Barack Hussein Obama:

The Butcher Of Granai:

“The Dead Were So Many”

washingtonpost.com

May 15, 2009 By CARLOTTA GALL and TAIMOOR SHAH, New York Times [Excerpts]

FARAH, Afghanistan — The number of civilians killed by the American airstrikes in Farah Province last week may never be fully known.

But villagers, including two girls recovering from burn wounds, described devastation that officials and human rights workers are calling the worst episode of civilian casualties in eight years of war in Afghanistan.

“We were very nervous and afraid and my mother said, ‘Come quickly, we will go somewhere and we will be safe,’ “ said Tillah, 12, recounting from a hospital bed how women and children fled the bombing by taking refuge in a large compound, which was then hit.

The bombs were so powerful that people were ripped to shreds.

Survivors said they collected only pieces of bodies.

Several villagers said that they could not distinguish all of the dead and that they never found some of their relatives.

Government officials have accepted handwritten lists compiled by the villagers of 147 dead civilians.

American officials say that even 100 is an exaggeration but have yet to issue their own count.

The calamity in the village of Granai, some 18 miles from here, illustrates in the grimmest terms the test for the Obama administration as it deploys more than 20,000 additional troops here and appoints a new commander, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, in search of a fresh approach to combat the tenacious Taliban insurgency.

It is bombings like this one that have turned many Afghans against the American-backed government and the foreign military presence.

The events in Granai have raised sharp questions once again about the appropriateness and effectiveness of aerial bombardment in a guerrilla war in which the insurgents deliberately blend into the civilian population to fight and flee.

After hours of fighting and taking a number of casualties, the American forces called in their heaviest weapon, airstrikes, on at least three targets in the village.

Much of the villagers’ descriptions matched accounts given by the United States military spokesman, Col. Greg Julian, and the provincial police chief, Col. Abdul Ghafar Watandar.

But they differed on one important point: whether the Taliban had already left Granai before the bombing began.

There was particular anger among the villagers that the bombing came after, they say, the Taliban had already left at dusk, and the fighting had subsided, so much so that men had gone to evening prayers at 7 p.m. and returned and were sitting down with their families for dinner.

Whatever the case, American planes bombed after 8 p.m. in several waves when most of the villagers thought the fighting was over; and whatever the actual number of casualties, it is clear from the villagers’ accounts that dozens of women and children were killed after taking cover.

One group went to a spacious compound owned by a man named Said Naeem, on the north side of the village, where the two girls were wounded.  Only one woman and six children in the compound survived, one of their fathers said.

Another group gathered in the house of the village imam, or religious leader, Mullah Manan. That, too, was bombed, causing an equally large number of casualties, villagers said.

The enormous explosions left such devastation that villagers struggled to describe it.  “There was someone’s legs, someone’s shoulders, someone’s hands,” said Said Jamal, an old white-bearded man with rheumy eyes, who lost two sons and a daughter.

“The dead were so many.”

The police chief, Colonel Watandar, confirmed much of the villagers’ accounts of the fighting. A large group of Taliban fighters, numbering about 400, they estimated, entered the village and took up positions at dawn on May 4.  By midmorning, the Taliban began attacks on police posts on the main road, just yards from the village, they said.

The fighting raged all day. The police called in more police officers, Afghan Army units and an American quick reaction force from the town of Farah as reinforcements.

By midafternoon, the exchanges escalated sharply and moved deeper into the village. Taliban fighters were firing from the houses, and at one point a Marine unit called in airstrikes to allow Marines to go forward and rescue a wounded Afghan soldier, said Colonel Julian, the United States military spokesman.

After that, Taliban fire dropped significantly, he said.

A villager named Multan said that one house along the southern edge of the village was hit by a bomb and that one Taliban fighter was killed there.

But villagers did not report any civilian casualties until the American planes bombed that night.

Tillah, the 12-year-old girl, whose face bears the scars of a scorching blast, still twisted in pain from the burning in her leg at the provincial hospital in Herat, where she and other survivors were taken to a special burn unit.

