 |
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday,
August 21, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, there's no treaty (would
the press please calm down?), Robin Long due to be court-martialed
tomorrow, and more. Starting with war resistance. Tim Richard is a US war resister. Courage to Resist interviewed him this month,
noting that he enlisted in the National Guard in 1999 and that his
service was supposed to end in 2005 but he was instead stop-lossed and
informed he would be deploying to Iraq. Tim
Richard: After 9-11, I just like about any other American kind of
wanted a piece of somebody especially me being in the military. You
know, I had thought that, you know, I want to do the right thing. I
want to go get, you know, who ever did this to America. And then I
started doing some research and stuff. And I was behind the Iraq War
when it started because I had thought it was -- had to do with 9-11.
So, you know, but after the Iraq War dragged on for a bit, I realized
that there's no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there's nothing
but poor people and a lot of dead bodies. So I started doing some
research on the war and I realized that, well, it's basically a bunch
of bull that has been fed to us. So I thought maybe, I mean I'd been
thinking about becoming an officer, I'd been thinking about making a
career out of the military but I decided at the end of my six years I
would just get out of the military. I had to say, you know, six years
is enough. I'm not going to re-enlist, I don't want anything to do with
the Iraq War.
Courage to Resist: Tell me about the research that you did. Did you go to websites? Did you read books?
Tim
Richard: Yeah, I mean, Wikipedia is an excellent source --
non-academic, of course. But I started asking questions, I started
talking to people with different perspectives on things and I just
learned about the whole, you know, President Reagan - Donald Rumsfeld
connection to Iraq, the how Saddam Hussein was installed to counter the
Iranian revolution which came about because the US installed a puppet
shah in Iran. And once I started realizing what the root cause of all
these things were -- basically the US -- that really got me thinking
about what's the point of even being there? I also started thinking in
my mind: Is really military intervention and killing people in this
manner right?" I mean, it's one thing if you're defending yourself. But
morally, I just had problems with the idea of going into a foreign,
sovereign country, invading it, toppling the leadership, taking their
resources and killing people. To me that was a huge moral dilemma.
Courage to Resist: So you began to develop serious misgivings -- both politically and morally -- about what the US was doing in Iraq?
Tim
Richard: Yes, well I would say the moral misgivings were much stronger
than the political misgivings. Cause, like I said, I joined the
military with the idea of defending the United States and, you know, if
that had been the case, I might feel differently about the Iraq War.
But now I just felt like what they were asking me to do was just flat
wrong. Shooting somebody who is virtually defenseless is wrong and
that's something that I didn't think I could be any part of.
Courage to Resist:
Alright so you joined the National Guard, as you said, in 1999. And
your time was up in about November 2005. What happened then?
Tim
Richard: Well in about August of 2005, our unit got a warning saying
that some members would be going to Iraq. They had told us when we
joined that they don't break up units, they don't send individual
soldiers. If you go, you go with your unit. But it turned out, once the
Bush administration had got done with us, that was simply not true
because they kept basically using us to populate other units that were
going over to Iraq. And you know, I was a few months out of the
military when I got a warning order saying I would be deployed to Iraq.
I asked what about my contract and they said I was stop-lossed. I found
out later, after I had come to Canada and after I had gotten a hold of
my personnel file, they did not let me see this, but it turned out my
contract had been extended from November 23, 2005 to December 24, 2031.
Tim
Richard: I've got the paper work. You know, everyone says, "You signed
the contract, you'll just have to deal with it." That's not in the
contract. No one tells you about it when you sign up. So as far as I am
concerned, what they did is illegal but the Supreme Court of the the
United States held up that they are allowed to stop-loss. So I mean
there's really nothing you can do in that situation.
Tim
Richard: Well I decided that they weren't going to keep me -- I knew
they weren't going to keep me for that long, that's silly, they're not
going to keep me for 25 years, I don't think. Even -- well that was my
thinking at the time. So I decided that I will deploy to Iraq. I
decided that -- they pulled me out of my unit, which was a calvary
unit, in which I was fixing radios, and they started training me with
an infantry unit -- along with communications duties, they also started
training me in regular infantry duties such as house-to-house, like
house raids, and defending convoys and that sort of thing. And I
decided in around November of 2005, that, you know, this is just --
this is just ridiculous. I -- I -- I cannot morally, I cannot do what
they are asking me to do. If I were to deploy to Iraq I would basically
-- I felt like I would be a liability because there's no way I could
shoot somebody who was simply trying to defend their own home from a
foreign invader. They did all this mock training exercises in which we
were in full battle gear and we were raiding mock houses -- mock houses
with, you know, actors yelling out Arabic and that sort of thing. I had
like my rifles and everything. And during the exercise, I shot two
unarmed civilians with the blanks of my rifle and I -- and no one said
anything to me about it. I don't know if anyone even saw me. But I
realized at that time, you know, that if this was Iraq, those people
would be dead. All they were doing was trying to defend their home. So
I almost just threw away my rifle and just ran right there but, you
know, I sort of needed a plan so I decided that I'd wait a few days.
And on November 23, 2005, the date my original contract was set to
expire, that's when I went AWOL.
Tim
Richard: Well, uh, they were training us in Mississippi and this is
kind of -- this is kind of strange because we were under lock-down.
