There never was a good war or a bad peace. ~Ben Franklin
Truth in Recruiting | Tulsa Peace Fellowship's counter-recruitment update/digest for March 2009
Truth in Recruiting
Tulsa Peace Fellowship's counter-recruitment update/digest for March 2009
lead story:
Oklahoma among country's worst for military recruitment of youth, poor
--statistics from the National Priorities Project reveal skewed priorities in Oklahoma
factoid:
'Worst 100' counties includes six counties in Oklahoma measured by army recruits per 1000 youth, 2006
Lies the Pentagon Tells Gullible Americans
--Rumsfeld was behind the DoD's foray into propaganda for domestic consumption
--Obama administration to reconsider bloated DoD funding, e.g. $4.7 billion for military advertising/recruiting
factoid:
In 2009, the propaganda arm of the Pentagon, a wire service called Hometown News, plans to put out 5,400 press releases, 3,000 television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, all of them placed surreptitiously in the mainstream media. That is 50 percent more than in 2007.
related story:
Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley accuses U.S. Military of being Propaganda Machine
page one:
Veteran descries U.S. military recruiter's "faulty recruiting tactics"
--letter of support to active-duty war resisters and conscientious objectors
--argument in favor of raising the minimum age of military recruitment to 21
quote:
"As a high school senior I was unaware of the potency of the moral dilemmas to which my community was attempting to alert me. Neurobiology tells us that the capacity for reasoning is not fully developed in the human brain until the mid-twenties or later. It was illogical for my elders to expect me -- as an 18-year-old -- to be capable of comprehending the moral complexities of the war I was eager to join; just as today it is unreasonable to expect any teenager to be capable of understanding death, violence, the codes of military justice, or military obligations."
~Evan Knappenberger, Iraq War veteran
related story:
War Resister Blames Military Recruiters for the Lies They Told Him
--deported from Canada in failed bid to receive political asylum
--now he faces court martial for his principled stance against killing innocents, or serving in Iraq occupation
page two: Court Cases, etc.
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Asks for Court Hearing in St Louis, Missouri
--letter from Matt Chiroux seeks your moral and financial support in his conscientious objector case
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Seeks Asylum in Germany
--he cites profound moral opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq
international news: war crimes committed by U.S. troops abroad
UN: 2,100 civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2008
--increase over 1,500 civilians killed there in previous year in 2007
--more than 8,000 civilian deaths in the eight years since the fall of the Taliban
--828 civilians killed by the American-led coalition forces, mostly in cowardly U.S. air raids
related story:
Anger Over Afghan Civilian Deaths Shows Limits of U.S. Air Power - NYTimes.com
quote:
“To win the insurgency, we’re not going to bomb our way out of this.”
~Col. Harry A. Foster, the chief of the strategy division of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia, the command headquarters for the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan.
follow up: spate of suicides in Army, Marines, and National Guard
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
--more soldiers die in January '09 from suicide than from combat
quote:
"When people are apart you have infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse and child behavioral problems. The more deployments, the more it is exacerbated."
~Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard
more coverage:
Sergeant tells his soldier: "Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"
--Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.
backpage:
file under S.N.A.F.U
U.S. Patrol Kills 8-year-old Iraqi Girl, in a Crowd
quote:
“We didn’t notice the Americans before the gun shooting started. My sister fell immediately, swimming in her own blood.”
~brother of the victim, Hussein, also 8 years old
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lead story:
Oklahoma among country's worst for military recruitment of youth, poor
--statistics from the National Priorities Project reveal skewed priorities in Oklahoma
Army recruits, total and per 1000 youth by state, 2005-2006, put Oklahoma at 2nd Worst in Nation
The table below shows the total number of active-duty Army recruits, and the number of recruits per 1000 youth population, for fiscal year 2005 and 2006 for each state. States are ranked according to recruits per 1000 youth. Youth population numbers are for 2005 and are not yet available for 2006. http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Army-recruits-total-and-per-10...
Rank in 2006 Location 15-24 Youth Population 2005 Number of Army Recruits FY 2006 Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth FY 2006
Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth FY 2005 Change
- U.S. States 42,076,849 68,556 1.63
1.57 3.78%
1 Arkansas 397,584 981 2.47
2.22 11.14%
2 Oklahoma 530,591 1,296 2.44
2.41 1.35%
11 Missouri 838,180 1,676 2.00
1.89 5.80%
TPF comment: Oklahoma is the second easiest place to recruit for the military, according to this league table. Hopefully TPF counter-recruitment efforts over the past two years will have some effect, when the revised tables are published, at least to prevent Oklahoma from becoming the #1 stomping ground of military recruiters. Updated figures will be provided, as they come available, from the NPP citizen sector organization.
Six of worst counties nationwide are in Oklahoma as measured by army recruitment rate of youth
TPF comment: In Oklahoma, we are in desperate need of counter-recruitment efforts in the following 6 counties, where the military recruiters are preying more effectively than in most other places in the country:
The table below shows the top 100 counties in the U.S. according to active-duty Army recruits per 1000 youth. The data and statistics are for counties with five or more recruits in fiscal year 2006. Recruits according to ZIP code were obtained from the Army through a FOIA request submitted by NPP, and were placed into counties using Claritas data purchased by NPP. Population numbers are from the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. Perceived ties are due to rounding.
Excerpt from the NationalPriorities.org table:
Rate Rank Location Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth Total Recruits in 2006
- U.S. States 1.6 68,556
8 Craig County, Oklahoma 8.1 16
21 Kiowa County, Oklahoma 6.6 9
30 Tillman County, Oklahoma 5.9 7
35 Pushmataha County, Oklahoma 5.7 9
60 Comanche County, Oklahoma 4.9 94
81 Ottawa County, Oklahoma 4.5 22
http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Top-100-counties-by-army-recru...
In Oklahoma, military recruiters are dramatically more successful recruiting youth who fail to finish high school
Lack of Educational Attainment in Oklahoma Means Greater Likelihood of Putting Life on the Line in the Military
Up to 30% of Oklahoma recruits are high school dropouts
The table below shows the percentage of each state's active-duty Army recruits in fiscal year 2005 and 2006 that held a regular high school diploma or above, otherwise known as 'tier 1' by the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has a goal of 90% of new recruits holding a regular high school diploma and 2005 is the first time in at least 20 years that the Army has not met the goal. In 2006, the proportion of new recruits with a regular high school diploma dropped for every state and nationally, with the exception of North Dakota.
These statistics are from an analysis of the recruiting data that was obtained by NPP through a FOIA. Excerpt only:
Location 2006 Army Recruits 2006 % Tier 1 2005 % Tier 1
U.S. 68,556 73.1 83.5
U.S. w/territories 69,383 73.3 83.7
Oklahoma 1,296 69.7 80.6
full table available online:
http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Educational-Attainment-by-Stat...
related story: DoD spends billions recruiting vulnerable youth in America
DoD Walks Fine Line Between News, Propaganda Machine
By Chris Tomlinson - The Associated Press
Posted Feb 8, 2009
WASHINTON-- An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on 'winning hearts and minds' at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Defense Department budgets and other documents. That almost is as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.