Her two sisters, Freshta, 5, and Nuria, 7, were barely visible under the bandages swathing their heads and limbs.

The three girls were visiting their aunt’s house with their mother when a plane bombed the nearby mosque, around 8 p.m., Tillah said. That is when they fled to Said Naeem’s seven-room home.

“When we reached there we felt safe and I fell asleep,” Tillah said. She said she heard the buzzing noise of a plane, but then only remembers coming to when someone pulled her from the rubble the next morning.

A second girl, Nazo, 9, beside her in another hospital bed, said she saw two red flashes in the courtyard that kicked up dust seconds before the explosion.

“I heard a loud explosion and the compound was burning and the roof fell in,” she said.  Seven members of the family with her died, and four were wounded, her father, Said Malham, said.

“Why do they target the Taliban inside the village?” he asked wearily.

“Why don’t they bomb them when they are outside the village?”

“The foreigners are guilty,” he continued.

“Why don’t they bomb their targets, but instead they come and bomb our houses?”

Barack Hussein Obama:

TROOP-KILLER

MASS MURDERER

DOMESTIC ENEMY

UNFIT FOR COMMAND

UNWORTHY OF OBEDIENCE

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,

And cry ‘Content’ to that which grieves my heart

And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

And frame my face to all occasions.

-- Gloucester, ‘‘Henry VI’’-Shakespeare

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Project, who sent this in.]

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

U.S. Soldier Killed Somewhere Or Other In Iraq

May 16, 2009 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20090516-01

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – A Multi-National Division- South Soldier was killed in action today in southern Iraq.

Freetown Mourns For Young Sailor

May 03, 2009 By Kim Ledoux, Contributing writer, South Coast Today

FREETOWN — Freetown is a community deep in mourning now that most residents have learned of the death of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler J. Trahan, a town native who was killed early Thursday by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

From Memorial Park to Town Hall, all the flags are at half staff.

“His birthday was today. He would have been 23 years old,” said town maintenance worker Keven V. Desmarais, who took time on Saturday morning to make sure the town signs acknowledged the loss.

“Tyler understood the dangers, but went into it full force because he wanted to help protect this country. ... No matter what side of the war you are on, this has hit the town hard.  A woman came in to Town Hall yesterday to pay her bill. When she heard, she just started crying right there, even though she didn’t know the family.”

Trahan, a 2004 graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School, was an explosives technician working with a Navy SEALs team that was deployed to Iraq earlier this year.  He and two U.S. Marines were killed while supporting Iraqi forces.

At Kathy’s Breakfast Coffee Shop, the mood was somber as people read the morning paper.

“He was my age. I can’t believe it. It is tough when it is a small community. I know his sister, Molly.  My boyfriend handles funerals for the Marines, and he told me,” waitress Christine Bernier said.

Vietnam veteran Joe Marsella was seated at the lunch counter.

“It is hard to think of a young life like that gone. You really feel for the family,” he said.

Peter Borges, owner of Borges Bros. Trucking, stopped by to talk while Desmarais was changing the signs.

“Jean (Tyler’s father) has always gone way out of his way to help others. Now we are going to be there for him,” he said.

Jean Pierre Trahan and Maureen Trahan left on Friday to recover their son’s body at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The elder Trahan is a regular at USA Donuts in East Freetown.

“He was very, very proud of his son. He would come in and talk about Tyler all the time,” Niko Rakis said as he worked the counter during the morning rush.

Freetown created a Memorial Park in 2007 to honor those who have served.

For many, Trahan’s death is the first military loss they have experienced, because Freetown did not lose anyone in Vietnam or during more recent warfare.

“When we created that park we never thought we would be faced with this,” said Selectman Lawrence N. Ashley, adding that the town will set up a memorial in the park in Trahan’s name.

John W. Remedis, commander of VFW Post 6643, made a call for the community to show its support.

“After 911, so many flags have flown, but today they are hard to find. Let’s take the time and fly those flags again. ... For every combat veteran, a piece of us dies inside. Vietnam veterans want people and family and the rest of the world to know our brothers and sisters have our support and will never be forgotten,” Remedis said.

