Breaking Ranks
More and more U.S. soldiers are speaking out against the war in Iraq -- and some are refusing to fight.
Sun Oct. 10, 2004 11:00 PM PDT
Several of Hoffman’s Marine Corps buddies have now joined Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the stream of phone calls and emails from other soldiers is constant. Not long ago, he says, a soldier home on leave from Iraq told him, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, because you’ve got more support than you can imagine over there.”
Members of IVAW led the protest march that greeted the Republican convention in New York, and their ranks swelled that week. But the protest’s most poignant moment came after the march, as veterans from wars past and present retreated to Summit Rock in Central Park. Joe Bangert, a founding member of Vietnam Veterans of America, addressed the group. “One of the most painful things when we returned from Vietnam was that the veterans from past wars weren’t there for us,” he said. “They didn’t support us in our questioning and our opposition to war. And I just want to say,” he added, peering intently at the younger veterans, “we are here for you. We have your back.”
There was no Iraq veterans’ group for Brandon Hughey to turn to in December 2003. Alone and terrified, sitting in his barracks at Fort Hood, Texas, the 18-year-old private considered his options. He could remain with his Army unit, which was about to ship out to Iraq to fight a war that Hughey was convinced was pointless and immoral. Or he could end his dilemma—by taking his own life.
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Army private Brandon Hughey is one of six U.S. soldiers seeking refugee status in Canada. |
The next day, there was a knock on Hughey’s door: His deployment date had been moved up, and his unit was leaving within 24 hours. Hughey packed his belongings in a military duffel, jumped in his car, and drove north. As he and Rising-Moore approached the Rainbow Bridge border post at Niagara Falls, Hughey was nervous and somber. “I had the sense that once I crossed that border, I might never be able to go back,” he recalls. “It made me sad.”
Months after fleeing Fort Hood, the baby-faced 19-year-old still sports a military-style buzz cut. Sitting at the kitchen table of the Quaker family that is sheltering him in St. Catharines, Ontario, Hughey tells me about growing up in San Angelo, Texas, where he was raised by his father. In high school he played trumpet and loved to soup up cars. But when his father lost his job as a computer programmer, he was forced to use up his son’s college fund. So at 17, Hughey enlisted in the Army, with a $5,000 signing bonus to sweeten the deal.
Quiet and unassuming, Hughey grows intense when the conversation turns to Iraq. “I would fight in an act of defense, if my home and family were in danger,” he says. “But Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. They barely had an army left, and Kofi Annan actually said [attacking Iraq was] a violation of the U.N. charter. It’s nothing more than an act of aggression.” As for his duty to his fellow soldiers, he insists, “You can’t go along with a criminal activity just because others are doing it.”
So far, only six U.S. soldiers are known to have fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq. But in 2003, the Army listed more than 2,774 soldiers as deserters (military personnel are classified as having deserted after not reporting for duty for more than a month), and many observers believe the actual number may be even higher; the Army has acknowledged that it is not aggressively hunting down soldiers who don’t show up. The GI Rights Hotline, a counseling operation run by a national network of antiwar groups, reports that it now receives between 3,000 and 4,000 calls per month from soldiers seeking a way out of the military. Some of the callers simply never thought they would see combat, says J.E. McNeil, director of the Center on Conscience and War. But others are turning against the war because of what they saw while serving in Iraq, and they don’t want to be sent back there. “It’s people learning what war really is,” she says. “A lot of people are naive—and for a while, the military was portraying itself as being a peace mission.”
Unlike Vietnam, when young men facing the draft could convincingly claim that they opposed all war, enlistees in a volunteer military have a tough time qualifying as conscientious objectors. In the Army, 61 soldiers applied for conscientious objector status last year, and 31 of those applications were granted. “The Army does understand people can have a change of heart,” notes spokeswoman Martha Rudd. “But you can’t ask for a conscientious objector discharge based on moral or religious opposition to a particular war.”
Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey may be the most unlikely of the soldiers who have come out against the war. A Marine since 1992, he has been a recruiter, infantry instructor, and combat platoon leader. He went to Iraq primed to fight. “9/11 pissed me off,” he says. “I was ready to go kill a raghead.”