This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations, almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.
“We have such a massive apparatus selling the military to us, it has become hard to ask questions about whether this is too much money or if it’s bloated,” says Sheldon Rampton, research director for the Committee on Media and Democracy, which tracks the military’s media operations. “As the war has become less popular, they have felt they need to respond to that more.”
Yet the money spent on media and outreach still comes to only 1 percent of the Pentagon budget.
On an abandoned Air Force base in San Antonio, editors for the Joint Hometown News Service point proudly to a dozen clippings on a table as examples of success in getting stories into newspapers.
What readers are not told: Each of these glowing stories was written by Pentagon staff. Under the free service, stories go out with authors’ names but not their titles, and do not mention Hometown News anywhere. In 2009, Hometown News plans to put out 5,400 press releases, 3,000 television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, among other work. That is 50 percent more than in 2007.
The service is just a tiny piece of the Pentagon’s rapidly expanding media empire, which is now bigger in size, money and power than many media companies.
In a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press interviewed more than 100 people and scoured more than 100,000 pages of documents in several budgets to tally the money spent to inform, educate and influence the public in the U.S. and abroad. The AP included contracts found through the private FedSources database and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. Actual spending figures are higher because of money in secret budgets.
The biggest chunk of funds — about $1.6 billion — goes into recruitment and advertising. Another $547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American audiences. And about $489 million more goes into what is known as psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences.
Staffing across all these areas costs about $2.1 billion, as calculated by the number of full-time employees and the military’s average cost per service member. That is double the staffing costs for 2003.
Recruitment and advertising are the only two areas where Congress has authorized the military to influence the American public. Far more controversial is public affairs because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.
“It’s not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people,” said Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes, who sponsored legislation in Congress last year to reinforce the ban.
“The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself,” says Robert Hastings, acting director of Pentagon public affairs. “There is no place for spin at the Department of Defense.”
But on Dec. 12, the Pentagon’s inspector general released an audit finding that the public affairs office may have crossed the line into propaganda. The audit found that the Defense Department “may appear to merge inappropriately” its public affairs with operations that try to influence audiences abroad.
Another audit, also in December, concluded that a public affairs program called “America Supports You” was conducted “in a questionable and unregulated manner” with funds meant for the military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper.
The audit also found that the offer to place corporate logos on the Pentagon Web site in return for donations was against regulations. A military spokesman said the program has been overhauled to meet Pentagon regulations.
The fastest-growing part of the military media is “psychological operations,” where spending has doubled since 2003. In 2003, for example, initial accounts from the military about the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch from Iraqi forces were faked to rally public support.
Psychological operations aim at foreign audiences, and spin is welcome. The only caveats are that messages must be truthful and must never try to influence an American audience.
Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of strategic communications for U.S. Central Command, says that in the 21st century, it probably is not possible to win the information battle with insurgents without exposing American citizens to secret U.S. propaganda.
With a new administration in power, it is not clear what changes may be made. Obama administration officials have said they intend to go through the Defense Department budget closely to trim bloated spending.
The emphasis on influence operations started with former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In 2002, Rumsfeld established an Office of Strategic Influence that brought together public affairs and psychological operations. Critics accused him of setting up a propaganda arm, and Congress demanded that the office be shut down.
In January 2008, a new report by the Defense Science Board recommended resurrecting the Office of Strategic Influence as the Office of Strategic Communications. But Congress refused to pay for the program.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/marine_public_relation...
related story:
AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine
by John Hanna
February 6, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.
Much like in Vietnam, "civilian policymakers and soldiers alike have cracked down on independent reporting from the battlefield" when the news has been unflattering, Curley said. "Top commanders have told me that if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined."
Curley said in a brief interview that he didn't take the commanders' words as a threat.
Late in 2007, Curley wrote an editorial about the detention of AP photographer Bilal Hussein, held by the military for more than two years. Eleven of AP's journalists have been detained in Iraq for more than 24 hours since 2003. Last year, according to cases AP is tracking, news organizations had eight employees detained for more than 48 hours.
AP, the world's largest newsgathering operation, is a not-for-profit cooperative that began in 1846.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/ap-ceo-bush-turned-milita_...
Guest Columnist: Acknowledge soldier's right to object
by Evan Knappenberger, Iraq war veteran
When I joined the Army shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, my friends and family raised many serious questions that, after almost four years on active duty and two years of college, I have only now started addressing.
As an 18-year old, I deferred answering morally charged questions like "are you ready to kill human beings?" and "what if you change your mind?" partly because the Army recruiters claimed that I would not kill in my chosen occupation. As easy, however, as it is to blame faulty recruiting practices for the dysfunctional ethics of my past, honesty dictates a more thorough self-disclosure now.
As a high school senior I was unaware of the potency of the moral dilemmas to which my community was attempting to alert me. Neurobiology tells us that the capacity for reasoning is not fully developed in the human brain until the mid-twenties or later. It was illogical for my elders to expect me -- as an 18-year-old -- to be capable of comprehending the moral complexities of the war I was eager to join; just as today it is unreasonable to expect any teenager to be capable of understanding death, violence, the codes of military justice, or military obligations. It is an irresponsible society that binds its sons and daughters to a lifestyle of military discipline and the rigors of combat without acknowledging the imminence of their natural cognitive and moral development.
Considering this, as well as our nation's foundational principle of individual self-determination, it is profoundly hypocritical that we refuse to recognize the natural rights of the war resister. In an "all-volunteer" military, refusal to serve for any reason should be honored and recognized as the milestone of a mature mind, just as refusal of any voluntarily violent civilian occupation would be honored.
It should be noted that refusal to serve can take forms other than conscientious objection. The praxis of personal experience is a powerful teacher, especially to soldiers who believe that the occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan is unjustifiable in itself. Though they volunteered, they retain the right to change their minds, just as they retain the right to change political and religious affiliations.
Soldiers objecting to specific wars should be given the same conscientious objector status as those who stand against all war, and honorably discharged without prejudice. Were this doctrine fairly practiced, perhaps political-military expeditionism would become as militarily impractical as it is financially unrewarding. And, if the soldiery was able to exercise an independent and informed judgment, maybe military operations would be more successful than they have been at times.
In the years since I was first asked those challenging questions, I have come to a hard-won conclusion that conventional values do not follow the rules of conventional wisdom. I believe now that the mistaken equation of war-resistance to cowardice is an outdated and primitive notion, as barbaric and uncivilized as racism and patriarchy. In fact, true cowardice often hides behind a weapon, a flag, a uniform, or a particular shade of skin, and rarely behind matters of conscience.