‘I Was Proud,’ Grandmother Says Of Marine

May 4, 2009 By Brent Jones, The Baltimore Sun

The grandmother of Olney native Sgt. James R. McIlvaine, killed Thursday in Iraq, characterized him as a man who longed to please his father, which is exactly what he did when became a Marine in 2001.

Sergeant McIlvaine joined the Marines after attending Sherwood High School and graduating from a military school in Virginia.

“His father was very patriotic, loved the flag and country,” said Patty DeSimone, Sergeant McIlvaine’s paternal grandmother, who said her grandson died in combat in Al Anbar province. “James felt the same way. His father missed out on serving, so when James joined, he was proud to have a son in the military. He was proud to see him in uniform. I was proud of him, too.”

Family members say he loved Washington sports, and when he was in the area, he frequently would take in a Capitals game. Sergeant McIlvaine’s uncle said his nephew played hockey, and he was teaching his 7-year-old son the game.

Sergeant McIlvaine lived in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

“He was full of life,” DeSimone said. “And when he was around, he made everybody laugh. He will be greatly missed. He’s one of those people that you knew when he was in the room.”

Sergeant McIlvaine is survived by his wife, Cheryl, son Michael and daughter Alexa, all of Twentynine Palms.

Resistance Action

May 15 (Reuters) & 5.16 AP & Benjamin Morgan AFP

A militant shot dead an Iraqi policeman at a checkpoint while the policeman was searching his car in western Mosul, police said. After a chase, police returned fire and wounded and arrested the man, they said.

Insurgents killed two brothers belonging to a U.S.-backed militia and their mother at their home overnight in northern Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Two policemen were killed in the eastern half of Baghdad by a roadside bomb that went off near their patrol, said a security official.

An Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Mosul.

Two policemen were killed and seven others were wounded by a roadside bomb that targeted their patrol in the west of the city, police said.

Another two policemen were among the wounded in the blast near Abu Ghraib city, a bastion of an anti-US [translation: anti-occupation] insurrection.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Two Foreign Occupation Soldiers Killed;

Nationality Not Announced

15 May. 2009 AP

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two soldiers were killed as a result of direct fire on 15 May in eastern Afghanistan.

IED Kills Royal Marine In Basharan, Another Wounded

15 May 09 Ministry of Defence

It is with deep regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Marine Jason Mackie of Armoured Support Group Royal Marines was killed in Afghanistan on Thursday 14 May 2009.

Marine Mackie was supporting IX Company of the Welsh Guards when his vehicle struck an explosive device in the Basharan area of central Helmand, Afghanistan.

The explosion killed Marine Mackie instantly and also injured his crew mate who is still receiving medical treatment.

At the time of his death Marine Mackie was serving as a Viking All Terrain Vehicle Operator in 3rd Armoured Support Troop of the Armoured Support Group, Royal Marines.

FUTILE EXERCISE:

ONLY 1 MILLION MORE TO SEARCH:

ALL HOME NOW!

A U.S. soldier of 10th Mountain Division checks a vehicle during a patrol in Logar province April 13, 2009.  REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Notes >From A Lost War:

“A Force That Controls The Terrain Only By Day”

“Surrounded By An Enemy That They Know Lies In Wait”

“A Bearded Man Told The British Soldiers He Hadn't Seen The Taliban For Years”

“One Of The Insurgents' Firing Positions Was Traced Back To The Same Man's Compound”

May 15 By Jonathon Burch, (Reuters) [Excerpts]

YAKHCHAL, Afghanistan

The fate of the war in Afghanistan could be decided in the next few months in sweltering villages like this one alongside a highway that cuts through Helmand province, the heartland of the Taliban.

Over coming weeks the biggest wave of reinforcements sent by U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive in an area where insurgents control the villages by night and the fields produce most of the world's opium.

For now, British “Black Watch” soldiers from 3 Scots regiment are still patrolling in Taliban country, surrounded by an enemy that they know lies in wait.

More than 8,000 British troops have been trying to secure the population centres either side of the Helmand River that cuts its way through the province.

