The Way Out of Iraq

On May 11, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes and U.S. Army Sgt. Kevin Benderman will stand before military court martial tribunals for refusing to participate in the Iraq war. These men applied for and were denied conscientious objector status because of their public statements against the continuing war. They now face military jail time and forfeiture of pay and benefits.

On May 2, Pablo's brother Victor Paredes, Kevin's wife Monica, and anti-war, veteran and military family organizers from across the country sent a public letter calling for May 10th to be a National Day of Action in Support of GI Resistance. Support actions are being organized in 20 cities, including San Diego, Baltimore, Buffalo, Burlington, Charlotte, Deerfield, Helena, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York City, Orlando, Ventura, Providence, Rochester, San Francisco, and Springfield. A group of supporters from across California will caravan to San Diego to be present at Pablo Paredes court-martial, where Paredes says he intends to "put the war on trial. After all, it's the real crime here."

There are thousands of other resisters. While many of them keep their resistance private, all of them are taking courageous stands against the war and in support of international law. GI resistance has the power to stop the war and occupation in Iraq. The Bush Administration can't fight war or maintain an occupation without obedient troops. Nor can they begin new wars without enough compliant soldiers. Courage to Resist, a new group of concerned community members, vets and military families, has helped organize the May 10th day of action as part of their goal to "organize support for military objectors to illegal war and occupation and the underlying policies of empire."

Courage to Resist's campaign has three key areas:

1. Supporting troops (or private or government employees) who refuse deployment or otherwise resist the war and occupation. 2. Counter-Recruitment. Use education to reduce the military's ability to recruit young people, disproportionately low income and of color. 3. Resisting the Draft and Draft Registration. Support young men to refuse to register for the selective service and prepare for mass resistance to a possible draft.

GI resistance within the military, together with massive desertion and draft resistance, is widely credited with being a key element in forcing the U.S. out of Vietnam. Steve Morse, a former U.S. Army soldier who was active in the antiwar GI movement during Vietnam and today coordinates the GI Rights Program of the Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors explains, "This was an unprecedented event in U.S. history. Underground newspapers, GI coffeehouses, petitions, demonstrations, black armbands, stockade revolts, the FTA (Fuck The Army Show), leaflets, discussion groups, civilian/veteran support and counseling, combat refusals of riot control training and duty, revolts on ships; these all occurred many times." By 1970, the Army had 65,643 deserters.

GI Resistance

Much of the last year's resistance to the war has come from within troops themselves and their families: The entire 17 member Army Reserve platoon-the 343rd Quartermaster Company -- refused an order to go on a "suicide" supply mission in Iraq. Hundreds of enlisted men and women cheered when one of their own confronted Rumsfeld at his photo op speech in Iraq and almost two thousand former soldiers are fighting the "backdoor draft." In November 2004, 1,800 of 4,000 people notified (of 110,000 former "individual" ready reserves) are requesting exemption or appealing deployment and of 2,500 ordered to report to military bases 733 never showed up; hundreds have applied for conscientious objector status and the military has admitted that over 5,500 have gone AWOL sine the Iraq invasion. In addition to this resistance within the ranks, military families have become public anti-war spokespeople and frontline activists.