GI RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Army GI refuses to serve in Afghanistan

“There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect,” said Army Specialist Victor Agosto, who has already served one tour in Iraq in almost four years in the Army. He spoke on May 7 with Alice Embree of “The Rag Blog,” publication of the Austin Movement for a Democratic Society.

Agosto was slated for release at the end of June. But the Army “stop-lossed” him and ordered him to Afghanistan.

Agosto spoke at Under the Hood, a gathering spot for GIs, families and friends in Killeen, Texas. “The supportive ‘family’ I have found at Under the Hood helped me muster up the courage to resist,” he said.

Iraq vets rally against stop-loss at Ft. Lewis

Iraq Veterans led a rally outside Fort Lewis on May 9 to oppose the stop-loss policy of forcing GIs into multiple combat tours. The protest occupied the Freedom Bridge on Highway 5 near Fort Lewis. Michael William, director of Coffee Strong, a center dedicated to helping GIs, told Workers World that five-to-six-dozen people marched—some recently demobilized veterans still in uniform–accompanied by a nine-person marching band.

Fort Lewis, the largest Army base on the West Coast, is slated to deploy three infantry brigades to Iraq and Afghanistan over the next four months. Seth Manzel, a Stryker Brigade veteran and director of the website GIVoice.org, said in a webcast on the site, “We are standing with soldiers’ families ... to rally against the systematic mistreatment of soldiers ... which maintains Stop-Loss as a backdoor draft.”

About 58,300 GIs were stop-lossed between 2002 and 2007, according to the May 9, 2008, Los Angeles Times. Some 13,000 personnel are currently stop-lossed. (New York Times, March 13)

Ex-Marine Andrew VanDenBergh added in a May 8 GI Voice article that “many [GIs] are denied access to the mental and physical health care they desperately need, and some are sent back into combat completely untreated.”

Cliff Cornell sentenced to 12 months for desertion

A U.S. Army court martial on April 28 at Ft. Stewart, Ga., convicted 28-year-old Specialist Clifford Cornell of desertion and sentenced him to 12 months in a military jail, reduction in pay-grade to private, and a “bad conduct” discharge.

Cornell turned himself in at Fort Stewart Feb. 17 after being denied refugee status in Canada. He left Fort Stewart four years ago when his artillery unit was ordered to Iraq. He said Army trainers told him he must shoot any Iraqi who came near his vehicle, and he didn’t want to do it.

Cornell’s civilian attorney James Branum told UPI: “The Army is engaging in overkill in order to make an example of my client. Cliff is being punished for what he believes. ... Because he spoke out against the Iraq war, Cliff’s sentence is harsher than the punishment given to 94 percent of deserters who are not penalized but administratively discharged.” (April 29)

Still, Jeff Paterson of Courage To Resist said in an April 29 article posted on its website that Cornell could have faced five years and a dishonorable discharge were it not for significant support from individuals across the country. This support made experienced civilian legal representation possible.

Paterson is calling for letters to the Fort Stewart Commander requesting that Cornell’s sentence be reduced. These letters will be collected by Cornell’s lawyer Branum and submitted to the military through the official appeals process. Address letters to COMMANDER, Fort Stewart and fax to Branum at 866-757-8785. (Please do not send letters directly to the Commander but fax them directly to Branum.)

Paterson also said: “President Obama should bring all the troops home now. And he should grant amnesty to Cliff Cornell and hundreds of GIs who refused to take part in an occupation that has killed untold tens of thousands of men, women and children.”

Case dropped against Lt. Ehren Watada!

Supporters of Lt. Ehren Watada successfully pressed the U.S. Solicitor General to drop the Army’s appeals against Watada, the first Army officer to refuse to participate in the Iraq War, Courage to Resist reports.

Watada’s attorney, James Lobsenz, told AP that Watada expects to be released soon from active duty and “plans to return to civilian life and to attend law school.” (May 6)