GI dissent shakes up the Pentagon
By John Catalinotto
New York
A series of events in early December signaled a major shift
in political consciousness within the U.S. Armed Forces.
Together they struck fear in the hearts of the general
staff.
A sailor, a soldier, a Marine, and two National Guard
soldiers committed acts of courage. They killed no Iraqis, nor
did they rescue wounded comrades under fire. This kind of
courage took a different form for each GI, from refusing to
kill to confronting the unpopular secretary of defense.
Just say 'no'
Petty Officer Third Class Pablo Paredes had received orders
to ship out on the USS Bonhomme Richard and carry 3,000 Marines
to Iraq. On a pier in San Diego on Dec. 6, Paredes said "no" to
these orders.
Paredes, who grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City,
knew he would be pretty safe stationed on the ship. He knew he
would probably go to prison for refusing. But he also knew at
least 100 of the 3,000 Marines wouldn't come back. And he
objected to the unjustified loss of human life in Iraq.
In 2000, Paredes had signed up at age 17 for a six-year
stint in the Navy. Now, as he refused his orders, he said, "I'd
rather do military prison time than 6 months of dirty work for
a war that I and many others do not support. War should be an
absolute last resort and even then must be considered
thoroughly."
His immigrant family and his wife are 100-percent behind
him. Paredes has his own web site where readers can find
his
position in full. (SwiftSmartVeterans.com)
Three hundred people cheered and applauded Victor Paredes
when he spoke of his brother's determination to refuse to go to
Iraq on Dec. 11 at an anti-war meeting of veterans' groups and
military families in New York. The Navy backed off from
arresting Paredes on Dec.6 with media present. Now, charged
with desertion, he is arranging his legal defense to prepare
for turning himself in.
Asylum in Canada
Army Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman faced Canada's Immigration and
Refugee Board (IRB) in Toronto for an asylum hearing the same
week. He had left Ft. Bragg, N.C., months before when his
paratrooper unit in the 82nd Airborne Division was ordered to
Iraq. For Hinzman, the war in Iraq is illegal, and if he
participates he will be a war criminal.
The young paratrooper believes he deserves no punishment for
taking this stand. "Serving even one day in prison for refusing
to comply with an illegal order is too long."
Hinzman had said on CBS' "60 Min utes" program, "I was told
in basic train ing that if I'm given an illegal or immoral
order, it is my duty to disobey it, and I feel that invading
and occupying Iraq is an illegal and immoral thing to do."
Hinzman is in Toronto with his Viet namese-born wife and
2-year-old son. He is the first in court of three U.S. troops
now in Canada who are publicly appealing for official asylum.
The Canadian government, which has refused to join the
"coalition of the willing" in Iraq, is under pressure from
Washington to reject U.S. military resisters.
Presiding IRB member Brian Goodman says the legality or
illegality of the war will not be an issue in his ruling, to be
made by February 2005. It will be based, said Goodman, only on
whether Hinzman has a reasonable fear of persecution for his
religious or political beliefs, or faces the risk of cruel and
unusual punishment if he returns to the U.S.
Confession of war crimes
Despite Goodman's statement, Hinz man made a strong
political case. Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey, a 12-year
veteran, was at the Toronto hearing Dec. 8 testifying on
Hinzman's behalf. Massey, who spent three months in Iraq, told
how his unit--the 7th Marines weapons company -- killed more
than 30 Iraqi civilians in one 48-hour period at a checkpoint
in the Rashid neighborhood in southern Baghdad.
"I know in my heart that these vehicles that came up, that
they were civilians," he said. "But I had to act on my orders.
It's a struggle within my heart." He said that Hinzman would
likely be forced to commit atrocities that violate the Geneva
Con ventions if he goes to Iraq.
A large majority of Canadians and Que becois oppose the war
on Iraq. In addition, there are over 30,000 former U.S.
citizens who took asylum in Canada during the Vietnam War who
side with Hinzman, including Hinzman's attorney, Jeffry House.
(SoldierSayNo.org)
'Shock and awe' for Rumsfeld
Spec. Thomas Wilson is with the 278th Regimental Combat
Team, composed mainly of members of the Tennessee Army National
Guard. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke to 2,300 of
these Guard members in a hangar in Kuwait before television
cameras.
Rumsfeld asked the troops to pose some "tough questions." He
must have expected them to remain humble before his authority.
Instead of being held in awe, Rumsfeld got shocked.
