The card is available at Courage to Resist. You can purchase it in bulk (100 cards for 10 dollars, also for 10 dollars you can purchase it as a poster). It is a good way to get the word out on both Courage to Resist and on war resisters.
If you look at the faces on the card, you'll hopefully see a number of resisters you recognize: Ivan Brobeck, Kevin Benderman, Ricky Clousing, Suzanne Swift*, Katharine Jashinski, Jeremy Hinzman, Abdulla Webster, Darrel Anderson, C.S. Magaoay, Kyle Snyder, Robin Long, Mark Wilkerson, Christian Kjar, Brandon Hughey, Agustin Aguyo, Blacke LeMoine, Perry O'Brien, Jimmy Massey, Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes, Diedra Cobb, Stephen Funk, Joshua Despain, Wilfredo Torres, Aidan Delgado, Ryan Johnson, Cliff Cornell, Patrick Hart, Robert Zabala, Carl Webb, Michael Sudbury, Abdul Henderson, Joshua Key, Ghanim Khalil, Dan Felushko and Ehren Watada. [*We do not consider Suzanne Swift a war resister. Others can list her however they want. Our opinion -- community wide and noted often -- is that Swift needs to be immediately discharged -- honorably discharged -- and that Congress failed her. We know some in big media avoided her story due to the war resister angle. We do not doubt her strength or her courage. If she states she's a war resister, we'll gladly move her over to that list; however, she has not stated that publicly and we think it gums up the very real issues that should result in her immediate discharge so we do not list her as a war resister. Others are free to do as they see fit.]
The card is an invaluable resource but looking at it on Friday (Mike, Elaine and Rebecca) and on Saturday (Jim, Dona and Ty), what struck us most was how much the movement of resistance continues to grow. Jim Burmeister, Ross Spears, Eli Israel, Carla Gomez, Terri Johnson, and the Kamunen brothers (Luke, Leif and Leo) are just some of the resisters who've gone public this year. And that point was only brought home further with James Stepp going public last week.
But while their numbers continue to grow and while Iraq Veterans Against the War continues to increase their membership, it doesn't seem like the coverage is growing. It's not just The Peace Resister Katrina vanden Heuvel squashing coverage, it appears to be a great deal more.
For instance, if you want to know about war resisters going to Canada, your best bet has been Canadian media, not independent broadcast media. In fact, Ross Spears and James Burmeister haven't been interviewed. In fact, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey will both learn shortly whether or not Canada's Supreme Court will hear their appeal for refugee status. In this country, Ehren Watada's court-martial is scheduled to begin October 9th -- his second court-martial -- and possibly the lack of attention to that results from the fact that appeals could bump the date back, bump it back to next year. James Stepp spoke of discovering news of war resisters in Canada online. That's been a pattern from the start. It's still a pattern and you have to wonder about a lot of independent broadcast media -- do they think that once inducted, the audience is lost to them? Do they not grasp that there are service members who think about resistance but buy into the isolation that has been sold by the media?
Stephen Funk is the first war resister to go public. Camilo Mejia is the war resister to serve in Iraq and go public. Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to fight in the Iraq War. Eli Israel is the first to go public while stationed in Iraq. It takes bravery for anyone to resist but knowing of those who came before can demonstrate to you that you are not crazy or insane or that you're the only one who feels this way.
C.I., Ava and Kat are the only ones who regularly speak to groups of enlisted. When they bring up the topic of war resisters, they start with what it is and the ways some can resist and offer historical examples from Vietnam before asking if anyone knows the names of any current resisters? Believe it or not, many do not. Of all the war resisters, Ehren Watada remains the best known. Over the summer "Eli" became a name they had heard about -- most didn't know his last name but were aware a service member stationed in Iraq named "Eli" was resisting. After he was discharged, few knew he had been. Sometimes they know a story about someone in another unit who went AWOL. They don't know why. There's a disinformation campaign going on within the military when that happens similar to the line (no surprise) that the The New York Times tries to push which is you only self-check out if you have emotional problems. For those who fail to grasp how damaging that lie is, think about how the rates of returning veterans seeking mental assistance is suppressed by the military asking -- in a group setting -- "Anybody got any problems and need help?"
Kat says she's always surprised by what service members respond to when Ava and C.I. cover various known war resisters. It might be Joshua and Brandi Key's large family (a number of people serving have large families), it might be the way recruiters hounded Kyle Snyder and the foster care he grew up in (ditto), it might be the three Kamunen brothers being brothers, it might be Camilo Mejia being a non-citizen when he joined the military (ditto), it could be anything. In August, one man wanted to hear more about Aidan Delgado because, like Delgado, he was a serious reader of the Dune series of novels. Whether it's Brandi Key or Jill Hart (wife of Patrick Hart) or Monica Benderman (wife of Kevin Benderman) or Nga Nguyen (wife of Jeremy Hinzman) or Helga Aguayo (wife of Agustin Aguayo) or Jamine Aponte (girlfriend of Phil McDowell), they're always interested to hear about the partners of war resisters who stood by them.
Whatever stands out to them, whatever they ask for more information on, the point of it is always a detail they can relate to, a detail that takes a name they may never have heard about it and makes the person "normal" and not that different from them.
That's why war resisters stories need to be told. The military uses "normal" to silence objection (however they define it). Aidan Delgado writes about it in his book, how, when he applied for CO status, those above him made sure everyone knew about it so that they could attempt to intimidate him in 'falling back in line' via shunning, verbal abuse and physical abuse.
From group to group, Ava, Kat and C.I. never know what's going to be the big standout. Agustin Aguyo's twin daughters standing by their father brought one man to tears. "He'd been sitting there stone faced throughout, " Kat remembers, "and I was thinking he'd been tricked into coming or had caught a ride into town with his friends and they'd just said, 'We've got to make one quick stop' without telling him what it was for."
The stories of every war resister are important but not just in terms of "I decided to resist the war and here is why." The details people can identify with, the ones that may not seem central to 'the message,' are often the ones they most connect with.
Last week, community member Rachel complained about a book author brought onto a Pacifica station to discuss the issue of AIDS in the African-American community, a guest who was plugging a book and seemed -- despite the message of the book -- highly uncomfortable addressing the issue of gay men (because he was one of those "love the sinner, hate the sin" types). She wondered why that crap can get on air -- a person hawking a book but uncomfortable with the topic -- but war resistance has "fight and scrape for every few minutes the topic does receive"? It's a good question.
And it's worth noting that Eli Israel is the first to resist while stationed in Iraq but the majority of Americans -- in the military or out -- do not even know his name because war resisters appears to have struck the bulk of independent media as a passe topic.
Aidan Delgado's book, mentioned above, is The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq. He is one of three war resisters to have published a book detailing their experiences this year. The other two books are Camilo Mejia's Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia and Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale.
This week, Kevin and Monica Benderman's Letters from Fort Lewis Brig: A Matter of Conscience becomes the fourth such book. They all make a difference.
And so would coverage, if there was any in depth coverage. But ask yourself when was the last time broadcast independent media introduced you to a new war resister?
The following appears in every "Iraq snapshot," Monday through Friday:
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
Lastly, some people prefer not to order online for various reasons. If that is the case with you and you're interested in the illustration as a card or poster ($10 for either), Courage to Resist has a physical address, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland, CA 94610. If you visit the website, you'll see that they also have caps, t-shirts and hoodies, as well as books, DVDs and more.