I know now that there is no ethics that can balance the right of individual self-determination with the subjective pragmatics of military law. It is illogical to believe that an Army that does not recognize the right of its soldiers to object can defend the right of dissent at all. I did not earn the prerogative of social protest, as some tell me, through my service. It was there all along.
Until our country accepts and affirms the rights of war resisters, teenagers will continually be forced (as I was) into choosing between the unjust consequences of breaking the silence, or committing injustices themselves. Our young soldiers deserve better than this catch-22.
Evan Knappenberger is an Iraq War veteran and a Davis-Putter Scholar at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/399345_evanonline10.html
related story:
War Resister Blames Military Recruiters for the Lies They Told Him
Cliff Cornell, a 28 year-old from Mountain Home, Arkansas, refused to go to war because "it just didn't feel right," he told supporters at a 2005 rally in Canada soon after arriving. "I don't want to be killing innocent people." Cliff explains that he joined the Army only after repeated promises from the military recruiter that he could serve his country without being deployed to Iraq. Of course, that turned out to be a lie.
Cliff traveled to Canada four years ago after his Army artillery unit was ordered to Iraq.
Despite a popular outcry in Canada to provide sanctuary to U.S. soldiers who refuse to fight in illegal wars, Canada’s Conservative government is pressing ahead with deportations. Cliff had come to call British Columbia home. But he now faces an expected court martial at Fort Stewart, and possibly two years in an Army stockade.
“Cliff Cornell should not be going to jail,” said Gerry Condon, director of Project Safe Haven, a war resister advocacy group. “He had the guts to follow his conscience and obey international law. President Obama should grant amnesty to Cliff Cornell and all war resisters.”
Cliff is the third Iraq War resister to be forced out of Canada.
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/662/1/
page 2
Matthis Chiroux War Resister at Stony Brook Univ
February 2, 2009
"I have a date with the Army"
by Matthis Chiroux
March 12, I'll attend a board hearing in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine what the nature of my discharge from the Individual Ready Reserve will be. The Army has alleged "misconduct" and they're shooting for a "general discharge," but I'm pushing for "honorable," as my refusal to deploy was not an act of misconduct.
I will attend this hearing in uniform as ordered, but only for the purpose of these administrative proceedings. I'm not contesting the fact that I did not report as ordered to deploy to Iraq. However, I intend to paint a clear picture of my convictions to the military, and I seek to corroborate them with first hand accounts of occupation.
No person is bound to act against the dictates of conscience, let alone their understanding of the law. I know the occupation of Iraq and further the Global War on Terror to be an illegitimate and ultimately murderous campaign waged for economic gain, fueled by misinformation and greed. I know it to be in violation of not only international law, but the U.S. Constitution. Far more importantly, it is against the dictates of my own conscience, and never again will I compromise my humanity to support or ignore the crimes of my government.
I will be working closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War to plan what we hope will reflect a Winter Soldier event in the form of our members testifying under oath to the military about their experiences in the Global War on Terror.
I seek only truth to be heard and considered by the military. If reconciliation is possible, I seek that, as well.
If we are a democracy, than ultimately we the people are responsible for the actions of our government. When those actions bring about crimes against humanity in the forms of occupation, torture and war profiteering, it is our duty as people to resist.
I stand for humanity, the rule of law and the rights of people, be they Arab or American, to cast off their oppressors, be they foreign or domestic...and even challenge them in court, which is what, in essence, I am doing.
The Army in no way has forced this hearing upon me. I demanded this hearing from them to oppose the General Discharge, and I thank them for providing me due process.
We are continuing to gather funds needed to cover travel expenses and accommodation for those who will be testifying. I hope anywhere from fifteen to thirty veterans, military family members, Iraqi civilians and constitutional experts will appear before my board. Please consider making a donation to my defense campaign either through my website, matthisresists.us, or through ivaw.org.
This information, when presented to the military, will provide a clear contrast to the official narrative of the Global War on Terror and establish a firm base for my actions in reality as recalled by those who lived it.
As well, I have recently returned to New York from Washington D.C. where in addition to watching our new president be inaugurated and demanding our old one be prosecuted, I visited the offices of the Congressional Signatories to my support letter from last summer.
As I write this, they are penning another letter of support which will be more widely circulated in Congress than the first to be sent to President Obama before my hearing. As well, several Members have expressed interest in appearing in person to voice support for me and troops like me in March.
I will mobilize as much media as possible to put the critical issue of war resistence to the American people for judgment, but I need your help to get the word out. Please forward this information far and wide, especially in St. Louis, and contact me if you'd be interested in helping organize or participating in a national day of action to support war resisters on March 12. I'd like to make it a day to send a clear demand to President Obama that he halt the military from prosecuting troops refusing to participate in the Global War on Terror.
In these most critical times for our service members and the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others, I ask the American people to consider that change will not manifest itself in this country until society halts the unjust practices of the past, among them prosecuting Soldiers of conscience.
We tried to bring this message to President Obama at the final presidential debate. Tragically, Joe the plumber took precedence that evening, and Nick Morgan the Iraq Vet was nearly crushed by a police horse during a violent crackdown on our peaceful demonstration.
Hopefully, President Obama will hear our voices this time and understand that enough blood has been shed in Baghdad, Kabul, Waziristan and Hempstead alike. It is time for a just peace, at home and abroad.
But for peace to exist, first must occur reconciliation, and for reconciliation to occur, first must exist truth.
Truth is what led me to resist, and it is that truth now that leads me to St. Louis. Win or loose, my life WILL reflect truth and is dedicated to preserving human rights. The truth is, there is no other path I can walk. The Army proved that to me and now I'll prove it to them.
More to follow on various fundraisers, events and our national day of action. As always, I am grateful to all for your interest, support and dedication to peace and justice. I look forward to the whirlwind of activism that will be the next 39 days.
Peace and Solidarity,
Matthis Chiroux
matthisresists.us
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Seeks Asylum in Germany
Feb 03, 2009
Agence France-Presse
A deserter from the US army seeking asylum in Germany pleads his case Wednesday in a hearing that could have major political and legal ramifications.
Citing profound moral opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, Andre Shepherd, 31, went AWOL from his base in southern Germany in spring 2007 and spent 19 months on the run before applying for asylum in November last year.
Shepherd, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, completed a five-month stint in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 where he serviced Apache helicopters as part of the 412th Aviation Support Battalion.
When ordered to redeploy to Iraq, he felt he could not continue to serve in what he said is a "completely illegal war" and will be the first US soldier to claim asylum in Germany in a landmark case.
"Wednesday is my chance to tell my side of the story," Shepherd told AFP on Monday.
He said his case rests on the illegality of the war and the fact that he would be "unfairly prosecuted if handed over to the US authorities."
Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, which has been working with Shepherd, told AFP that the potential legal precedent of a positive ruling would have a "huge impact."