Wilson brought up the unarmored Humvees that the resistance
regularly blows up in Iraq. He asked Rumsfeld why do "we
soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of
scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our
vehicles?"
The 2,300 troops applauded and cheered him. Rumsfeld looked
stunned. His quick answer failed to hide his indifference
toward the fate of the ordinary GIs: "You go to war with the
Army you have," blustered the Pentagon boss. "They're not the
Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
He looked like he wished he had an army of robots. Rumsfeld
hustled off to his armored car and left. His answer to the
troops became the butt of late-night comedy routines. It was
another nail in the coffin of the Rumsfeld Doctrine that
planned for a cost-effective, high-tech world conquest.
The defense secretary was the architect of the war. He had
rushed into it prepared only for a quick, brutal victory over
Iraq. Along with the neocons in the Bush administration and the
bulk of the U.S. ruling class, Rumsfeld had completely
underestimated the courage and determination of the Iraqi
people to fight for their sovereignty.
The Bush administration tried to spin Rumsfeld's televised
disaster to show that the troops were pro-war but wanted the
best weapons. Bush said he agreed with the troops' desire for
armor.
Yet the clash was in an imperialist army, not a debating
society. Troops are forbidden to sass their lieutenant, let
alone embarrass the Pentagon CEO. The Kuwait meeting with
Rumsfeld was supposed to be a pro-war public relations ploy. It
turned instead into an exercise in insubordination in a war
zone.
Sue the *#%@*&@$
National Guard Spec. David Qualls from Arkansas went beyond
questioning the Pentagon brass. On Dec. 6, Qualls and seven
still unnamed U.S. soldiers sued the government to challenge
its "stop loss" policy that has forced thousands of soldiers to
remain in the military beyond their scheduled retirement.
Qualls had been in Iraq since last March, in a combat zone
north of Baghdad. After five years of active duty, Qualls had
signed up for a one-year stint in the Guard. His year was up,
but the military forced an extension on him.
The court ruled against Qualls' request for a restraining
order to stop him from being sent back. As of Dec. 14, Qualls
was in a hospital in Arkansas, suffering from distress.
According to media reports, he fears retribution from the
military in Iraq.
The Pentagon generals can still intimidate the troops, but
they have shown signs of their own fear. They recently decided
to use only non-judicial Article 15s to punish the 23 members
of the 343rd Quartermaster Company who refused to drive their
unarmored trucks on what they considered a "suicide mission"
across Iraq last October.
The punishments for Article 15s are loss of rank and pay,
but no jail time and no loss of honorable discharge. If the
Penta gon brass wanted to avoid court-martialing these troops,
it's because they feared a massive rush of support for what
under different circumstances the officers might call
"mutiny."
Support from anti-war movement
People active in GI organizing in 1968 would probably agree
that the mood among the troops now is even more anti-war than
it was then. All the symptoms of big problems in the military
are there.
The Pentagon reports 5,500 deserters. Only 50 percent of
troops are re-enlisting. As many as one-third of the Inactive
Reserve, called now to unexpected duty, are failing to show up.
Even the news that Iraqi war veterans are already beginning to
show up among the homeless, many suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder, is a reminder of the Vietnam days.
The International Action Center (IAC), with the youth group
FIST and the GI support group SNAFU, on Dec. 4 devoted an
afternoon session to GI organizing and support work. The 300
mostly young people present were enthusiastic both about
stopping any draft and about supporting GIs and anti-war
veterans.
On Dec. 11 a similar sized but somewhat older gathering
pulled together by Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against
the War, Military Families Speak Out and others spent over
three hours on the problems and conflicts of anti-war GIs and
veterans during the current occupation of Iraq.
Master Sgt. Stan Goff, a Special Ops veteran and anti-war
activist, told the Dec. 11 crowd that it was time to
"delegitimize, disobey and disrupt" the military.
(BringThemHomeNow.org)
Tom Barton, who has been publishing the web newsletter GI
Special for over a year, read aloud letters from troops in Iraq
who have been pasting up anti-war stickers on battle ruins.
(militaryproject.org)
Dustin Langley of SNAFU reported his group's web site had
recently doubled its "hits," and repeated his message to
resisting GIs and civilian supporters: "We've got to show the
troops we have their back." (join-snafu.org)
Catalinotto was an organizer with the American
Servicemen's Union from 1967-1970.
Reprinted from the Dec. 23, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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