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Jimmy Massey went to Iraq a gung-ho Marine, but returned shaken after killing civilians. |
Shortly after Massey arrived in Iraq, his unit was ordered to man roadblocks. To stop cars, the Marines would raise their hands. If the drivers kept going, Massey says, “we would just light ’em up. I didn’t find out until later on, after talking to an Iraqi, that when you put your hand up in the air, it means ‘Hello.’” He estimates that his men killed 30 civilians in one 48-hour period.
Comments
Please study this site. Preacher converts to Islam its not too late for you. Muslims are human beings also.
Please go to the local mosque in canada and let them know your story. The mosque should also be able to help you out.
I am a Viet Nam Vet.
I belong to the VV against the Iraq War.
Jerryoc@aol.com
570-493-3000
I was in the Army in 1970 in the Viet Nam war, I did not ask to go to war you all did.If people would stop going in on their own then they would be no war no people no war,simple.If a person goes into any seervice after 1971 then you get what you ask for.There's people going in each day no body makes them go they know what can happen.Stop crying do your time keep your HEAD down go home.It took me 15 years to get over what I saw and did.Remember when You say I DO then you have too.
Remember the Vietnam war..
The powers that were in control at the time (USA) poured money and troops into a war that could not be won using hightech weapons against guerilla warfare used by an opponent that did not want them there..
The war was ended not by government but by protest by the people around the world..
It took some time for this to happen and during that time many soldiers and civilians were needlessly killed because the government would not admit that they had made a mistake..This sounds familiar and it seems that we are going down the same road as we did in Vietnam..
The mantra that keeps things going this time is “Support our Troops” at any cost and if you don’t agree you are a traitor and are letting our troops down..
Might I suggest that the best way to support our troops is to bring them home alive and not in coffins as we are doing now..
Let us hope this will happen but it seems that the only way to make it happen is for the people to force the government to make it happen..
The fact that american civivlians would try to run over a uniformed soldier stating he killed inocent people leads me to think that a lot of people don't mind killing innocent...soldiers. Paticularly the higher ups. They have No respect. I stand behind soldiers legaly saying NO to illegal wars. We need a lawsuit. -One Big Lawsuit- Let it start here.
IVAW just elected Camilo Mejia, a big time Sandanista Marxist as their leader. The kid's parents were Marxist revolutionaries and this kid is too. He bragged on Amy Goodwin's DemocracyNow about knowing Daniel Ortega and General Humberto personally. He spoke lovingly about the "truimph of the revolution". Adam Kokesh spoke at a 9/11 Kook Convention in NYC on 9/11 and cried how American forces are too stretched to fight the Mother of All Terrorists, America. That we need a new American revolution. I'm gald it's all bullcrap and bluster. These guy spend most of their time boozing. Their East Coast bus tour was booze it up at a picnic, protest, booze it up again at a concert that night. Hardly the Freedom Riders of the 60s, these clowns are more like an interstate pub crawl than a protest movement.
BENEATH THE SPIN * ERIC L. WATTREE, SR.
LT. GENERAL RECORDO S. SANCHEZ ON U.S. POLITICAL LEADERS:
"IN MY PROFESSION THESE TYPES OF LEADERS WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY
RELIEVED OR COURT-MARTIALED"
No one wants to be seen as Willie one-note--particularly if they write a political column. But sometimes an issue will come up that’s so egregious you simply cannot understand how people can just sit around like nothing is happening. That’s the situation I found myself in regarding the crimes the Bush administration has been perpetrating against the American people. Surely everyone can see what I see. After all, I was in D Group in school--the only thing that kept me out of Special Training was my fetching smile. But then, maybe they don’t see it, so I’m going to have to hammer the message home, week after week.