But because of insufficient troop strength, soldiers often conduct operations only to pull back to their base, leaving the population exposed.

Steele's B company flew by helicopter into Yakhchal last week on a mission to “understand” the population -- not to engage militants -- in villages along a stretch of strategic highway.

But shortly after they landed, the crack of gunfire broke the silence. The lead platoon had come under attack. Afghan soldiers accompanying the British troops immediately returned fire.

“You'd better get against the wall,” a soldier shouted at an accompanying Reuters reporter. “The rounds are landing just behind you.”

The insurgents had set up a second firing position and bullets were hitting tree branches above the rest of the company's heads.

For the next several hours, the company came under sporadic fire from secluded positions among the warren of mud houses. By the end of the day, two insurgents had been killed and one British soldier shot in the arm from an exposed position on the roof of a compound. He was evacuated by helicopter.

For four more days, B company slept rough, entering villages along the stretch of Highway 1 east of Girishk town.

“We're trying to get a feel from the local nationals as to their requirements ... and also learn from them a little bit more about the insurgent and what he's up to,” said Steele.

There is little trust between the British and a population who know, for now, that the Taliban hold sway.

A bearded man told the British soldiers he hadn't seen the Taliban for years. But later, one of the insurgents' firing positions was traced back to the same man's compound.

Even the friendly locals are wary of siding with a force that controls the terrain only by day.

Good News For The Afghan Resistance!!

U.S. Occupation Commands’ Stupid Terror Tactics Recruit Even More Fighters To Kill U.S. Troops

Foreign occupation soldiers from the U.S. search a house patrol during a search an Afghan citizen’s house during an armed home invasion in Nerkh district of Wardak province in west of Kabul, Afghanistan, May 1, 2009.  (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Afghani citizens have no right to resist home invasions by occupation soldiers from the USA.  If they do, they may be arrested, wounded, or killed.

[images.google.com]

English soldiers search an American settler’s house (1770’s)

More Notes From A Lost War:

“Militants In Afghanistan Last Year Began Using Bigger Charges That Can Rip A Humvee Apart”

Sgt. Says His Unit Is “Basically Driving Around Playing Minesweeper”

May 16, 2009 By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press

Strategically buried in the middle of dirt roads, packed in culverts and attached to trip wires, a heightened hidden danger awaits the thousands of U.S. troops pouring into Afghanistan to fight a tenacious Taliban.

We don't hide the truth from them. We tell them if you are going to be killed or injured in Afghanistan, it is probably going to be by an IED,” said Command Sgt. Maj. David Puig, 51, of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Sgt. 1st Class Jason Sabatke, part of a group of 10th Mountain Division soldiers who moved into Wardak province this year, said his unit is “basically driving around playing minesweeper.”

Seeking to mimic the success Iraqi insurgents had with roadside bombs, militants in Afghanistan last year began using bigger charges that can rip a Humvee apart.

Jarkowsky said Iraqi bombs are more sophisticated but Afghan insurgents are “extremely clever” in how they place and camouflage them.

“One tactic we've seen is the employment of multiple IEDs, to maximize casualties,” he said.

Most troops who have served in Iraq were trained to look on the side of the paved roads for IEDs.  In Afghanistan, Puig said, most bombs are buried in the middle of the dirt roads to strike the underbelly of vehicles.

TROOP NEWS

Three Tours To Iraq:

“Let The World Know United States Imperialism Is Wrong,” He Said

May 14, 2009 By Aaron Moore and Jacqueline Moore, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

PASADENA, Calif.--Former soldiers, family members and antiwar activists spoke out against the U.S. wars on Iraq and Afghanistan on May 9 at “Winter Soldier Southwest--Iraq and Afghanistan,” held at Pasadena City College.

Former Marine Infantry Sgt. Devon Read echoed the sentiments of many as he quoted U.S. General Smedley Butler, who once admitted:

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

IVAW held a panel that included five soldiers who gave testimonies from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wendy Barranco, president of the Los Angeles chapter of IVAW, said she joined the Army because she wanted to serve her country, but she felt invisible when she returned.

