Recognizing Resistance

We'll give credit to Truth Out for posting Ana Radelat "Thousands of Troops Say They Won't Fight ."

Swept up by a wave of patriotism after the US invasion of Iraq, Chris Magaoay joined the Marine Corps in November 2004.
The newly married Magaoay thought a military career would allow him to continue his college education, help his country and set his life on the right path.
Less than two years later, Magaoay became one of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"It wasn't something I did on the spur of the moment," said Magaoay, a native of Maui, Hawaii. "It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal."
Magaoay said his disillusionment with the military began in boot camp in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where a superior officer joked about killing and mistreating Iraqis. When his unit was deployed to Iraq in March, Magaoay and his wife drove to Canada, joining a small group of deserters who are trying to win permission from the Canadian government to stay.
"We're like a tight-knit family," Magaoay said.
The Pentagon says deserters like Magaoay represent a tiny fraction of the nation’s fighting forces.
"The vast majority of soldiers who desert do so for personal, family or financial problems, not for political or conscientious objector purposes," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the Army.
Since 2000, about 40,000 troops from all branches of the military have deserted, the Pentagon says. More than half served in the Army. But the Army says numbers have decreased each year since the United States began its war on terror in Afghanistan.

We were extremely excited when one of us saw it.

"This can be the Iraq topic for this issue!" we said excitedly discussing the story. " This can be . . ."

And then C.I. said, "That's not a new story."

Yeah, yeah, C.I. usually knows all about the resister's but this new article has information that everyone may not . . .

"No, that Gannett story itself, it's not new. It's from the middle of last month."

Us against C.I.'s memory? A losing battle usually but we were prepared for the fight!

"It's in the snapshot in the middle of July. 18th or 19th."

It's the 18th:

Another Hawai[i]an, Maui's Chris Magaoay, is interviewed by Ana Radelat (Gannett News Service) who takes a look at war resistors who leave the armed service. Magaoay enlisted in 2004 and "[l]ess than two years later, Magaoay became on of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan." Magaoay, who went to Candad this year, tells Radelat, "It wasn't something I did on the spur of the moment. It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal."

Way to blow our Sunday, C.I.!

But seriously ("Seriously!" insist Ava and C.I. noting they're reviewing Grey's Anatomy this edition and "Seriously?" is a constant on that show), we'll applaud Truth Out for obviously attempting to keep the story of war resisters (and the war) on one of the front burners. (That's not a backhanded compliment. We all read the snapshot and we had forgotten the story so it obviously bears highlighting again. And we're very serious about Truth Out keeping the war in Iraq on one of the front burners -- one of the few to do so.)

So what then?

How about this:

Desmond Doss died in Alabama on March 23,2006 at age 87. He was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. As a Seventh Day Adventist, he was ridiculed, teased, and harassed for being a CO, for refusing to train on Saturday (the Sabbath) and for praying. He was a medic who refused not only to carry weapons but also to train with them.
In May, 1945 on Okinawa, after his unit encountered a barrage of Japanese mortar and rifle fire, Desmond Doss was stranded on an escarpment with about 75 wounded GIs. Working slowly and doggedly under continuous enemy fire, Doss dragged each man to the edge of the cliff, tied him in a rope sling and lowered him to safety. One by one, he rescued them all. Two weeks later, in another bitter fight, Doss rescued his badly wounded company commander, Jack Glover, who stated, "He saved my life. The man I tried to have kicked out of the Army ended up being the most courageous person I've ever known. How's that for irony?"

That's from The Objector's July issue (PDF format).

Irony?

We're thinking of Ehren Watada who has an Article 32 hearing scheduled to begin on August
17, 2006. Watada is the first (known) commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. He thinks the war is illegal (as do we) and he can outline why. (Reasons similar to the ones Pablo Paredes offered in his own hearing, with backing from expert witness, attorney Marjorie Cohn.)

Watada has offered, for the third time, to take punishments other than court martial (including
"reprimand, fine and reduction of rank"). The military has had no response (the offer's been made twice before and turned down).

Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org have called for a "National Day of Education" on August 16th, the day before Ehren Watada would be due to "face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq." ThankYouLt.Org notes: "On August 16, the day prior to the hearing, The Friends and Family of Lt. Ehren Watada are calling for a 'National Day of Education' to pose the question, 'Is the war illegal?' This day can also serve to anchor a 'week of outreach' leading up to the pre-trial hearing."

At this stage in the war, it shouldn't be hard to mobolize on this. Or for the protests of the September 21st weekend. Provided they get attention. That doesn't happen when Iraq's not noted.

On the Truth Out link, C.I. notes that a friend from grad school, now at Gannett News Service, was the tip off for that story and it was running in very few papers ("I'm almost positive it was less than ten and it may have only been one"). And notes that Truth Out's exposing an audience to it that never saw it. "At least initally, it wasn't widely linked" based on information the week of the article.

Hopefully, people new to the article will see it and pay attention. Again, the people have turned against the war, War Hawks have turned against the war (Thomas Friedman in Friday's New York Times). But the headway made by the peace movement and reality doesn't matter if no one's paying attention.