There’s only one problem with that--when you repeat yourself, you run the risk of being anticipated by the reader, and after a while, not being read at all. I’d been wrestling with that fact for weeks--then, just as I’d convinced myself that I’d been beating a dead horse, here comes General Sanchez over the horizon in full battle gear, in defense of his troops. Maybe if I lack the eloquence, privy, and clout for the people to listen to me, surely they’ll listen to the former commanding general of Bush’s war crimes in Iraq. If the people refuse to listen to him, they just don’t want to hear, because he laid it plainly on the line, using no uncertain turns.
When retired Lt. General Recordo S. Sanchez came to address the Military Reporters and Editors Luncheon in Washington D.C., he came with a purpose. He said he came to speak on behalf of the eight hundred troops that had died under his command in Iraq. He’d read the biography of each and every one of them, so he felt like he knew them personally. So he had no intention of watering down his message to assuage the feeling of either the press, or the prima donna sensitivities of the Washington establishment. In short, he didn’t come to hobnob--and he certainly didn’t come to take any prisoners.
Anyone who truly admire the military had to love this spectacle--a three star general, in full battle mode. He stripped off his stars, came down in the field, and showed those Washington chicken-hawks exactly what it meant to have their asses chewed up and spit out by a real general. All the souls in Arlington Cemetery had to be standing at attention, saying, "Well, it’s about damn time!--Sir."
He started by leveling his guns at the press, and spoke with an unequivocal decisiveness rarely seen in Washington. He told them that he’d witnessed "…the worst display of journalism imaginable by those of us that are bound by a strict value system of selfless service honor and integrity." He pointed out how the press blaze inaccurate information across the headlines, then when given accurate information, they would correct the story in small print deep within the paper--if they corrected it at all. He said that instead of searching out the truth, they went for sensationalism in order to get headlines. He also said that they were motivated more by self-serving aggrandizement than by a search for the truth. He pointed out that they measured their individual worth not so much by keeping the American people informed, but rather, how many stories they could write that made headlines. He also indicated that their mistakes and agenda driven biases are contributing to a corrosive environment, and that they were too willing to be manipulated by "high level officials" who leaked stories. He then went on to say that the uninformed and speculative reporting characterized by the media is becoming the Industry standard.
He then turned his guns down range towards the politicians. He said, "There has been a glaring, unfortunate, display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders." Then he ask of congress, "Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leaders involve
D in the management of this war? They have unquestionably been derelict in the performance of their duty. In my profession, these types of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed."
As the general spoke, my mouth dropped wide open. I, literally, could not believe my ears. I expected him to be blunt and plain-spoken, but, while I’m not a historian, it sound to me like he had come closer than any American general has ever come to suggesting that the commander in chief be impeached, and his cronies put on trial.
Regarding the war, the general pointed out that "Since the start of this war, America’s leadership has known that our military alone could not achieve victory in Iraq. Starting in July 2003, the message repeatedly communicated to Washington by Military commanders on the ground was that the military alone could never achieve ‘victory’ in Iraq."
Again I was shocked. That didn’t square at all with what Bush has been telling the American people. Bush said he’s been following the recommendations of his commanders on the ground. If what General Sanchez says is true, that means that Bush has been lying to us for the past four years. Yeah, I know, what else is new? But actually, that is new--because now we have inside conformation that Bush has been lying. It also suggests that Bush has been knowingly allowing American troops to die for no reason whatsoever--no reason, that is, other than the opportunity for his cronies to prosper from the profits of war.
The general was also blunt about the current condition of our military, and what that means to our national security. He pointed out that "A critical, objective assessment of our nation’s ability to execute our national security strategy must be conducted. If we are objective and honest, the results will be surprising to all Americans. There is unacceptable strategic risk."
In other words, if we knew how bad a shape our military is in, we’d be scared to death--and this comes at the worse possible time. Bush and his cronies are so strategically inept, and so blinded by their greed and war profiteering in Iraq, they are completely oblivious to what’s going on in the rest of the world. Our military readiness has been so severely damaged in Iraq that we’ve allowed ourselves to become vulnerable to other countries--specifically, China and Russia.
