Enclosed please find a newly issued Veterans Call to Conscience to Troops and Reservists. Please copy and distribute this statement as far and wide as you can. We encourage people to find the ways to get this statement directly into the hands of the "troops", including by leafleting outside military bases.
This statement is the product of a group of veterans representing a variety of different political perspectives and experiences. We feel that as veterans of U.S. military aggressions we need to speak directly to the troops who are being deployed to Iraq for Bush Iraq War II. And we feel that veterans need one loud strong voice.
The war machine is locked on Target: Iraq. On the ground the Iraqi people are preparing once again for the massive destruction that comes with bombing runs. This time the destruction, deaths and illness may be dramatically worse. Many of us feel that we must do everything possible to stop this war. And what better way to stop a war then to encourage the troops to "do the right thing". In Vietnam by 1969 a majority of the U.S. troops had turned against the war for many different reasons; the demoralization and questioning among the troops was profound.
As George Bush repeats the lie that this country is firmly united behind the plans for war, let us veterans step out there as never before and let this country, and the world, know loud and clear that there are veterans opposing this war.
Jeff Paterson, a gulf war resister, wrote us in response to hearing about this statement: "If the troops know that the anti-war movement supports them – they will be able to resist."
This is an important challenge for all of us in the peace/antiwar community to step up to. When the soldiers do "do the right thing," let the churches open up as sanctuaries for them and let communities sustain and protect them. Together we can stop this war. The signers of this statement seek to unite very broadly to
accomplish these tasks.
Anton Black
Veterans Call to Conscience
www.calltoconscience.net
Call to Conscience from Veterans to Active Duty Troops and Reservists
Started December 6, 2002
We are veterans of the United States armed forces. We stand with the majority of humanity, including millions in our own country, in opposition to the United States’ all out war on Iraq. We span many wars and eras, have many political views and we all agree that this war is wrong. Many of us believed serving in the military was our duty, and our job was to defend this country. Our experiences in the military caused us to question much of what we were taught. Now we see our REAL duty is to encourage you as members of the U.S. armed forces to find out what you are being sent to fight and die for and what the consequences of your actions will be for humanity. We call upon you, the active duty and reservists, to follow your conscience and do the right thing.
In the last Gulf War, as troops, we were ordered to murder from a safe distance. We destroyed much of Iraq from the air, killing hundreds of thousands, including civilians. We remember the road to Basra—the Highway of Death—where we were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We bulldozed trenches, burying people alive. The use of depleted uranium weapons left the battlefields radioactive. Massive use of pesticides, experimental drugs, burning chemical weapons depots and oil fires combined to create a toxic cocktail affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf War veterans today. One in four Gulf War veterans is disabled.
During the Vietnam War we were ordered to destroy Vietnam from the air and on the ground. At My Lai we massacred over 500 women, children and old men. This was not an aberration, it’s how we fought the war. We used Agent Orange on the enemy and then experienced first hand its effects. We know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder looks, feels and tastes like because the ghosts of over two million men, women and children still haunt our dreams. More of us took our own lives after returning home than died in battle.
If you choose to participate in the invasion of Iraq you will be part of an occupying army. Do you know what it is like to look into the eyes of a people that hate you to your core? You should think about what your “mission” really is. You are being sent to invade and occupy a people who, like you and me, are only trying to live their lives and raise their kids. They pose no threat to the United States even though they have a brutal dictator as their leader. Who is the U.S. to tell the Iraqi people how to run their country when many in the U.S. don’t even believe their own President was legally elected?
Saddam is being vilified for gassing his own people and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. However, when Saddam committed his worst crimes the U.S. was supporting him. This support included providing the means to produce chemical and biological weapons. Contrast this with the horrendous results of the U.S. led economic sanctions. More than a million Iraqis, mainly children and infants, have died because of these sanctions. After having destroyed the entire infrastructure of their country including hospitals, electricity generators, and water treatment plants, the U.S. then, with the sanctions, stopped the import of goods, medicines, parts, and chemicals necessary to restore even the most basic necessities of life.
There is no honor in murder. This war is murder by another name. When, in an unjust war, an errant bomb dropped kills a mother and her child it is not “collateral damage,” it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a child dies of dysentery because a bomb damaged a sewage treatment plant, it is not “destroying enemy infrastructure,” it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a father dies of a heart attack because a bomb disrupted the phone lines so he could not call an ambulance, it is not “neutralizing command and control facilities,” it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a thousand poor farmer conscripts die in a trench defending a town they have lived in their whole lives, it is not victory, it is murder.
There will be veterans leading protests against this war on Iraq and your participation in it. During the Vietnam War thousands in Vietnam and in the U.S. refused to follow orders. Many resisted and rebelled. Many became conscientious objectors and others went to prison rather than bear arms against the so-called enemy. During the last Gulf War many GIs resisted in various ways and for many different reasons. Many of us came out of these wars and joined with the anti-war movement.
If the people of the world are ever to be free, there must come a time when being a citizen of the world takes precedence over being the soldier of a nation. Now is that time. When orders come to ship out, your response will profoundly impact the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and here at home. Your response will help set the course of our future. You will have choices all along the way. Your commanders want you to obey. We urge you to think. We urge you to make your choices based on your conscience. If you choose to resist, we will support you and stand with you because we have come to understand that our REAL duty is to the people of the world and to our common future.
VETERAN SIGNERS
name, branch, years
Anton Black, Navy, 1977-84
Dave Blalock, Army 1968-71
Blase Bonpane, Marine Corps Reserve, 1948-50
Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ, Air Force, 1955-59
Fredy Champagne, Army, 1965-66
Rick Campos, Air Force, 1969-71
James M. Craven, Army, 1963-66
Carl Dix, Army, 1968-72
Barry Donnan, British Army, 1987-93
Kenneth Dugan, Navy Corpsman, 1984-88
Jake Elkins, Marine Corps, 1965-69
Todd Greenwood, Marine Corps, 1993-2001
Andres Hernandez, Naval Reserves, 1979-85
Robert Krzewinski, Navy, 1973-77
Marty Kunz, Navy, 1970-76
Ruth McKenney
Rob Moitoza, Navy, 1965-71
Stan Nishimura, Army, 1964-67
David Rees Morgan, British Royal Air Force, 1948-50
Wilson M. Powell, Air Force, 1950-54
Jeff Paterson, Marine Corps, 1986-90
Randy Rowland, Army, 1967-70
Darnell S. Summers, Army, 1966-70
Harold Taggart, Air Force, 1959-64
Joe Urgo, Air Force, 1967-68
David Wiggins MD, Army, Gulf War
Mike Wong, Army, 1969-75
Howard Zinn, Air Force, 1943-45
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To Sign this Important Call Send Signature to or
Contact Us @Veterans Call to Conscience (or VCC)
4742—42nd Ave SW #142, Seattle, WA, 98116-4553
www.calltoconscience.net,
Stmttotroops@excite.com RESOURCES:
If you have questions or doubts about your role in the military (for any reason) or in this war, help is available. Contact one of the organizations listed below. They can discuss your situation and concerns, give you information on your legal rights, and help you sort out your possible choices. (For information only, listed organizations are not responsible for this veterans' statement.)
For questions, or for discharge or other GI rights information, visit: www.girights.org or call: GI Rights Hotline: (800) FYI-95GI Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) (510) 465-1617 or (888) 231-2226, www.objector.org,
info@objector.org