"There would not be a whole lot stopping US soldiers walking off their bases" to claim asylum, he told AFP.
"The gist of this whole thing is that he went AWOL because he didn't believe in the war in Iraq. He agreed with Germany," Huber said, where people were overwhelmingly opposed to the 2003 invasion.
Huber also pointed out that part of Germany's own law -- set up by the US military at the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal after World War II -- says that soldiers must take responsibility for their own actions.
"Just following orders is not an excuse. What we have here is a case of a soldier following his sense of personal responsibility," he said.
However, Shepherd's lawyer, Reinhard Marx, said that although he was confident his legal case was strong, the ruling could put Germany in a tight spot politically, which could affect the outcome of the hearing.
"Legally, it's an open-and-shut case. Politically, we don't know," Marx told AFP. He added: "It's of course a very politicised case. There's a very fine line between politics and the law."
The hearing takes place in the western German city of Karlsruhe at the Federal Immigration Office -- part of Germany's interior ministry.
Marx said: "The government will take the last decision. They won't leave it to the administrative departments."
The hearing is expected to last three or four hours and is closed to the public. A decision on Shepherd's application for asylum could be expected in the next four months, Marx said.
Shepherd himself said the procedure could "potentially last years."
Nevertheless, he vowed to appeal in the courts if his application is rejected.
"I will definitely fight on, as I don't believe I or anyone else should be prosecuted for doing what they think is right," he said.
http://www.military.com/news/article/February-2009/army-deserter-se...
UN: 2,100 civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2008
REUTERS
Feb 03, 2009
GENEVA - More than 2,100 civilians in Afghanistan were killed last year, a 40 percent rise from the previous year, because of escalating fighting that spread to new areas, the United Nations top aid official said on Tuesday.
John Holmes, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, gave the toll to representatives of donor countries while launching a U.N. funding appeal of $604 million for Afghanistan for 2009.
"According to U.N. figures, over 2,100 civilians were killed as a result of armed conflict in 2008, which represents an increase of about 40 percent from 2007," Holmes said in a speech, the text of which was issued to reporters in Geneva.
"The armed conflict is increasingly characterised by the use of suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices, kidnappings and air strikes, all of which tend to increase civilian casualties," said the U.N. funding appeal document.
Source: Reuters North American News Service
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Katie Nguyen)
http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/02/03/un-2100-civilians-killed-in-afgh...
more detail:
February 17, 2009
Today, the United Nations released a report detailing the civilian death toll in Afghanistan in 2008. According to the report, 2,118 civilians were killed in 2008 - 828 by the American-led coalition forces. Most of those were, unsurprisingly, killed in the various air strikes and raids against Afghan villages.
related story:
Anger Over Afghan Civilian Deaths Shows Limits of U.S. Air Power - NYTimes.com
ABOARD U.S.S. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, on the Arabian Sea — From 15,000 feet up, the pilots protect supply lines under increasing attack, fly reconnaissance missions to find what they call “bad guys” over the next hill, and go “kinetic” with bombs that kill three, four or five Taliban fighters at a time. They can always tell when troops who call in airstrikes are under direct fire.
The United States military is experiencing the limitations of air power in a seven-year war, in which an increasing American reliance on airstrikes against insurgents has kindled growing fury over the civilian casualties that have come with them.
As Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, the commander of United States naval forces in the region, put it: “We don’t drop when we’re unsure.”
"Just because it’s positively identified as hostile, you’ve still got to mitigate the other things around,” said Commander Luchtman.
To support ground troops in Afghanistan, the United States flew more than 19,000 combat missions in the country in 2008 — more than ever before, surpassing even the number in Iraq over the same period. But over all, American pilots dropped slightly fewer bombs and other munitions, perhaps as a result of more restrictive rules imposed in September after an uproar about civilian casualties.
“To win the insurgency, we’re not going to bomb our way out of this,” said Col. Harry A. Foster, the chief of the strategy division of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia, the command headquarters for the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan. To that end, pilots on the Roosevelt often engage in a “show of force” — flying as low as 1,000 feet and making a lot of noise to scare the Taliban — and say they drop bombs as a last resort.
On Wednesday in Washington, Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said the war was “at best stalemated” in the very region in which the pilots operate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24carrier.html?_r=1&am...
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
If reports of suicides are confirmed, more soldiers will have taken their lives in January than died in combat.
From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN
WASHINGTON -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.
The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.
The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.
If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."
Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals who work with soldiers.
Those who are seeking mental-health care often have their treatment disrupted by deployments. Deployed soldiers also have to deal with the stress of separations from families.
"When people are apart you have infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse and child behavioral problems," Platoni said. "The more deployments, the more it is exacerbated."
Platoni also said that while the military has made a lot of headway in training leaders on how to deal with soldiers who may be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, "there is still a huge problem with leadership who shame them when they seek treatment."
The anti-depressants prescribed to soldiers can have side effects that include suicidal thoughts. Those side effects reportedly are more common in people 18 to 24.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/army.suicides/
more coverage:
"Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"
--Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.
for the story, go to: http://www.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/02/10/coming_hom...
backpage
file under S.N.A.F.U
Iraqis Say U.S. Patrol Killed Girl, 8, in Crowd
BAGHDAD — An 8-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Saturday and several other civilians were wounded when gunfire from an American military convoy struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala, witnesses and Iraqi officials said.
It was unclear how the shooting on Saturday began. Col. Asaad Malek, the commander of a joint American and Iraqi military outpost in Diwaniya, said the Americans had been protecting a convoy of fuel trucks when they stopped to attend to a disabled vehicle.
The road was crowded with pilgrims heading to Karbala, witnesses said. Salah Mon’em, 26, who was wounded, said the patrol had sounded horns to keep the crowds at bay. Before he realized what was happening, he said, “I fell down because of a bullet that hit me.”
Jassim Hassan, a 25-year-old college student, described a scene of chaos and confusion. “I don’t know how all of this happened and I can’t remember a thing, because everything was so fast and sudden,” he said.
After the short burst of gunfire, the 8-year-old girl, Sa’adiya Saddam, collapsed on the ground by her wailing mother, witnesses said.
Her brother, Hussein, also 8, said: “We didn’t notice the Americans before the gun shooting started. My sister fell immediately, swimming in her own blood.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html?_r=2...