It was reported last week that Russian bombers have been spotted flying near the Alaskan border for the first time since the end of the Cold War. It was also reported last week that Russia is developing a new nuclear missile system that can defeat the U. S. defense shield. Where are we going to get the money to counter that initiative--we’ve blown it all in Iraq. So, if the Russians are successful, we’re completely vulnerable--our nuclear capability will have been neutralized, and our military won’t have the capability to repel a conventional attack. According to General Sanchez, "America must understand that it will take the army at least a decade to fix the damage that has been done to its full spectrum readiness."
With that, I’ll allow General Sanchez to close this article:
"Too often our politicians have chosen loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the constitution because of their lust for power. Our politicians must remember their oath of office and commit themselves to serving our nation and not their own self-interests or political party. The security of America is at stake and we can accept nothing less. Anything short of this is unquestionably dereliction of duty."
Think about that as you listen to your favorite political candidate evade the truth.
Eric L. Wattree
Los Angeles Sentinel
I stand with those who protest this police action..Isn't that what it is? Does anyone remember Bush getting the ok to declare war? I don't.
I pray for the safety of the men and women that are caught up in the power play for the NWO..I pray they will come home safe. But I also pray they take a stand and refuse to fight an UN-Constitutional war..They took an oath to protect this country..even against domestic territories. We have domestic terrorist right now running Washington, allowing illegals to come here smuggling drugs, raping and killing our families...Americans for America needs to be the cry..
While you..the American soldier..are over there fighting..here government is running over your families. Come home..Protect them please.
Today we are seeing the loss of our freedoms by our own leaders in office.
Expect to see protesters murdered in
america, jailed, beaten. As in Russia back in 1920's.
People must stand together now, else we lost our nation to the communists in
office, like Hillary, Obama. They want
to destroy America, look at illegals in
here, given everything free. I cannot get a free car, rent, home. Yet I must
go off to risk life and limb in another
country. This is treachery! Our gov. let us all down, it will get worse before it gets better lest we rid the commie menace here.
Hi everyone.
You have no idea how I hate war. And I also believe a lot of these wars are due to the strong demand for oil products. The lack of understanding that man has for the services that others provide for each other.
A lot of the problems we have is also due to greed and selfishness for the all mighty dollar. And not for the love of their fellow man. This then causes a lot of pollution and it is destroying this life ship we live on. Which brings me to what I personally have been trying to do for many years, I have been doing research in a feild that has been set aside by all the brains of this world because they could not figure this problem out or how to overcome this situation. My research is the feild of constant magnetic acceleration. Just to give you a breif idea what it will do may actually shock you. And all those who have any idea what CMA is, know this is very true. CMA unit will replace almost any item you can imagine that uses any form of energy, And the cost of fuel is non exsistant. They all know this is true, as there is absolutely no use for any fuel. Because they have all given up, that does not mean it is not possible, It just means they have not had or given of themselves enough of an effort especially in the eyes of the good lord to find the true answer. Even the good lord said he who is diligent shall be rewarded. I ask you to take a look at my website and if you find the time to pass this on to others with the same beliefs in saving this world our children, the animals. We need this for the survival of our future, and lets not give in to the greedy and selfish, For climate change , global warming, and to stop all pollution, please check out www.magneticenergy.ca I have almost close to 100,000 hours of research in this field of CMA and may be very close to a break through, so we definitely need your love and support. May the good lord have his day to turn the tide to fight all these who are going in the wrong direction, David Chura
when Bush and Co get nailed for war crimes.....yr parents might see the error of their supporting Bush....Bush is the worst kind of leader....knee jerk and without thinking the consequences......hope the next president has the sense to pardon all soldiers who went awol during Bush's regime.......
timothy mcveigh and terry nichols and many other terrorists were not muslims........ let's stop the collective guilt and racism........ BOY GEORGE BUSH and SLICK CHENEY and JOHN YOO and DAVID ADDINGTON are war criminals....... senator john mcsame promises to continue the madness for one hundred years....... STOP BEING ISRAELI POODLES..... IT IS NOT EVEN IN ISRAELI INTEREST.
i am the mother of a marine...along with the millions of americans in this country i don't agree with to murdering of our children in the hands of the bush admin. we need to find ways to protest and voice our concerns about the nonsense this president is imposing on our children. We have to stand up for our soilders, be their voice. They pick up in a minutes to fight for our freedom. lets exercise those rights that have been given to us. lets help bring our sons and daughter home. lets use our voices and the the rights that were promised to us to protect our sons and daughters. we need to be heard not only by this admin but by the united nations and other countries.
