WRL supports G.I. statement on the Iraq War Logs

Join WRL in supporting Iraq Veterans against the War’s official statement on the release of the Iraq War Logs. The voices and leadership of veterans and servicemembers is crucial for building up nonviolent resistance movements to war and occupation.The main point that the War Logs release delivers loud and clear was that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with building up the voices and participation of the Iraqi people in their government, but rather about systematically denying Iraqis the possibly of participation of any kind through U.S.-backed government repression no different from that suffered under Hussein.

To become a civilian ally supporter of IVAW’s campaign work, check out the Operation Recovery webpage at http://www.ivaw.org/operation-recovery.

IVAW Statement on the Iraq War Logs – A Call for Accountability

The recent Wikileaks release–The Iraq War Logs–has shed important light on the high rate of civilian death and widespread atrocities, including torture, that are endemic to the war in Iraq. As veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are outraged that the U.S. government sought to hide this information from the U.S. public, instead presenting a sanitized and deceptive version of war, and we think it is vital for this and further information to get out. Members of IVAW have experienced firsthand the realities of war on the ground, and since our inception we have spoken out about similar atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are asking the U.S. public to join us in calling on our government to end the occupations and bring our brothers and sisters home.

The U.S. government has been claiming for years that they do not keep count of civilian death tolls, yet the recent releases show that they do, in fact, keep count. Between 2004 and 2009, according to these newly disclosed records, at least 109,032 Iraqis died, 66,081 of whom were civilians. The Guardian reports that the Iraq War Logs show that the U.S. military and government gave de facto approval for hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape, and murder by Iraqi soldiers and police officers. These recent revelations, along with the Afghan War Diaries and Collateral Murder footage, weave a picture of wars in which the rules of engagement allow for excessive violence, woven into the fabric of daily life with the U.S. military presence acting as a destabilizing and brutalizing force. The Iraq War Logs, while crucial, are reports produced in real time and themselves may be slanted to minimize the culpability of U.S. forces. Still, they represent an important part of evidence in assessing the reality of the Iraq war, evidence that can only be improved by the further release of documents and information and corroboration by individuals involved. To this end, our members are reviewing both Wikileaks’ Afghanistan War Diaries and the Iraq War Logs to identify incidents we were part of and to shed more light on what really happened.

IVAW has been speaking out about these atrocities and abuses since our inception. Our organization is comprised of over 2,000 veterans and active duty troops who have served since September 11, 2001. We demand immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, reparations for the people of those countries, and full benefits for returning veterans, including mental healthcare. At our March 2008 Winter Soldier hearings in Maryland, more than fifty veterans and active-duty service members publicly testified about the orders they were told to carry out in these countries, sharing stories of excessive violence, trauma, and abuse.

Josh Stieber and Ethan McCord, two IVAW members who were in the unit captured in the Wikileaks “Collateral Murder” video, have spoken out about how the incidents caught on film are not isolated cases of ‘a few bad soldiers’ but rather, part of the nature of these wars. “There has been little accountability in the wars that my friends and I once thought represented everything that was noble about our country,” wrote Stieber in anticipation of the Iraq War Logs. In an open letter, Stieber calls for policy makers to “take accountability for these wars and the full truth about them.” 

As veterans, we know that the violence documented in the Iraq War Logs traumatizes the people living under occupation. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also have been marked by staggering rates of military trauma and suicide among the troops tasked with carrying out these orders. Last year, 239 soldiers killed themselves and 1,713 soldiers survived suicide attempts; 146 soldiers died from high-risk activities, including 74 drug overdoses. A third of returning troops report mental health problems, and 18.5 percent of all returning service members are battling either Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation. Our Operation Recovery campaign, launched on October 7, seeks to end the cruel and inhumane practice of redeploying troops suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Military Sexual Trauma, Traumatic Brain Injury, and other mental and physical wounds–a practice that underlies the continued occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics attacking Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s character are attempting to use ad hominem arguments to detract from the real issues and divert public attention from the content of the Iraq War Logs. We urge honest and thorough discussion of the content of these documents, and we think this discussion must not be sidelined. Furthermore, with past Wikileaks revelations, U.S. administration and military authorities were quick to vilify Army Specialist Bradley Manning who is being accused of leaking these documents to the public. Yet we insist that it is the right of the U.S. public to have accurate information about wars that are being fought in our name and funded by our tax dollars, and we support the public sharing of this information. Exposing war crimes is not a crime.