Tulsa Peace Fellowship's counter-recruitment update/digest for February 2009
further information
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who we are:
The website for the Tulsa Peace Fellowship is:
www.tulsapeacefellowship.org
TPF meets monthly @ Peace House in Tulsa
inside the Unitarian Universalist church at 1314 N. Greenwood Ave, in Tulsa, close to corner of Pine & Greenwood
just north of the OSU-Tulsa campus
If you have not already done so, please join the new social networking tool for TPF on Ning, in lieu of TPFtalks on yahoogroups, which has fallen into disuse Thank you! You can check out our new tool here: http://tulsapeacefellowship.ning.com/ (new for 2009)
Also still going strong: our announcement list on yahoo! tulsapeace@yahoogroups.com (since 2002) Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/ and search for "tulsapeace"
Through its counter-recruitment task force, TPF is a member of the
National Network in Opposition to the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
TPF is the activist wing of the
Tulsa Peace Fellowship's counter-recruitment update/digest for March 2009
lead story:
Oklahoma among country's worst for military recruitment of youth, poor
--statistics from the National Priorities Project reveal skewed priorities in Oklahoma
factoid:
'Worst 100' counties includes six counties in Oklahoma measured by army recruits per 1000 youth, 2006
Lies the Pentagon Tells Gullible Americans
--Rumsfeld was behind the DoD's foray into propaganda for domestic consumption
--Obama administration to reconsider bloated DoD funding, e.g. $4.7 billion for military advertising/recruiting
factoid:
In 2009, the propaganda arm of the Pentagon, a wire service called Hometown News, plans to put out 5,400 press releases, 3,000 television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, all of them placed surreptitiously in the mainstream media. That is 50 percent more than in 2007.
related story:
Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley accuses U.S. Military of being Propaganda Machine
page one:
Veteran descries U.S. military recruiter's "faulty recruiting tactics"
--letter of support to active-duty war resisters and conscientious objectors
--argument in favor of raising the minimum age of military recruitment to 21
quote:
"As a high school senior I was unaware of the potency of the moral dilemmas to which my community was attempting to alert me. Neurobiology tells us that the capacity for reasoning is not fully developed in the human brain until the mid-twenties or later. It was illogical for my elders to expect me -- as an 18-year-old -- to be capable of comprehending the moral complexities of the war I was eager to join; just as today it is unreasonable to expect any teenager to be capable of understanding death, violence, the codes of military justice, or military obligations."
~Evan Knappenberger, Iraq War veteran
related story:
War Resister Blames Military Recruiters for the Lies They Told Him
--deported from Canada in failed bid to receive political asylum
--now he faces court martial for his principled stance against killing innocents, or serving in Iraq occupation
page two: Court Cases, etc.
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Asks for Court Hearing in St Louis, Missouri
--letter from Matt Chiroux seeks your moral and financial support in his conscientious objector case
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Seeks Asylum in Germany
--he cites profound moral opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq
international news: war crimes committed by U.S. troops abroad
UN: 2,100 civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2008
--increase over 1,500 civilians killed there in previous year in 2007
--more than 8,000 civilian deaths in the eight years since the fall of the Taliban
--828 civilians killed by the American-led coalition forces, mostly in cowardly U.S. air raids
related story:
Anger Over Afghan Civilian Deaths Shows Limits of U.S. Air Power - NYTimes.com
quote:
“To win the insurgency, we’re not going to bomb our way out of this.”
~Col. Harry A. Foster, the chief of the strategy division of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia, the command headquarters for the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan.
follow up: spate of suicides in Army, Marines, and National Guard
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
--more soldiers die in January '09 from suicide than from combat
quote:
"When people are apart you have infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse and child behavioral problems. The more deployments, the more it is exacerbated."
~Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard
more coverage:
Sergeant tells his soldier: "Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"
--Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.
backpage:
file under S.N.A.F.U
U.S. Patrol Kills 8-year-old Iraqi Girl, in a Crowd
quote:
“We didn’t notice the Americans before the gun shooting started. My sister fell immediately, swimming in her own blood.”
~brother of the victim, Hussein, also 8 years old
-----------------------------------------------------------------
lead story:
Oklahoma among country's worst for military recruitment of youth, poor
--statistics from the National Priorities Project reveal skewed priorities in Oklahoma
Army recruits, total and per 1000 youth by state, 2005-2006, put Oklahoma at 2nd Worst in Nation
The table below shows the total number of active-duty Army recruits, and the number of recruits per 1000 youth population, for fiscal year 2005 and 2006 for each state. States are ranked according to recruits per 1000 youth. Youth population numbers are for 2005 and are not yet available for 2006. http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Army-recruits-total-and-per-10...
Rank in 2006 Location 15-24 Youth Population 2005 Number of Army Recruits FY 2006 Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth FY 2006
Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth FY 2005 Change
- U.S. States 42,076,849 68,556 1.63
1.57 3.78%
1 Arkansas 397,584 981 2.47
2.22 11.14%
2 Oklahoma 530,591 1,296 2.44
2.41 1.35%
11 Missouri 838,180 1,676 2.00
1.89 5.80%
TPF comment: Oklahoma is the second easiest place to recruit for the military, according to this league table. Hopefully TPF counter-recruitment efforts over the past two years will have some effect, when the revised tables are published, at least to prevent Oklahoma from becoming the #1 stomping ground of military recruiters. Updated figures will be provided, as they come available, from the NPP citizen sector organization.
Six of worst counties nationwide are in Oklahoma as measured by army recruitment rate of youth
TPF comment: In Oklahoma, we are in desperate need of counter-recruitment efforts in the following 6 counties, where the military recruiters are preying more effectively than in most other places in the country:
The table below shows the top 100 counties in the U.S. according to active-duty Army recruits per 1000 youth. The data and statistics are for counties with five or more recruits in fiscal year 2006. Recruits according to ZIP code were obtained from the Army through a FOIA request submitted by NPP, and were placed into counties using Claritas data purchased by NPP. Population numbers are from the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. Perceived ties are due to rounding.
Excerpt from the NationalPriorities.org table:
Rate Rank Location Total Army Recruits per 1000 youth Total Recruits in 2006
- U.S. States 1.6 68,556
8 Craig County, Oklahoma 8.1 16
21 Kiowa County, Oklahoma 6.6 9
30 Tillman County, Oklahoma 5.9 7
35 Pushmataha County, Oklahoma 5.7 9
60 Comanche County, Oklahoma 4.9 94
81 Ottawa County, Oklahoma 4.5 22
http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Top-100-counties-by-army-recru...
In Oklahoma, military recruiters are dramatically more successful recruiting youth who fail to finish high school
Lack of Educational Attainment in Oklahoma Means Greater Likelihood of Putting Life on the Line in the Military
Up to 30% of Oklahoma recruits are high school dropouts
The table below shows the percentage of each state's active-duty Army recruits in fiscal year 2005 and 2006 that held a regular high school diploma or above, otherwise known as 'tier 1' by the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has a goal of 90% of new recruits holding a regular high school diploma and 2005 is the first time in at least 20 years that the Army has not met the goal. In 2006, the proportion of new recruits with a regular high school diploma dropped for every state and nationally, with the exception of North Dakota.
