courage

I'm trying to write a story about US war resisters living in Canada, and the Canadians who help them - who are often former Vietnam war resisters themselves, now Canadian citizens. To that end, I read a lot about GI resistance to the immoral war in Iraq. There's a lot more of it than most people realize.

Active US servicepeople have petitioned their government with an Appeal for Redress, asking for a withdrawal from Iraq. This petition simply states:

As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.

Hundreds of active GIs have already signed. Read more about the Appeal For Redress and the rights of active servicepeople here.

One good place to find out about war resistance is Courage To Resist. Through their mailing list, I've learned about people like Sergeant Ricky Clousing, who will serve three months in military jail for his refusal to participate in this immoral war, Kyle Snyder, who faces court martial, and Darrell Anderson, who recently returned to the US from Canada and was discharged from the army.

I've blogged many times about Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, who still faces charges and court martial - and who still refuses to be silent.

All the websites linked here have information on how you can support these courageous people and others like them.

There are a couple hundred Iraq war resisters living in Canada. Most live underground without legal status, but about 25 people have applied for refugee status, often with the help of the War Resisters Support Campaign. At this time, no Iraq war resister has received refugee status in Canada. Check out the website for ways you can help.

Meanwhile, US Army recruiters have sunk to new lows in their search for car-bomb fodder.

An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist.

ABC News and New York affiliate WABC equipped students with hidden video cameras before they visited 10 Army recruitment offices in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says. ...

But Col. Robert Manning, who is in charge of U.S. Army recruiting for the entire Northeast, said that new recruits were likely to go to Iraq.

I have two more items on this theme. I'll put them in a separate post.