Government deception is inexcusable. Authorities have kept this information secret in the name of ‘national security,’ but what they really are afraid of is public opinion, which they know will turn against them if the truth about these wars gets out in the mainstream. An accurate count of Iraqi dead, acknowledgment of torture, and full disclosure of the role of private contractors are facts that should be made public in a democracy. We believe that real national security is created where government transparency and accountability, free press, and an end to spending on illegal wars and occupations are the norm. Continued silence and secrecy is a grave threat to the security of the Iraqi and Afghan people, and we demand openness, accountability, and real discussion of these revelations.

We grieve for the Iraqi and Afghan lives that were lost and destroyed in these wars. We also grieve for our brothers and sisters in arms, who have been lost to battle or suicide. The Iraq War Logs bring home part of the harsh reality of these wars, a reality that we–as veterans–live with everyday. We demand a real end to both wars, including immediate withdrawal of the 50,000 “non-combat” troops who remain in the Iraq. The Iraq War Logs underscore the urgent need for peace, healing, and reparations for all who have been harmed by these wars. The first step is to bring our brothers and sisters home. 

In Solidarity, 

Iraq Veterans Against the War

An Open Letter on the Needed Response to the Upcoming Wikileaks Report

This letter was written by former servicemember Josh Stieber, whose unit was shown in the “Collateral Murder” Wikileaks video released in April 2010. This letter was featured on progressive news media websites last Friday, just before the release of close to 400,000 classified military intelligence documents from the Iraq War.

Dear members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other willing parties,

This is an anticipatory letter aimed to advise you on your response and responsibility for the coming Wikileaks release, expected on October 23rd. Based on the White House’s response to the last leak about Afghanistan, the temptation seems strong to once again divert attention away from accountability.

I write as a young veteran who once fully embraced the concept of a preemptive war to keep my fellow citizens safe and, as President Bush declared, because “America is a friend to the people of Iraq.” I now hope to preempt your response to the information regarding that war in which I fought. When I learned in school about the design of the American system of government and all the noble qualities it represented, invading Iraq seemed to me, at the time, to be a surefire way to make the world a better place.

On the front-lines, however, I saw those very values that had so inspired me seldom put into practice. Despite claims of goodwill, infantry training left my comrades and I desensitized; how could we scream “Kill them all, let God sort them out” on a regular basis and still believe that we were caring for the oppressed people of Iraq? The glorious history I’d been taught–where colonists could no longer tolerate harsh British rule and revolted over taxes, lack of representation, quartering of homes, and other offenses–was turned on its head when we displaced Iraqi families from their homes to build an outpost. The will of the people–what a democracy is supposed to rest on–was brushed aside as we stormed past a peaceful protest where Iraqi men, women, and children had gathered, asking us not to occupy their neighborhood.

Though many of those ideals have fallen, one American ideal that can still be shown, depending on how you react, is that of accountability. Our founding fathers established a system of checks and balances to keep decision makers accountable. However, there has been little accountability in the wars that my friends and I once thought represented everything that was noble about our country. Of course it highlights some of those qualities when investigations find soldiers who kill Afghans for sport; but if legislators, the media, and the American public had been paying attention to the testimonies of veterans, instances like these would be understood as systemic, perhaps extreme, but certainly not exceptional.

While government statements may be able to divert the attention of U.S. media and public opinion, our national reputation continues to fade in the eyes of people who have been at both ends of the gun. Do you think an Afghan whose loved one was killed by mistake–perhaps the families of the seven children mistakenly killed by Task Force 373 on June 17, 2007 in the Khelof province(1) cares what Bradley Manning, accused leaker, said to a hacker? Do you think a soldier who was asked to betray his or her beliefs and conscience cares if Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, has a fierce temper?