These statistics are from an analysis of the recruiting data that was obtained by NPP through a FOIA. Excerpt only:
Location 2006 Army Recruits 2006 % Tier 1 2005 % Tier 1
U.S. 68,556 73.1 83.5
U.S. w/territories 69,383 73.3 83.7
Oklahoma 1,296 69.7 80.6
full table available online:
http://nationalpriorities.org/charts/Educational-Attainment-by-Stat...
related story: DoD spends billions recruiting vulnerable youth in America
DoD Walks Fine Line Between News, Propaganda Machine
By Chris Tomlinson - The Associated Press
Posted Feb 8, 2009
WASHINTON-- An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on 'winning hearts and minds' at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Defense Department budgets and other documents. That almost is as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.
This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations, almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.
“We have such a massive apparatus selling the military to us, it has become hard to ask questions about whether this is too much money or if it’s bloated,” says Sheldon Rampton, research director for the Committee on Media and Democracy, which tracks the military’s media operations. “As the war has become less popular, they have felt they need to respond to that more.”
Yet the money spent on media and outreach still comes to only 1 percent of the Pentagon budget.
On an abandoned Air Force base in San Antonio, editors for the Joint Hometown News Service point proudly to a dozen clippings on a table as examples of success in getting stories into newspapers.
What readers are not told: Each of these glowing stories was written by Pentagon staff. Under the free service, stories go out with authors’ names but not their titles, and do not mention Hometown News anywhere. In 2009, Hometown News plans to put out 5,400 press releases, 3,000 television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, among other work. That is 50 percent more than in 2007.
The service is just a tiny piece of the Pentagon’s rapidly expanding media empire, which is now bigger in size, money and power than many media companies.
In a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press interviewed more than 100 people and scoured more than 100,000 pages of documents in several budgets to tally the money spent to inform, educate and influence the public in the U.S. and abroad. The AP included contracts found through the private FedSources database and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. Actual spending figures are higher because of money in secret budgets.
The biggest chunk of funds — about $1.6 billion — goes into recruitment and advertising. Another $547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American audiences. And about $489 million more goes into what is known as psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences.
Staffing across all these areas costs about $2.1 billion, as calculated by the number of full-time employees and the military’s average cost per service member. That is double the staffing costs for 2003.
Recruitment and advertising are the only two areas where Congress has authorized the military to influence the American public. Far more controversial is public affairs because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.
“It’s not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people,” said Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes, who sponsored legislation in Congress last year to reinforce the ban.
“The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself,” says Robert Hastings, acting director of Pentagon public affairs. “There is no place for spin at the Department of Defense.”
But on Dec. 12, the Pentagon’s inspector general released an audit finding that the public affairs office may have crossed the line into propaganda. The audit found that the Defense Department “may appear to merge inappropriately” its public affairs with operations that try to influence audiences abroad.
Another audit, also in December, concluded that a public affairs program called “America Supports You” was conducted “in a questionable and unregulated manner” with funds meant for the military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper.
The audit also found that the offer to place corporate logos on the Pentagon Web site in return for donations was against regulations. A military spokesman said the program has been overhauled to meet Pentagon regulations.
The fastest-growing part of the military media is “psychological operations,” where spending has doubled since 2003. In 2003, for example, initial accounts from the military about the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch from Iraqi forces were faked to rally public support.
Psychological operations aim at foreign audiences, and spin is welcome. The only caveats are that messages must be truthful and must never try to influence an American audience.
Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of strategic communications for U.S. Central Command, says that in the 21st century, it probably is not possible to win the information battle with insurgents without exposing American citizens to secret U.S. propaganda.
With a new administration in power, it is not clear what changes may be made. Obama administration officials have said they intend to go through the Defense Department budget closely to trim bloated spending.
The emphasis on influence operations started with former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In 2002, Rumsfeld established an Office of Strategic Influence that brought together public affairs and psychological operations. Critics accused him of setting up a propaganda arm, and Congress demanded that the office be shut down.
In January 2008, a new report by the Defense Science Board recommended resurrecting the Office of Strategic Influence as the Office of Strategic Communications. But Congress refused to pay for the program.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/marine_public_relation...
related story:
AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine
by John Hanna
February 6, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.
Much like in Vietnam, "civilian policymakers and soldiers alike have cracked down on independent reporting from the battlefield" when the news has been unflattering, Curley said. "Top commanders have told me that if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined."
Curley said in a brief interview that he didn't take the commanders' words as a threat.
Late in 2007, Curley wrote an editorial about the detention of AP photographer Bilal Hussein, held by the military for more than two years. Eleven of AP's journalists have been detained in Iraq for more than 24 hours since 2003. Last year, according to cases AP is tracking, news organizations had eight employees detained for more than 48 hours.
AP, the world's largest newsgathering operation, is a not-for-profit cooperative that began in 1846.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/ap-ceo-bush-turned-milita_...
Guest Columnist: Acknowledge soldier's right to object
by Evan Knappenberger, Iraq war veteran
When I joined the Army shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, my friends and family raised many serious questions that, after almost four years on active duty and two years of college, I have only now started addressing.
As an 18-year old, I deferred answering morally charged questions like "are you ready to kill human beings?" and "what if you change your mind?" partly because the Army recruiters claimed that I would not kill in my chosen occupation. As easy, however, as it is to blame faulty recruiting practices for the dysfunctional ethics of my past, honesty dictates a more thorough self-disclosure now.
As a high school senior I was unaware of the potency of the moral dilemmas to which my community was attempting to alert me. Neurobiology tells us that the capacity for reasoning is not fully developed in the human brain until the mid-twenties or later. It was illogical for my elders to expect me -- as an 18-year-old -- to be capable of comprehending the moral complexities of the war I was eager to join; just as today it is unreasonable to expect any teenager to be capable of understanding death, violence, the codes of military justice, or military obligations. It is an irresponsible society that binds its sons and daughters to a lifestyle of military discipline and the rigors of combat without acknowledging the imminence of their natural cognitive and moral development.
Considering this, as well as our nation's foundational principle of individual self-determination, it is profoundly hypocritical that we refuse to recognize the natural rights of the war resister. In an "all-volunteer" military, refusal to serve for any reason should be honored and recognized as the milestone of a mature mind, just as refusal of any voluntarily violent civilian occupation would be honored.
It should be noted that refusal to serve can take forms other than conscientious objection. The praxis of personal experience is a powerful teacher, especially to soldiers who believe that the occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan is unjustifiable in itself. Though they volunteered, they retain the right to change their minds, just as they retain the right to change political and religious affiliations.
Soldiers objecting to specific wars should be given the same conscientious objector status as those who stand against all war, and honorably discharged without prejudice. Were this doctrine fairly practiced, perhaps political-military expeditionism would become as militarily impractical as it is financially unrewarding. And, if the soldiery was able to exercise an independent and informed judgment, maybe military operations would be more successful than they have been at times.
In the years since I was first asked those challenging questions, I have come to a hard-won conclusion that conventional values do not follow the rules of conventional wisdom. I believe now that the mistaken equation of war-resistance to cowardice is an outdated and primitive notion, as barbaric and uncivilized as racism and patriarchy. In fact, true cowardice often hides behind a weapon, a flag, a uniform, or a particular shade of skin, and rarely behind matters of conscience.