Sanders, along with all Military Men & Woman,
First, to Sanders & other in his opposition, I love you,as I am a mother, and we are all responsible for everyone's child, even the ones we did not give birth to, I am so sorry to hear you haven't heard from your family, my son will be going to Iraq in 2009, National Guard, I can only pray, with my love for him, that (God) will keep him safe, and UNBROKEN!!! I am supporting him, he is my son, but I would support him in all of his ambitions, passions, beliefs, as long as they are legal of course. But I would also support him in withdrawl from something he didn't believe in. We can only hope for the best, along with touching others in this journey called Life, You did well no matter what, and we can only pray for all those involved!!!!
MIKE HOFFMAN IS A [deleted]. THAT IS WHY SOLDIERS ARE DYING, BECAUSE OF SOLDIERS LIKE HIM WHO [deleted] UP WHEN BULLETS ARE FLYING. IF YOU ARE NOT READY DO FIGHT HONORABLY... STAY THE FUK OUT THE SERVICE. FUKING MARINES [deleted] OUT ALL THE TIME
DISABLED IRAQ VET
Submitted by John Keith (not verified) on Mon Apr. 20, 2009 9:36 AM PDT.
PLEASE HELP ME My name is John Keith (USN RET) Iraq War Veteran,medically retired of course ,due to a service connected disability. I suffered an injury in 2005, breaking my back in two places and my ankle in seven places. I then went through 1.5 years of surgeries to try and repair my ankle, but was eventually medically retired as an E-4. I have 13 screws and a six inch plate in my ankle, suffered 13 blood clots in the second surgery suffer from PTSD and am in CONSTANT pain. Since I returned home the real trouble started. Went to the Dallas VA and was given 60% disability, which no amount of money is worth the pain in my opinion, but am glad to have that source of income. I tried working when I got out because everyone expected me to, and I did not know what else to do. I have been to the VA at least 10 times and have YET to see an orthopedic surgeon or a pulmonary specialist! The last time I went to the VA I was promptly escorted out by the VA police when I told the Director I was not leaving until they treated me!! I then started to go to emergency rooms as I do not and have not had a job in almost 1.5 years because of my disabilities and cannot afford a primary doctor. I have been to AT LEAST 7 different ER's and multiple times per hospital. I saw a pain management doctor for two months who was prescribing me methadone and lyrica, some of the strongest stuff you can get, but could not afford it and had to stop going. He recommended that I needed to get a TENZ? unit implanted into my spine as opposed to the narcotics. *Dr. Merritt (Regional Pain Care Center of North Texas) Well here it is 2009 and I still have received no help from the VA, am living from friend to friend because I cannot afford my own place and cannot pay my own bills. I recently filed for SSI and was denied, and have recently appealed the decision, with the SSI representative laughing telling me I was NOT going to receive SSI, but he told me "hey I guess its your right to file an appeal if you want to". None of the ER visits were even considered for the SSI even though I gave them a list of ALL hospitals and signed a medical release form, the only thing they looked at was the VA paperwork, which is now hopelessly outdated since I have not gone back since the police incident. I get mentally paralyzed, frustrated, angry, upset, and sad that America treats their veterans this way. I have no one to turn to and I need help before its to late. I am currently on no medications because of the monetary situation, I have no car, no computer, no phone and sleep on friends couches. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!! I am not asking for anything that I have not earned as that is not the way I am. I am the kind of guy to help anyone as much as I can, but feel as if the world is ignoring me in my time of need. PLEASE PLEASE HELP You can contact me at jboy_71@hotmail.com and I can check it every few days....thank you for your time Sir. John Keith PO3 USN (RET)
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