War lost amid shifting crises
Day-in, day-out the violence in Iraq continues
Toolbox
By JOSEPH GAINZA
American Friends Service Committee - Published: March 16, 2008
We are told that the attention of the American people has turned from the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan to the faltering economy at home. With the decrease in reported incidents of violence and the slowdown in the rate of death of U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq, polls indicate that fewer people are registering the war and occupation as No. 1 on their list of concerns.
It is understandable that the economy should loom larger as people struggle to make ends meet and in some cases to keep their homes and jobs. The sense of personal vulnerability has increased even as the United States spends $720 million per day half way across the globe on what the administration calls protecting our national interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars and occupations are also being pre-empted in the major news media by the perennial primary races for the presidency. The standard media story of the wars seems to be the following: The situation is improving and would be more hopeful if the Iraqis and Afghanis could only stop fighting one another, but we, here in the United States, have more pressing business.
Meanwhile the killing and the dying, the destruction of thousands of lives, even those lives not immediately lost in war, continues day in and day out as inexorably as the silent growth of malignant cancer cells. This on-the-ground reality of war is overlooked in the shifting crises which confront us.
But not all attention has shifted from these moral and human disasters. The men and women who have been in the battles, who experienced directly the horrors of war (and in many cases still experience them as physically and/or psychologically maimed individuals), are speaking out. And they call on the rest of us to listen.
Iraq and Afghanistan war vets are reviving a Vietnam era strategy called Winter Soldier. Winter Soldier was the title given by soldiers and marines to three days of testimony in Detroit in 1971 about their experiences fighting in Southeast Asia. The term "winter soldier" is derived from Thomas Paine, who wrote at a low point in the American Revolution about "sunshine patriots" who in times of crisis "shrink from the service of their country, but that he who stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
The Vietnam vets told stories of wanton and accidental killings of civilians, destruction of entire villages and outright murder epitomized in the American imagination by the Mai Lai massacre. They unloaded pent-up feelings of guilt and shame and were derided as traitors by other veterans. But their intention was to serve their country by extricating it from an unjust and unwinnable war.
Similar sentiments motivate present-day winter soldiers. They have engaged in three days of testimony about war crimes they participated in, or witnessed in the two Muslim nations. These violations of human rights, they say, are only making the United States less safe and increasing hatred for this nation around the world.
As Iraq Veterans Against the War, the organizers of the testimonies, say on their Web site (www.ivaw.org): "Once again, we are fighting for the soul of our country. We will demonstrate our patriotism by speaking out with honor and integrity instead of blindly following failed policy. Winter Soldier is a difficult, but essential service to our country."
IVAW has collected and verified testimonies of over 100 veterans from across the country about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will present video and photographic evidence. Afghan and Iraqi civilians will also testify about how the occupations have wrecked their lives and their countries. In addition, panels of scholars, veterans, journalists and other specialists will give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans' health benefits and support.
Two former marines who live in Burlington will also testify. John Turner and Matt Howard will describe their experiences from the first day of the invasion of Iraq and their participation in the daily acts of gratuitous violence, which they describe as common occurrences. Both stress that they are not pointing fingers at individual soldiers and marines but at the policies and the policymakers who sent them to an unjust war. (Matt Howard is a staff member of Vermont American Friends Service Committee; he coordinates our Youth Empowerment and Military Education Project).
As the wars grind onto their fifth and sixth years, with over 30,000 U.S. service men and women, and scores of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis killed or wounded, veterans are hopeful their testimonies will alert the nation to the occupations' human costs and moral dimensions and force the removal of all U.S. troops.
Today the testimonies will be broadcast nationally on radio and TV stations and Web cast. In Vermont and across the nation they will also be shown at public gatherings. To find the locations of these gatherings and how to access the live feeds from the hearings, go to www.ivaw.org and click on "Winter Soldier."
IVAW was founded by soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq in 2004. The goal of the Winter Soldier hearings is to bring human stories to the national debate about the U.S. occupations, to raise the moral dimensions of war and to move citizens to active opposition.
The veterans call on both supporters and opponents of the wars who say they support the troops, to now listen to the troops. As IVAW says, "our responsibility is to tell the truth; America's duty is to listen."
Joseph Gainza is the Vermont Program Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee and is working closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War in organizing "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan." He can be reached at jgainza@afsc.org or 229-2340.
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