The coming leak about Iraq is your chance, your obligation to make up for what was largely ignored last time. For every question you ask of Manning and Assange and their characters, the much greater question needs to be asked of where the accountability in U.S. foreign policy has gone. Pentagon officials said there was blood on Assange’s hands over the last leak; can you back those claims? And how do you respond to the blood that has been needlessly spilled throughout the war? Just as you demand accountability for leakers, you owe accountability to those whose names these wars are carried out in. While you focus on only questioning the messengers, it seems highly likely that allies of the U.S. will question our priorities and honor, while our adversaries will be further assured that our noble claims of caring for humanity and wanting to save their countries is cheap rhetoric.

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, griped that he “was ashamed to have to sit there and listen to the president express his great angst about the leaking that is going on here in this town.” (2)

I write on behalf of those around the world who are ashamed to have to listen to the President, along with military and political officials, express their great angst over leaks while seeming to ignore the realities of what those leaks reveal about the very nature of these wars. When you fail to take account for what has been done in our names, funded by our taxes, and fought by those who believe that the U.S. should represent something noble, we will search for and tell the truth; if you are ashamed by citizens practicing the accountability that our country was designed to demand, then that says more about you than about us.

Please do something different; take accountability for these wars and the full truth about them. More specifically, please take account for what is detailed in both the Iraq and Afghanistan leaks by running the needed investigations, addressing the policies and practices that have gone unchecked, and beginning a much needed reconciliation process. If you need soldiers who are willing to collaborate what is detailed in the reports, I will be the first to step forward for this round of leaks.

Veterans have been stepping forward, partnered with civilian allies, to tell the truth that the “official story” chases away: Civilian Soldier Alliance. We have taken part in campaigns to prevent the deployment of troops traumatized by what they’ve been asked to do: Operation Recovery; we have partnered with organizations delivering aid on the ground in Iraq: Iraqi Health Now and have begun to repair some of the damage that these leaks expose: IVAW Reparations. We are living out the care for humanity and personal responsibility that this nation prides itself on; we have a long way to go, and your participation, rather than dismissal, is highly needed.

Thank you for your consideration,

Josh Stieber
SPC, 2-16 Infantry Battalion, Combat Veteran

1. Wikileaks’ Afghan/Iraq Logs: Searching for Accountability, Andrew Kennis, October 11, 2010 by Al Jazeera

2. U.S. rethinks intelligence sharing after leaks anger Obama, Eli Lake, The Washington Times, Oct 6, 2010

Josh Stieber deployed in “The Surge” from Feb 2007-Apr 2008. Assigned to a district near Sadr City in Baghdad, the Infantry Company that Stieber deployed with was shown in the Wikileaks’ “Collateral Murder” video release in Apr 2010. Stieber has shared his experiences on two cross countries tours and has met with elected representatives to inform them of the reality on the ground while trying to educate the public.

NYC Press Conference–9 Years of Occupation and War in Afghanistan

NINE YEARS INTO AFGHAN WAR, U.S. VETERANS, COMMUNITY GROUPS, AND GLOBAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Photos available for reproduction at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54613299@N03/sets/72157625115412508/

Listen to the Free Speech Radio News: Activists outline renewed strategy to end nine-year Afghan war

Washington Square News: Protesters rally against war in Afghanistan

Speakers included:

1. Prachi Patankar — South Asia Solidarity Initiative

2. Malalai Joya — elected to National Assembly of Afghanistan in 2005; the “bravest woman in Afghanistan”; chosen for the 2010 “TIME 100”  (audio statement recorded in Canada the day before)

3. David Wildman — United Methodist Church’s Board of Global Ministries; co-author of the book “Ending the U.S. War in Afghanistan”

4. Kimber Heinz — National Organizing Coordinator of War Resisters League

5. Madiha Tahir — journalist reporting from Pakistan; South Asia Solidarity Initiative; Action for a Progressive Pakistan

6. Roger Wareham — Freedom Party of New York State

7. Fatima Hindi — Iraqi refugee organizer based in Chicago

8. Maritza Bravo — Vamos Unidos organizing Latino youth and street vendors

9. Fitzroy Searles — organizer with One Nation Working Together, which mobilized many tens of thousands to Washington DC on Oct 2.

