A Real Anti-War Movement
http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2009/12/19/a-real-anti-war-movement?blog=226
12/19/09
March Forward!, www.marchforward.org a group of veterans and
active-duty members of the military, has called for all military
personnel to refuse deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Their
objective is "to ensure that no more soldiers or civilians lose their
lives in these criminal wars."
March Forward!'s December 3rd announcement came in response to
President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. By
following in the footsteps of leaders of both major political parties
who have been culpable over the years for instigating illegal wars,
Obama's move signals that he, too, is choosing to put the interests
of an imperial elite above the needs of those who elevated him to the
presidency. No change here.
March Forward!'s call, on the other hand, represents a significant
change from the failed strategy of peace organizations who have been
petitioning our government to end these wars. March Forward! takes
anti-war efforts to a new level by recognizing that we, the people of
this nation, must take matters into our own hands.
March Forward! declares that they support "the right of all service
members to refuse illegal and immoral orders. Orders to deploy to
Afghanistan and Iraq are just that: illegal and immoral. We have no
reason to fight in these wars, and we have every right to refuse to
be a part of them."
Many Americans, however, have no understanding that there is a firm
legal basis for opposing these wars of aggression.
A key component, then, to galvanizing a massive resistance, both
within the military and without, might well be the launching of a
national campaign that uses a documentary film to connect the
violations of our Constitution to the misuse - and abuse - of our armed forces.
Such a film could interweave footage from the testimony of Winter
Soldiers delivered at a veterans' gathering in Silver Spring,
Maryland, in March 2008, with readings by ordinary Americans of
pertinent sections from our Constitution and relevant excerpts from
international agreements.
A recruit might open the film by reciting the oath of enlistment that
every inductee repeats upon entering military service. There is a
widespread belief, even among the armed forces, that a soldier's
primary duty is to obey the commander-in-chief, the president of the
United States. But the oath says otherwise. As has each president
upon his inauguration, every inductee swears, first and foremost, to
uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Winter Soldier testimony would set the stage for reading Article I,
Section 8, of our Constitution that clearly says that the legislative
branch has the power to declare war. Article VI states that treaties
signed by our presidents are the law of the land. This article binds
us to the Charter of the United Nations that spells out the two
conditions under which member nations may go to war.
A March Forward! vet might be the one to read the section from
Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that tells us that
the military is only obligated to obey lawful orders.
The Geneva Conventions of 1949, which have been incorporated into the
U.S. Army Field Manual 26-10 (1956) are also pertinent because they
specify what an occupying force may or may not do while on foreign
soil. For instance, the execution of Saddam Hussein was illegal as
were the indiscriminate bombings of Iraq, the selling off of
state-owned enterprises, the construction of military bases, and the
setting up of a puppet government. To name a few.
March Forward! undoubtedly speaks for the 50,000 military personnel
(Pentagon figures!) who have gone AWOL since 2001 as well as the
thousands who have been quietly discharged.
The film might conclude by asking civilians to organize solidarity
rallies in their communities, to request that local governments pass
supportive resolutions, to find churches that would agree to be
sanctuaries, to set up discussion groups, and to demonstrate at
embarkation points.
An informational campaign like this has never been undertaken. Even
during the Vietnam War. However, we have new tools at our disposal.
Let's use them. Put this film up on YouTube. Use FaceBook and Twitter
to spread the word. Make DVDs to hand out wherever people gather.
When people both inside and outside the military share a common basis
of understanding about the legal and moral issues confronting us
then, and only then, will we have a resistance movement powerful
enough to stop these crimes against humanity.
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Veterans Group Calls On Soldiers to Refuse Orders to Deploy to
Afghanistan and Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/1214091
Monday 14 December 2009
by: Dahr Jamail
In response to President Barack Obama's announcement on December 1 to
deploy 30,000 additional troops to the occupation of Afghanistan, the
organization March Forward!, comprising both veterans and active-duty
members of the US military, has called on all soldiers to refuse
their orders to deploy.
"March Forward! calls on all service members to refuse orders to
deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq," reads a press release from the group
from December 3. "We offer our unconditional support and solidarity.
Join us in the fight to ensure that no more soldiers or civilians
lose their lives in these criminal wars."
Michael Prysner, a former corporal in the Army who served from
2001-2005 and a veteran of the occupation of Iraq, co-founded the
group with another Iraq war veteran, James Circello.
Truthout asked Prysner how he responds to those who believe a soldier
should always follow orders, no matter what.
"In my experience the majority of people joining the military today
join out of necessity, like money, jobs, help for their family, etc.,
so most don't join for ideological or patriotic reasons. Most are
driven into the military by economic conditions. We see this playing
out now, as people are joining in droves because of the economy."
Prysner added, "Yes, people do sign a contract to follow orders, but
those orders are wrong and unlawful. We want to educate people to the
fact that these are immoral orders, and they [soldiers] are being
used as muscle for corporations, to colonize the developing world,
and it's not legitimate. People who join and take this oath seriously
who think they are in [the military] to defend the US, this is not
what we are being used for in the military today."
Prysner has written about his experience in Iraq, "... there was no
computer screen separating me from the suffering civilian population.
I spent 12 months in Iraq, doing everything from prisoner
interrogations, to ground surveillance missions, to home raids. It
was my firsthand experiences in Iraq that radicalized me. I believed
I was going to Iraq to help liberate and better the lives of an
oppressed people, but I soon realized that my purpose in Iraq was to
be the oppressor, and to clear the way for US corporations with no
regard for human life."
