Reservist says, 'I won't fight for profit'
By
Dustin Langley
Published Feb 13, 2005 4:20 PM
Carl Webb is very clear about what he is
doing: "I'm refusing to go to war because I do not believe the U.S. is on the
right track. I think this war is not about liberating people, it's about
oppressing them. It's a war that's being fought for profit."
Carl Webb went AWOL rather than fight for imperialism.
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Webb is a
38-year-old African Amer ican antiwar activist from Austin, Texas. He is also a
fugitive with a federal warrant out for his arrest--for refusing to participate
in the war against the people of Iraq.
Webb, who is active with Austin
Against War, has been involved in many anti-war and anti-racist activities over
the past 10 years.
While it might seem unusual that someone with his
activist background would end up in the military, Webb felt he had few other
options. He said, "I didn't have a job, I was facing eviction from my home and I
needed some extra cash. This was in August 2001 and I thought, 'We've invaded
everyone we possibly can invade,' and it was relatively peaceful for the
U.S."
His 3-year term of service was scheduled to end in August of 2004.
Last July, he received a call from his sergeant. "She said she had bad news--I
had been one of the soldiers selected to serve in Iraq. I was stunned and
shocked."
Webb was a victim of the stop-loss program. This program, which
made its first appearance in the Gulf War of the early 1990s, keeps soldiers
scheduled for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan from leaving when their term of
service ends.
"This policy is practically an unofficial draft," he said.
"It is conscription against a person's will."
Webb said he initially
considered three options: complying, fleeing the country or applying for a
conscientious objector discharge.
He realized that he could not comply--he
had been opposed to U.S. militarism for many years and could not be part of the
war against the people of Iraq.
Exile wasn't really an option for him,
either. "I'm not considering exile. I've traveled, I lived in Mexico for like
five months and I like it, and I've traveled to Europe and Asia. But all my
family and friends are in the States, and I like this
country."
Conscientious-objector status wasn't really an option either,
Webb said, noting the Army's criteria that must be met--basically, opposition to
all wars. "I'm not a pacifist. ... But I've always been politically opposed to
U.S. militarism."
The only option left was for Webb to go AWOL, knowing
that he would be facing possible jail time. "Prison is something that I never
thought would be easy," Webb said, whose brother is in Angola prison in
Louisiana for armed robbery. "It never sounded nice."
Still, he insisted
that jail is "better than one and a half or two years in a combat zone and
better than permanent exile."
Webb is now officially listed as a deserter.
He said, "My case is different from some of the other soldiers who have
deserted, either because they just don't want to go, or because they think these
'stop-loss' orders are illegal. I tell people that even if there was no
stop-loss policy, even if the government wasn't illegally using the reserves and
National Guard and retirees as they are, I would still be opposed to this war. I
don't think it matters what category of service you're in--whether you're in the
reserves, National Guard or the regular army--I think all military personnel
should oppose fighting in this war of imperialism."
For more information
about Carl Webb, see www.carlwebb.net.
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