Green Party Of Brooklyn

By Carl Arnold

Last weekend was significant in ways we have yet to see. In a four-day event sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (March 13–16) at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans told what they saw and did in the continuing occupations. Their unvarnished testimony was always moving, often heart-wrenching.

One marine told of the pressure to get a directional heading for an air strike. His GPS wasn’t working, yet he was told to give a heading so he took a reading from a compass, neglecting the detail that he was leaning the compass on his machine gun. Knowing it was almost certainly inaccurate, he responded to the pressure, gave a heading, a village was obliterated, and he saw the results hours later. It is with him for the rest of his life.

Another marine ended his testimony with, “I am no longer the monster I used to be.”

A common theme were the constant raids into ordinary people’s houses. Soldiers emptied drawers, threw down cupboards and generally took homes apart — often after putting a tank through the outer wall or opening the door with a small bomb instead of a knock. Upon finding nothing they almost always discovered that they were at the wrong address. If someone was tortured, raped or killed, well, that was how it went. Practically every marine and soldier said this was an everyday fact — they terrorized countless families in this way.

The breadth of experience on varied panels was impressive. Testifiers included women soldiers, officers and representatives of Military Families Speak Out. Joyce and Kevin Lucey spoke of the callous incompetence of the Veterans’ Administration in being unwilling and incapable of caring for their son, Marine corporal Jeffrey Lucey. He, like thousands of others, couldn’t handle what he’d experienced. His parents tried desperately to help, and attempted to get the VA to do its job. Despite their repeated attempts, the VA was AWOL, and Jeffrey eventually committed suicide.

The program was surprisingly full — there were outside experts, such as Antonia Juhasz (The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time), Jeremy Scahill (Blackwater), Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Catherine Lutz (Homefront), who spoke about the adverse effect of military bases on surrounding communities. There were panels on racism and sexual assault in the military, and on the breakdown of the military.

The déjà vu factor was palpable throughout. The original Winter Soldier investigation took place in Detroit in 1971 when 125 Vietnam Veterans Against the War testified about war atrocities they witnessed or committed (memorialized in the film Winter Soldier, now available on DVD). It was a distinct honor to be part of the VVAW contingent that provided security for this historic event. Some of the VVAW vets present were among the original Winter Soldier testifiers.

Though virtually ignored by mainstream media, the investigation has a global presence that will surely spread. The entire proceeding was streamed, podcast, recorded and broadcast live around the world, and is now available on YouTube and at http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier. A book and DVD are in the works.

On Saturday, one member of Military Families Speak Out told me they’d received more requests to join than at any time since they began. On the same day we heard that a staff sergeant in Iraq called to say that his entire squad was watching the proceedings live until their commanding officer turned off the TV.

IVAW membership is soaring. The website became so clogged with applications last weekend that the organization had to ask vets and active-duty soldiers to be patient and try again.

In 1971 Winter Soldier had a large impact on anti-war efforts. Winter Soldier II is doing the same. Though the Nixon White House pretended to be unaffected by anti-war protest, we later learned they were paying close attention. We must act today under the assumption that, despite apparent White House disdain, they too will be forced to pay attention.

Support the troops — bring them home now!

Much has been made around the edges of this campaign about the issue of race. Sadly, nothing has been made of the public policy exigencies that arise because of the urgent racial disparities that continue to exist in our country. Just last week, the United Nations criticized the United States, again, for its failure to address the issues arising from the rights, particularly the right of return, of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors. Author Bill Quigley writes in “The Cleansing of New Orleans,” that half of the working poor, elderly, and disabled of New Orleans have not been able to return. Two weeks ago, United Nations experts on housing and minority rights called for an immediate end of public housing demolitions in New Orleans. Now, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ratified by the U.S. in 1994, further observes that the U.S. must do more to protect and support the African American community. In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Commission “noted its concern that while African Americans constitute just 12% of the population, they represent 50% of homeless people, and the government is required to take ‘adequate and adequately implemented’ measures to remedy this human rights violation.” In short, the United Nations has issued reports squarely calling for the United States to do more to eliminate racial discrimination—and this discrimination is a human rights violation.

I am deeply offended that in the middle of a Presidential campaign, remarks–be they from a pastor or a communications mogul, or a former Vice Presidential nominee–are the cause of a focus on race, and not the deep racial disparities that communities are forced to endure on a daily basis in this country. (more…)

Pacifica Radio is covering the IVAW Winter Soldier conference through the weekend, they are podcasting individual testimonies and you can listen to live coverage through Pacifica Stations such as New York City’s WBAI-FM (64k streaming mp3 link).

Iraq Veteran’s Against The War is also supplying real time streaming video, keep in mind they’re dealing with heavy bandwidth demands:

And here’s the rtsp link for Linux folks, it opens fine in Totem Movie Player:
rtsp://qtlive.dvlabs.com/ivaw.sdp