10. Nasser Abdo — U.S. Army Private First Class, and Conscientious Objector [written statement]

11. Selena Coppa — Iraq Veterans Against the War

12. Charles Barron — City Council Member from Brooklyn; candidate for governor, Freedom Party of New York State

13. Imam Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid — Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem

October 7, 2010, New York, NY —On Thursday morning on the ninth anniversary of the U.S.-NATO invasion of Afghanistan, a cross-section of veterans, community groups, and global justice organizations held a press conference in support of the united message that the ongoing U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is “bad for Afghan people of all genders, bad for U.S. soldiers, and bad for the people of the U.S.”

Former Afghan parliamentarian Malalai Joya issued a statement about the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, citing it as a major cause of the dire situation faced by Afghan women: “During Obama’s [time in] office the death toll increased by 24% as compared to the Bush administration. Their policies are a mirror image of each other. Democracy never comes by occupation forces…by cluster bombs or by white phosphorous. Under the banner of women’s rights, human rights, and democracy they occupied Afghanistan. Today’s situation of women is as catastrophic as it was under the domination of Taliban. Rape cases, acid attacks, killing of women is increasing rapidly.”

Members of the veterans organization Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) spoke on the day of the national launch of their Operation Recovery campaign, which calls for the right of current servicemembers who are experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or other forms of trauma caused by past or current deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan to refuse future deployments. Published medical studies in 2008 and 2010 estimate that 20-50% of all service members deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan have likely suffered from PTSD. IVAW member and organizer Selena Coppa stated, “Veterans are sick and tired of the never-ending occupations. The U.S. military is strained. We are launching a new campaign defending our traumatized brothers and sisters’ right to heal without being deployed [for another tour].”

IVAW organizers also read a statement from current U.S. servicemember and Conscientious Objector Naser Abdo about Islamophobia in the U.S. that has followed the attacks on 9/11 and its connections to war from the perspective of a Muslim C.O.: “To a soldier, the association of terror and Islam serves the purpose of falsely justifying ones actions in combat by stripping Muslims of their humanity. The association of terror and Islam is what we now refer to as Islamaphobia…it is as if the US public is just recently following a trend that has been rampant in the military for years. Only when the military and America can disassociate Muslims with terror can we move onto a brighter future of the religious collaboration and dialogue that defines America and makes me proud to be an American.”

Madiha Tahir with Action for Progressive Pakistan and the South Asia Solidarity Initiative, spoke as a journalist about her recent trip to Pakistan: “What has gone unacknowledged in the war on what is referred to as ‘Af-Pak’ is that there is a war in Pakistan and that it is a separate war than the war going on in Afghanistan. This war goes unacknowledged here [in the U.S.] but there are very real human costs of it in Pakistan…If the concern of the U.S…is democracy in Pakistan, then it must work with the democratic forces in Pakistan—that means elected representatives and democracy movements.”

Maritza Bravo, with the youth project of Vamos Unidos, a Latino immigrant street vendors organization, spoke about the DREAM act, a proposed piece of legislation that would grant undocumented youth the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they complete two years in the military or two years at a four year institution of higher learning, as a reinforcing the militarization of young people in the U.S. and the escalation of war abroad: “We, the Vamos Unidos youth, do not support the DREAM Act due to the military component. The DREAM Act is a de facto military draft, forcing undocumented youth to fight in unjust wars in exchange for the recognition as human beings, a Green Card.”

