lived in Canada since.
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COMMENTS ( 6 )
Comments are closed-
Posted by: rickiey on Dec 19, 2008 10:17 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
These war resistors, do not. It is an automatic draft, and as unjust as you can get.
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Posted by: StirMan on Dec 19, 2008 12:36 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
'Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.'--Kurt Vonnegut
'In November Dr. Katz was on camera again, this time on CBS News. Reporter Armen Keteyian had produced a groundbreaking report on veteran suicides. His five-month investigation found that in 2005 alone, more than 6,250 soldiers had committed suicide -- 120 deaths each week, eighteen suicides every day. Again, Dr. Katz was reassuring. "We are determined to decrease veteran suicides," he told Keteyian. But "there is no epidemic of suicide in the VA." []
General and President Dwight Eisenhower said that, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."
“I say that a system such as the capitalist system, putting such obstacles as starvation, underfeeding, overwork, bad housing, and perpetual uncertainty of work in the lives of human beings, is a pitiless, ignorant, blind, reckless, cruel mockery of a system.” And he declared, “One reason I’m a Socialist is because the socialists were the first to fight to abolish child labor, and today the Socialist party is the only one that has dared to declare in its platform that it is unalterably opposed to child labor, and that it will do all in its power to remove all conditions that make it possible for human beings anywhere to be underfed and overworked . . . . The true Socialist . . . sees a war going on between two classes, the capitalist class and the working class.” [Carl Sandburg] (Tough luck, workers.)
It it a crime in God's law to refuse to be evil and kill. WHo would Jesus bomb and kill? Let's support the young men of Israel who refuse to kill to order. Support that journalist Muntader al-Zaidi' who threw shoes instead of bullets. (Thank goodness we brought freedom there, apparently they nearly killed him but not quite.) Support Lt. Ehren Watada . . . an American hero . . . and all desisters of conscience. Imagine peace.
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» RE: Murder, we vote?
Posted by: using
» RE: Murder, we vote?
Posted by: TagsNOLA
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Posted by: weathered on Dec 20, 2008 10:12 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
They killed Rabin, now look what you've got?
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Posted by: Javan on Dec 20, 2008 5:18 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: rickiey on Dec 19, 2008 10:17 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
These war resistors, do not. It is an automatic draft, and as unjust as you can get.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: StirMan on Dec 19, 2008 12:36 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
'Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.'--Kurt Vonnegut
'In November Dr. Katz was on camera again, this time on CBS News. Reporter Armen Keteyian had produced a groundbreaking report on veteran suicides. His five-month investigation found that in 2005 alone, more than 6,250 soldiers had committed suicide -- 120 deaths each week, eighteen suicides every day. Again, Dr. Katz was reassuring. "We are determined to decrease veteran suicides," he told Keteyian. But "there is no epidemic of suicide in the VA." []
General and President Dwight Eisenhower said that, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."
“I say that a system such as the capitalist system, putting such obstacles as starvation, underfeeding, overwork, bad housing, and perpetual uncertainty of work in the lives of human beings, is a pitiless, ignorant, blind, reckless, cruel mockery of a system.” And he declared, “One reason I’m a Socialist is because the socialists were the first to fight to abolish child labor, and today the Socialist party is the only one that has dared to declare in its platform that it is unalterably opposed to child labor, and that it will do all in its power to remove all conditions that make it possible for human beings anywhere to be underfed and overworked . . . . The true Socialist . . . sees a war going on between two classes, the capitalist class and the working class.” [Carl Sandburg] (Tough luck, workers.)
It it a crime in God's law to refuse to be evil and kill. WHo would Jesus bomb and kill? Let's support the young men of Israel who refuse to kill to order. Support that journalist Muntader al-Zaidi' who threw shoes instead of bullets. (Thank goodness we brought freedom there, apparently they nearly killed him but not quite.) Support Lt. Ehren Watada . . . an American hero . . . and all desisters of conscience. Imagine peace.
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» RE: Murder, we vote?
Posted by: using
» RE: Murder, we vote?
Posted by: TagsNOLA
Comments are closed-
Posted by: weathered on Dec 20, 2008 10:12 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
They killed Rabin, now look what you've got?
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: Javan on Dec 20, 2008 5:18 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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