I know now that there is no ethics that can balance the right of individual self-determination with the subjective pragmatics of military law. It is illogical to believe that an Army that does not recognize the right of its soldiers to object can defend the right of dissent at all. I did not earn the prerogative of social protest, as some tell me, through my service. It was there all along.
Until our country accepts and affirms the rights of war resisters, teenagers will continually be forced (as I was) into choosing between the unjust consequences of breaking the silence, or committing injustices themselves. Our young soldiers deserve better than this catch-22.
Evan Knappenberger is an Iraq War veteran and a Davis-Putter Scholar at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/399345_evanonline10.html
related story:
War Resister Blames Military Recruiters for the Lies They Told Him
Cliff Cornell, a 28 year-old from Mountain Home, Arkansas, refused to go to war because "it just didn't feel right," he told supporters at a 2005 rally in Canada soon after arriving. "I don't want to be killing innocent people." Cliff explains that he joined the Army only after repeated promises from the military recruiter that he could serve his country without being deployed to Iraq. Of course, that turned out to be a lie.
Cliff traveled to Canada four years ago after his Army artillery unit was ordered to Iraq.
Despite a popular outcry in Canada to provide sanctuary to U.S. soldiers who refuse to fight in illegal wars, Canada’s Conservative government is pressing ahead with deportations. Cliff had come to call British Columbia home. But he now faces an expected court martial at Fort Stewart, and possibly two years in an Army stockade.
“Cliff Cornell should not be going to jail,” said Gerry Condon, director of Project Safe Haven, a war resister advocacy group. “He had the guts to follow his conscience and obey international law. President Obama should grant amnesty to Cliff Cornell and all war resisters.”
Cliff is the third Iraq War resister to be forced out of Canada.
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/662/1/
page 2
Matthis Chiroux War Resister at Stony Brook Univ
February 2, 2009
"I have a date with the Army"
by Matthis Chiroux
March 12, I'll attend a board hearing in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine what the nature of my discharge from the Individual Ready Reserve will be. The Army has alleged "misconduct" and they're shooting for a "general discharge," but I'm pushing for "honorable," as my refusal to deploy was not an act of misconduct.
I will attend this hearing in uniform as ordered, but only for the purpose of these administrative proceedings. I'm not contesting the fact that I did not report as ordered to deploy to Iraq. However, I intend to paint a clear picture of my convictions to the military, and I seek to corroborate them with first hand accounts of occupation.
No person is bound to act against the dictates of conscience, let alone their understanding of the law. I know the occupation of Iraq and further the Global War on Terror to be an illegitimate and ultimately murderous campaign waged for economic gain, fueled by misinformation and greed. I know it to be in violation of not only international law, but the U.S. Constitution. Far more importantly, it is against the dictates of my own conscience, and never again will I compromise my humanity to support or ignore the crimes of my government.
I will be working closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War to plan what we hope will reflect a Winter Soldier event in the form of our members testifying under oath to the military about their experiences in the Global War on Terror.
I seek only truth to be heard and considered by the military. If reconciliation is possible, I seek that, as well.
If we are a democracy, than ultimately we the people are responsible for the actions of our government. When those actions bring about crimes against humanity in the forms of occupation, torture and war profiteering, it is our duty as people to resist.
I stand for humanity, the rule of law and the rights of people, be they Arab or American, to cast off their oppressors, be they foreign or domestic...and even challenge them in court, which is what, in essence, I am doing.
The Army in no way has forced this hearing upon me. I demanded this hearing from them to oppose the General Discharge, and I thank them for providing me due process.
We are continuing to gather funds needed to cover travel expenses and accommodation for those who will be testifying. I hope anywhere from fifteen to thirty veterans, military family members, Iraqi civilians and constitutional experts will appear before my board. Please consider making a donation to my defense campaign either through my website, matthisresists.us, or through ivaw.org.
This information, when presented to the military, will provide a clear contrast to the official narrative of the Global War on Terror and establish a firm base for my actions in reality as recalled by those who lived it.
As well, I have recently returned to New York from Washington D.C. where in addition to watching our new president be inaugurated and demanding our old one be prosecuted, I visited the offices of the Congressional Signatories to my support letter from last summer.
As I write this, they are penning another letter of support which will be more widely circulated in Congress than the first to be sent to President Obama before my hearing. As well, several Members have expressed interest in appearing in person to voice support for me and troops like me in March.
I will mobilize as much media as possible to put the critical issue of war resistence to the American people for judgment, but I need your help to get the word out. Please forward this information far and wide, especially in St. Louis, and contact me if you'd be interested in helping organize or participating in a national day of action to support war resisters on March 12. I'd like to make it a day to send a clear demand to President Obama that he halt the military from prosecuting troops refusing to participate in the Global War on Terror.
In these most critical times for our service members and the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others, I ask the American people to consider that change will not manifest itself in this country until society halts the unjust practices of the past, among them prosecuting Soldiers of conscience.
We tried to bring this message to President Obama at the final presidential debate. Tragically, Joe the plumber took precedence that evening, and Nick Morgan the Iraq Vet was nearly crushed by a police horse during a violent crackdown on our peaceful demonstration.
Hopefully, President Obama will hear our voices this time and understand that enough blood has been shed in Baghdad, Kabul, Waziristan and Hempstead alike. It is time for a just peace, at home and abroad.
But for peace to exist, first must occur reconciliation, and for reconciliation to occur, first must exist truth.
Truth is what led me to resist, and it is that truth now that leads me to St. Louis. Win or loose, my life WILL reflect truth and is dedicated to preserving human rights. The truth is, there is no other path I can walk. The Army proved that to me and now I'll prove it to them.
More to follow on various fundraisers, events and our national day of action. As always, I am grateful to all for your interest, support and dedication to peace and justice. I look forward to the whirlwind of activism that will be the next 39 days.
Peace and Solidarity,
Matthis Chiroux
matthisresists.us
Active-duty Resister in U.S. Army Seeks Asylum in Germany
Feb 03, 2009
Agence France-Presse
A deserter from the US army seeking asylum in Germany pleads his case Wednesday in a hearing that could have major political and legal ramifications.
Citing profound moral opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, Andre Shepherd, 31, went AWOL from his base in southern Germany in spring 2007 and spent 19 months on the run before applying for asylum in November last year.
Shepherd, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, completed a five-month stint in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 where he serviced Apache helicopters as part of the 412th Aviation Support Battalion.
When ordered to redeploy to Iraq, he felt he could not continue to serve in what he said is a "completely illegal war" and will be the first US soldier to claim asylum in Germany in a landmark case.
"Wednesday is my chance to tell my side of the story," Shepherd told AFP on Monday.