After he separated from the Army in 2005, Prysner "understood that
the occupation I was a part of was a crime against humanity. I
understood that illegal conquering of Iraq was for profit, carried
out by a system that serves a tiny class of super-rich whose endless
drive for wealth is at the expense of working people in the United
States and abroad."
According to Prysner, the lessons he learned from being part of the
US occupation of Iraq taught him that, "I still had the same drive to
fight for freedom, justice and equality as I did when I joined, and I
understood that fighting for those things meant fighting against the
US government, not on behalf of it."
To those who call him and his organization "anti-American" and/or
"unpatriotic," Prysner has this to say:
"I would say that I have more in common with my sisters and brothers
in Iraq and Afghanistan than I do with these people in DC who've sent
us to war. If that's unpatriotic, then yes, I am. But patriotism and
racism are the only things the military has to fall back on to
convince people to do the things we are being asked to do today."
March Forward! was founded in 2008, and the aim of the organization
is "to unite all those who have served and who currently serve in the
US military, and who want to stand up for our rights and for that
which is right."
"We are new and growing," Prysner explained. "We have seen somewhat
consistent growth, and we're expecting this to accelerate now."
The group's statement from December 3 adds, "On December 1, we got a
clear order from President Obama. For many more years, we will be
sent to kill, to die, to be maimed and wounded, in a war where
'victory' is impossible, against a people who are not our enemies.
For over eight years, we have come home in coffins, in wheelchairs,
with our skin burned and with our days and nights haunted by the
trauma of war. We return home to a VA whose services are so
inadequate that active duty soldiers who succumb to suicide outnumber
those killed in combat."
James Circello is a former Army sergeant and veteran of the US
occupation of Iraq. Circello, who joined the military in 2001,
describes his experience in Iraq as follows:
"During the occupation of Iraq, the truth about what the United
States government has done to the country of Iraq became more
apparent. Open wastewater flowed through neighborhood streets where
children played soccer. Families were thrown out of their homes with
simple accusations from others. Vehicles were taken on sight by the
military if individuals couldn't provide proper documents claiming
they own the vehicle. These events and others helped in strengthening
my opposition to the so-called 'War on Terror.'"
In April 2007, Circello left his base in Vicenza, Italy, and went
absent without leave (AWOL) in protest of US policy in the Middle
East. In November 2007, he turned himself in to the military at Fort
Knox and was discharged within three days.
Circello has remained very active with his work against US Foreign
Policy, having worked with Iraq Veterans Against the War and the
group Courage to Resist before joining March Forward!.
Circello's decision to go AWOL was his way of refusing to deploy to
Afghanistan.
I had been fighting myself internally after my time in Iraq, about
whether to deploy again," he explained to Truthout, "I ended up back
in my old unit that was preparing to deploy, so at that moment I took
it into my hands, and decided I wasn't going to go kill Afghans that
had done nothing to me, or the American people. It was a defining
moment for me."
According to Pentagon figures, since October 2001, more than 50,000
soldiers from all branches of the military have gone AWOL.
John Raughter is the communications director for the American Legion,
an organization that describes itself as "a patriotic, war-time
veterans organization, devoted to mutual helpfulness," according to
its web site.
Raughter is clear about his stance on the rights of soldiers. "We
have an all-volunteer force," he explained to Truthout, "These are
not draftees. They swore an oath to obey the orders of the Commander in Chief."
According to Raughter, the American Legion does not, in any way,
support AWOL soldiers or those who refuse to deploy to Iraq or
Afghanistan. "Within reason, the military should be able to enforce
obedience. Obedience and order are critical for the military to do
its mission. People can't pick and choose which orders to obey and
which not to [obey]. If it's a lawful order, they are obliged to obey."
Yet the oath enlisted soldiers must take before being deployed, reads:
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the
United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So
help me God."
Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, is the
co-author of "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of
Military Dissent" with Kathleen Gilberd. In the book, they write,
"Rules of Engagement limit forms of combat, levels of force, and
legitimate enemy targets, defining what is legal in warfare and what
is not. (They're also) defined by an established body of
international (and US) law that leaves no ambiguity."
Cohn and Gilberd argue that every US war since WWII has been illegal.
Article 51 of the UN Charter only permits the "right of individual or
collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member
... until the Security Council has taken measures to maintain
international peace and security."
In addition, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 (the war powers clause)
of the US Constitution authorizes only both houses of Congress, not
the president, to declare war. Nonetheless, that process has been
followed only five times in our history and last used on December 8,
1941, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
Nevertheless, Raughter believes soldiers who are dissenting against
the occupations should have never joined the ranks. "If they are
ethically opposed to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would say that
most of these people have enlisted or reenlisted since the beginning
of the war. These wars were occurring when they made this oath of
enlistment. It should have come to their minds."
Circello's response to those who refer to their tactic of encouraging
soldiers to refuse deployment orders as being "unpatriotic or un-American?
"This is a tactic of demonization and we reject it," he explained,
"The corporations profiting in these wars don't care about America or
the American people. Is providing mercenaries to kill innocent people
overseas, and bombs to kill innocent people, is that American and
patriotic? The people who use these terms are demagogues. We can't
forget that America was a land of institutionalized slavery, slavery
was American, and folks like Dr. Martin Luther King, when they stood
up to racism were called un-American ... so the same thing happens
today. When you protest war, or call on soldiers to desert based on
their own interest, you are called un-American."
Prysner and Circello's organization has stated, "March Forward!
supports the right of all service members to refuse illegal and
immoral orders. Orders to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq are just
that: illegal and immoral. We have no reason to fight in these wars,
and we have every right to refuse to be a part of them."
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