City Councilmember Charles Barron and Roger Wareham from the Freedom Party of NY State spoke to the effects of the war in the U.S. and to the value of social movements against war. Wareham stated that much of our resources at home “are being squandered in Afghanistan and Iraq, resources that need to be put back into this economy for the welfare of the majority of the population.” Councilmember Barron stated,”We are living in the richest city in the world yet we have the number one impoverished district in the country. Enough is enough–people need to rise up and say ‘no’ to war, ‘no’ to any forms of invading the privacy of anti-war activists by way of the FBI, [and ‘no’ to] any forms of that suppression of the right of people to rise up in dissent against an unjust and immoral war.”

Fitzroy Searles, youth and Brooklyn-area organizer for the October 2 One Nation Working Together rally in Washington D.C. also pointed to the costs of the war at home from his perspective as an organizer working closely with labor unions in the run-up to October 2: “We all want to see an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only do they cost us in human lives, but they also cost us in valuable resources that could be used here to improve our economy.”

David Wildman, Executive Secretary, Human Rights & Racial Justice, with the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries referred to the longer history of U.S. involvement in Afghan politics, linking it to military spending and the current U.S. presence in the country: “The U.S. will devote this year over 100 billion dollars [to Afghanistan]. Almost all of it will go to warfare.  The question that we need to ask today to public officials and the world is–what is that money doing to help the well-being of Afghans? Afghanistan has had thirty years of warfare and, sadly, the United States has contributed almost only weapons in that thirty years.”

Other speakers referred to the official end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq as of September 1, saying that there is still much suffering in Iraq due the past and current presence of U.S. forces. Kimber Heinz, National Organizing Coordinator of the War Resisters League said, “In preparation for next month’s elections, the Obama administration has been trying to turn over a number of new leaves– and to convince the American public that the Iraq war is over and the war in Afghanistan is winnable. Neither is the case…The Obama administration has continued to uphold the U.S. government project of global interventionism and endless war that was brought to a fever pitch during the Bush era.”

Imam Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid, religious and spiritual leader of The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, NYC connected the ongoing organizing efforts against the war in Afghanistan to the outcry and demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003: “The antiwar demonstrations that erupted globally before the Iraq war started was the greatest public demonstration of that type in human history. We knew how bad this was going to be.”

Iraqi refugee and Chicago-based organizer Fatima Hindi spoke about her experience as a refugee of U.S. war: “Since the US occupation of Iraq in 2003 the country has been devastated. Millions of refugees have been left without homes, mothers and fathers. I am one of those refugees.”

Many of the groups and individuals who spoke at the press conference gathered later that evening in NYC for a dinner and bridge-building event in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.

Oct. 7-10: Join in the International Days of Action against the Afghanistan War!

Families who lost loved ones on September 11 responded with, “Our grief is not a cry for war!” and “War is not the answer!” That was true then and even truer now. Take action right now by sending a letter to Congress, urging your representatives to support legislation for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. A growing majority believes that war in Afghanistan is and was a mistake and must come to an end. And on October 7 – 10, members of the War Resisters League along with people and organizations all over the world are marking the commemoration of  the nine-year U.S.-NATO occupation of Afghanistan by taking internationally coordinated action in their own communties. What can you do? Send a letter to your Congressperson and urge them to end the war and occupation of Afghanistan. Pledge your support for military servicemembers seeking the right to heal from trauma. Iraq Veterans Against the War will be announcing their new campaign, Operation Recovery: A Campaign to Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops, on October 7th in Washington D.C. Download the Organizers Toolkit. National peace groups created a toolkit of new and existing resources to help local activists organize events. Work with your friends or groups to organize vigils, banner displays, forums, house parties, teach-ins, banner drops, nonviolent actions and congressional call-in days, Oct 7-10,  to help strengthen the grassroots opposition to the war. Check out the WRL website for resources. Check out EndAfghanistanWar.com, a new website launched by U.S. national peace groups to help organize and publicize local events. To find out more about the October Days of Action or supporting IVAW’s Operation Recovery campaign, contact WRL Organizing Coordinator Kimber Heinz at kimber@warresisters.org.