He said his case rests on the illegality of the war and the fact that he would be "unfairly prosecuted if handed over to the US authorities."
Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, which has been working with Shepherd, told AFP that the potential legal precedent of a positive ruling would have a "huge impact."
"There would not be a whole lot stopping US soldiers walking off their bases" to claim asylum, he told AFP.
"The gist of this whole thing is that he went AWOL because he didn't believe in the war in Iraq. He agreed with Germany," Huber said, where people were overwhelmingly opposed to the 2003 invasion.
Huber also pointed out that part of Germany's own law -- set up by the US military at the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal after World War II -- says that soldiers must take responsibility for their own actions.
"Just following orders is not an excuse. What we have here is a case of a soldier following his sense of personal responsibility," he said.
However, Shepherd's lawyer, Reinhard Marx, said that although he was confident his legal case was strong, the ruling could put Germany in a tight spot politically, which could affect the outcome of the hearing.
"Legally, it's an open-and-shut case. Politically, we don't know," Marx told AFP. He added: "It's of course a very politicised case. There's a very fine line between politics and the law."
The hearing takes place in the western German city of Karlsruhe at the Federal Immigration Office -- part of Germany's interior ministry.
Marx said: "The government will take the last decision. They won't leave it to the administrative departments."
The hearing is expected to last three or four hours and is closed to the public. A decision on Shepherd's application for asylum could be expected in the next four months, Marx said.
Shepherd himself said the procedure could "potentially last years."
Nevertheless, he vowed to appeal in the courts if his application is rejected.
"I will definitely fight on, as I don't believe I or anyone else should be prosecuted for doing what they think is right," he said.
http://www.military.com/news/article/February-2009/army-deserter-se...
UN: 2,100 civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2008
REUTERS
Feb 03, 2009
GENEVA - More than 2,100 civilians in Afghanistan were killed last year, a 40 percent rise from the previous year, because of escalating fighting that spread to new areas, the United Nations top aid official said on Tuesday.
John Holmes, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, gave the toll to representatives of donor countries while launching a U.N. funding appeal of $604 million for Afghanistan for 2009.
"According to U.N. figures, over 2,100 civilians were killed as a result of armed conflict in 2008, which represents an increase of about 40 percent from 2007," Holmes said in a speech, the text of which was issued to reporters in Geneva.
"The armed conflict is increasingly characterised by the use of suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices, kidnappings and air strikes, all of which tend to increase civilian casualties," said the U.N. funding appeal document.
Source: Reuters North American News Service
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Katie Nguyen)
http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/02/03/un-2100-civilians-killed-in-afgh...
more detail:
February 17, 2009
Today, the United Nations released a report detailing the civilian death toll in Afghanistan in 2008. According to the report, 2,118 civilians were killed in 2008 - 828 by the American-led coalition forces. Most of those were, unsurprisingly, killed in the various air strikes and raids against Afghan villages.
related story:
Anger Over Afghan Civilian Deaths Shows Limits of U.S. Air Power - NYTimes.com
ABOARD U.S.S. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, on the Arabian Sea — From 15,000 feet up, the pilots protect supply lines under increasing attack, fly reconnaissance missions to find what they call “bad guys” over the next hill, and go “kinetic” with bombs that kill three, four or five Taliban fighters at a time. They can always tell when troops who call in airstrikes are under direct fire.
The United States military is experiencing the limitations of air power in a seven-year war, in which an increasing American reliance on airstrikes against insurgents has kindled growing fury over the civilian casualties that have come with them.
As Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, the commander of United States naval forces in the region, put it: “We don’t drop when we’re unsure.”
"Just because it’s positively identified as hostile, you’ve still got to mitigate the other things around,” said Commander Luchtman.
To support ground troops in Afghanistan, the United States flew more than 19,000 combat missions in the country in 2008 — more than ever before, surpassing even the number in Iraq over the same period. But over all, American pilots dropped slightly fewer bombs and other munitions, perhaps as a result of more restrictive rules imposed in September after an uproar about civilian casualties.
“To win the insurgency, we’re not going to bomb our way out of this,” said Col. Harry A. Foster, the chief of the strategy division of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia, the command headquarters for the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan. To that end, pilots on the Roosevelt often engage in a “show of force” — flying as low as 1,000 feet and making a lot of noise to scare the Taliban — and say they drop bombs as a last resort.
On Wednesday in Washington, Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said the war was “at best stalemated” in the very region in which the pilots operate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24carrier.html?_r=1&am...
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
If reports of suicides are confirmed, more soldiers will have taken their lives in January than died in combat.
From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN
WASHINGTON -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.
The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.
The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.
If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."
Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals who work with soldiers.
Those who are seeking mental-health care often have their treatment disrupted by deployments. Deployed soldiers also have to deal with the stress of separations from families.
"When people are apart you have infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse and child behavioral problems," Platoni said. "The more deployments, the more it is exacerbated."
Platoni also said that while the military has made a lot of headway in training leaders on how to deal with soldiers who may be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, "there is still a huge problem with leadership who shame them when they seek treatment."
The anti-depressants prescribed to soldiers can have side effects that include suicidal thoughts. Those side effects reportedly are more common in people 18 to 24.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/army.suicides/
more coverage:
"Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"
--Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.
for the story, go to: http://www.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/02/10/coming_hom...
backpage
file under S.N.A.F.U
Iraqis Say U.S. Patrol Killed Girl, 8, in Crowd
BAGHDAD — An 8-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Saturday and several other civilians were wounded when gunfire from an American military convoy struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala, witnesses and Iraqi officials said.
It was unclear how the shooting on Saturday began. Col. Asaad Malek, the commander of a joint American and Iraqi military outpost in Diwaniya, said the Americans had been protecting a convoy of fuel trucks when they stopped to attend to a disabled vehicle.
The road was crowded with pilgrims heading to Karbala, witnesses said. Salah Mon’em, 26, who was wounded, said the patrol had sounded horns to keep the crowds at bay. Before he realized what was happening, he said, “I fell down because of a bullet that hit me.”
Jassim Hassan, a 25-year-old college student, described a scene of chaos and confusion. “I don’t know how all of this happened and I can’t remember a thing, because everything was so fast and sudden,” he said.
After the short burst of gunfire, the 8-year-old girl, Sa’adiya Saddam, collapsed on the ground by her wailing mother, witnesses said.
Her brother, Hussein, also 8, said: “We didn’t notice the Americans before the gun shooting started. My sister fell immediately, swimming in her own blood.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html?_r=2...
Tulsa Peace Fellowship's counter-recruitment update/digest for February 2009
further information
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TPF meets monthly @ Peace House in Tulsa
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just north of the OSU-Tulsa campus
If you have not already done so, please join the new social networking tool for TPF on Ning, in lieu of TPFtalks on yahoogroups, which has fallen into disuse Thank you! You can check out our new tool here: http://tulsapeacefellowship.ning.com/ (new for 2009)
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