Jacob Diliberto chose to emphasize his personal transformation from a warrior to a supporter of peace, saying “My story today is about my journey to repentance.”

He explained that after serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, he argued in support of the war at college until a political science professor convinced him to travel with him to the West Bank and work with the Palestinian community. He is now committed to completing his education and working toward peace, and ended by saying, “Peace is possible, because I lived it.”

Marine veteran Christopher Gallagher went on a total of three tours to Iraq. “The most important thing we can do is let the world know United States imperialism is wrong,” he said.

Gallagher criticized the waste involved in paying “trigger-happy mercenaries” such as Blackwater up to five times the pay given to soldiers who do the same work.

He went on to say that “the choice to prosecute global terrorism by conducting two wars against countries that had little or nothing to do with the September 11 attacks was mistaken” and that “democracy doesn’t come from the barrel of a gun.”

Ryan Endicott, vice president of the Los Angeles IVAW chapter, served four years as a Marine. He recalled the brutal violence he witnessed on a regular basis in Iraq:

One Tuesday they brought a car that had just been shot up.  The driver’s fully intact brain was sitting in the back seat.  To the looks of it the passenger’s brains were all over the car. I walked over to the body bag with the passenger in it.  The bag was still twitching and we could hear his body still attempting to breathe.

Endicott recalled being assigned to the position of “shooter” in an Iraqi neighborhood with few observers.

He was instructed, “Make sure your combat reports are rock solid and we’ll take care of you.  You saw two guys with weapons and one ran off.”

He said, “Rules of engagement may change like the tides of the ocean or a hurricane, but people do not come back from the dead.”

He discussed the cost of the war for veterans: “Many veterans feel that there’s just no one out there who can help them, and they live on the street homeless, with nothing, or sometimes worse. Veterans are attempting and completing suicide attempts at an unprecedented rate.”

Endicott concluded:

“I know today that I cannot mend the things that I have broken or fix the lives I have destroyed.  

“But maybe with my testimony today I can help one person who might help two people who can eventually help four and maybe all of us together standing united can prevent these atrocities from ever happening again.”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Project, who sent this in.]

Meeting Announcement:

Fort Stewart:

A Priority For Establishing Contact With And Providing Support For U.S. Soldiers Opposing Wars Of Empire

Mission Briefing By:

Monica Benderman, Citizen, Hinesville, Georgia; location of Fort Stewart

Jeff Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War, Denver

Jason Hurd, Iraq Veterans Against The War; Savannah, Georgia

Camilo E. Mejia, Chair, Iraq Veterans Against The War

May 21, 2009 7:00 PM

UFPJ Office

630 9^th Avenue: 2^nd Floor

[BETWEEN 44^th and 45^th Streets]

New York City, New York

Fort Stewart, Georgia is home to the 1^st Brig., 3^rd ID, tasked to be available for emergency duty within the continental USA.  “They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.”

We should get to know them better. 

Further comment unnecessary.

An activity of Military Project:

contact@militaryproject.org

THE NEW ISSUE OF TRAVELING SOLDIER IS OUT!

NEED SOME TRUTH?

CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Telling the truth - about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier.  But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance - whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. 

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. 

If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers.  http://www.traveling-soldier.org/ 

And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)

THIS ISSUE FEATURES:

1.  Iraq Veterans Against the War Calls For Immediate Withdrawal From Afghanistan

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/5.09.ivaw.php

2.  Iraq vet explains, “Why I’m Against Obama’s Afghanistan”

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/5.09.benji.php

3.  Veterans Protest Operation: No Change

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/5.09.nochange.php

4.  Love, Dad - a poem by a Vietnam Vet, Dennis Serdel

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/5.09.dad.php

5.  Download the new Traveling Soldier to pass it out at your school, workplace, or nearby base.

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/ts22.pdf

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.  Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Sleeping Bag

From: Mike Hastie

To: GI Special

Sent: May 15, 2009

Subject: Sleeping Bag

             Sleeping Bag

Take two bags every tour,

and call me in the morning.

Mike Hastie

U.S. Army Medic

Vietnam 1970-71

May 16, 2009

“If there is a disaster, who are you going to ask about it?

Someone sitting on their ass, making self-serving pronouncements a couple of thousand miles away, or some-one in the middle of the shit.”

Conversation: wounded medic, surgical wards,

U.S. Army Hospital, Camp Zama, Japan 1969.

The Return

From: Dennis Serdel

To: Thomas F Barton ; Mike Hastie

Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 11:57 AM

Subject: The Return

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

************************************************************

                  The Return

Alex just returned from a combat tour

in Vietnam,

his short hair sticks out in

the counter culture’s long hair

but he still has friends

like John who comes over to see him

a high school friend before the war

The Occupation of a Country

immoral visions of conquest

to be hated within

He asks Alex if he wants to go

to his Philosophy Professors’ home

where his class will meet tonight

he says his Prof is really cool

so Alex says sure

It is evening and his ranch style

home they enter through

the kitchen door and Alex sees

all the students gathering around in

the front room while in the kitchen

the refrigerator hums

Then the Professor enters

and John introduces Alex to him

he just came back from Vietnam

Then the ocean disappears

Vietnamese history turns

to France America as asymmetrical

visions fills the modern

Cities of Saigon and Hanoi

The Professor looks him

up and down and says

I’ve talked to many

Vietnam Soldiers

and with that he huffs away

In the rice fields farmers

work to feed their citizens

who fight for liberty

the Country’s brave souls

Alex wonders what

he had done wrong and John

just shrugs his shoulders

Alex begins to talk in

the kitchen about the war

and how they should end it

When a woman pipes up

and says I hope not because

I work in a bomb factory

in Indiana.  Hey, a jobs a job

She is visiting a girlfriend

in the class as John says to

Alex, the hell with them all

let’s get out of here

Two bombs fall on a

village killing everyone

an ambush erupts

killing Americans as

the VC stand up and fight

them like men

The sun is black

waking up in the night

wondering about philosophy

haunting memories

mysteries of death

but they won’t listen

to squares triangles

stars circles or just

one long line

“People Need Not Be Helpless Before The Power Of Illegitimate Authority”

“By Getting Together And Acting Upon Their Convictions People Can Change Society And, In Effect, Make Their Own History”

From: SOLDIERS IN REVOLT: DAVID CORTRIGHT, Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1975.  Now available in paperback from Haymarket Books.  [Excerpts]

***********************

In the final analysis the stationing of American forces abroad serves not the national interest but the class interest of the corporate and political elite.

The maintenance of a massive, interventionist-oriented military establishment is based not on the nation’s legitimate defense requirements but on the need to protect multinational investment and preserve regimes friendly to American capital.

Imperialism is at the heart of the national-security system and is the force fundamentally responsible for the counterrevolutionary, repressive aims of U.S. policy.

Only if we confront this reality and challenge it throughout society and within the ranks can we restore democratic control of the military.

Of course nothing can be accomplished without citizen involvement and active political struggle.

During the Vietnam era enlisted servicemen created massive pressures for change, despite severe repression, and significantly altered the course of the war and subsequent military policy. 

To sustain and strengthen this challenge we must continue to build political opposition to interventionism and support those who defy military service.

To this end the patriots who resisted the Indochina war should be granted universal and unconditional amnesty, as a sign of our agreement with their acts and as the first step toward restructuring the military and legitimatizing resistance to illegal war.

The central lesson of the GI movement — and, I hope, of this book — is that people need not be helpless before the power of illegitimate authority, that by getting together and acting upon their convictions people can change society and, in effect, make their own history.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Project, who sent this in.]

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org  The occupied nation is Palestine.  The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]

CLASS WAR REPORTS

GI Special distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.  We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.  We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed without charge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.  GI Special has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is GI Special endorsed or sponsored by the originators.  This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research, education, and the advancement of human rights and social justice.  Go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml for more information.  If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. 

If printed out, this newsletter is your personal property and cannot legally be confiscated from you.  “Possession of unauthorized material may not be prohibited.”  DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.1.2.