Lock-down means that, you know, you can't go anywhere without someone
knowing, not even to the bathroom. You had your rifle with you, you had
your uniform on at all times. But because November 23rd was
Thanksgiving, they decided to cancel training for the day, they let us
wear civilian clothes and lock up our rifles. And they decided that
they were going to bus us into town to go to Wal-Mart so we could pick
stuff up. And they said, "Oh, by the way, we'll just drop you off in
town. Have fun. Come back in 9 hours and we'll pick you up." So I
figured, you know what, if this isn't a sign, I didn't know what was.
So I got onto the first bus I could, snuck away from the main group. I
called a cab. Meanwhile my mom's on the other end. I didn't tell her
exactly what all was going on but she bought me a plane ticket from New
Orleans to Seattle. So the plan was to get to New Orleans, take the
plane to Seattle, cross the border in Seattle to Vancouver then meet my
mom where she was living in Nanaimo, BC at the time. And, well that's
the short version, that's what I did.
Tim Richard: Oh, yeah, if I gave you all the details, man, I don't think you enough tape for that.
Tim
Richard: Oh I was. My heart was pounding the whole time. I was
sweating. You know, I was so paranoid, you know, because it really only
takes one phone call, one person to realize what you're up to, and your
name goes on like every computer, like every single military, FBI,
local police, everything. You know, it doesn't take that much these
days for them to put a looking out for you. So, I mean, I tried to
alter the way I walked. As soon as I got to New Orleans, I threw away
my dog tags. I threw away my military ID. I tried to, you know, act
normal. You know, I tried to the best I can to just sort of blend in.
Of course, you know, the haircut and walk just sort of gave it away.
So, you know, I just tried my best to blend in and, you know, when I
got to the Canadian border, I basically had a one-way car rental, I had
out-of-country driver's license, you know, from the US, $400 cash. So
I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm busted." My plan was to get out of the car and
start screaming, "I'm a Canadian citizen!" and let them not kick me out
until they figure out that I'm not. Which I was a Canadian citizen so
they wouldn't kick me out. But, you know, the border guard was just
really nice and said, "Alright, have fun. Welcome to Canada." And that
was pretty much it.
Courage to Resist: You said you were a Canadian citizen. It's possible to have dual citizenship? Canada and the US?
Tim
Richard: According to the United States, no. But according to Canada,
yes. I, because my father's Canadian, when I came to Canada -- and I'm
glad I did not claim my Canadian citizenship earlier because if I had
claimed my Canadian citizenship as a child, I wouldn't have been able,
the US military would have made me forfeit it upon joining the
military. Because when I came to Canada, I was able to go ahead, fill
out all the paperwork, everything, basically sit on my hands for eight
months and wait for the citizenship card to come in. And now I'm a
full-fledged Canadian citizen and I've got the rights and privileges of
every other Canadian citizen.
Courage to Resist: We know a few hundred other GIs up there who would like to have those same rights and privileges.
Tim Richard: And that's why I'm up here with the War Resisters Support Campaign. Here in London, Ontario, we've got a London chapter
and we care for, I know, four war resisters here and we've had ten
others pass through. We do several fundraisers, a lot of political
lobbying, a lot of talking to the public. That sort of thing. And I try
and be as active as I can with the group in order to -- because I feel
these guys are up here, in some ways I feel really guilty because, you
know, just because I'm a Canadian citizen, just because my dad was born
in New Brunswick, I somehow have a privilege they don't and I don't
think that's right that I have a privilege that they don't simply
because of where my father was born. I've done the same thing they did.
In fact, I think what they've done is a little bit more courageous
because I came up here knowing that I had Canadian citizenship. These
guys that come up now, they've got no claim to Canadian citizenship.
They don't know what's going to happen to them. So that's why I try and
work and try and be as outspoken as I can about the war resisters
support group.
Ft. Carson court martial Friday, August 22. 7:30am - Supporters are encouraged to attend the trial
Arrive
at the Ft. Carson Main Gate at 7:30 am to ensure you can get to Bldg.
6221 in time. You will need to provide a drivers license, registration,
and proof of insurance if driving. Do not wear any political buttons,
t-shirts, etc. 5:00 pm - Main Gate vigil and press conference
Join Robin's lawyer James Branum and supporters for a vigil and press conference at the Main Gate
The
Canadian government has announced that US war resister will be deported
if he does not leave their country by September 23rd. Whether he would
be deported or "deported" is an unanswered question. Actions are taking
place to make the Stephen Harper government respect the will of the
people and let Jeremy remain in Canada. Jeremy is being highly
pro-active and has already taped a video, which you can find at the War Resisters Support Campaign, where he speaks directly to Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada: Jeremy
Hinzman: Hello, Mr. Harper. This is my family Nga, Liam and Meghan.
We've been in Canada for the last four and a 1/2 years. I was a
specialist in the 82nd Air borne division of the United States Army and
served honorably in Afghanistan. In 2004, my family and I came to
Canada because we would not participate in the Iraqi War, a war which
Canada also refused to participate in because it was condemned by the
international community. One of your predecessors, Pierre Trudeau, once
said that Canada should be have from militarism and we took him at this
word. On June 3, 2008, the Canadian Parliament passed a motion saying
that United States war resisters should be able to remain in Canada.
We're asking you to abide by this motion and allow us to stay in
Canada. Thank you. Title Card: On September 23rd, the Harper government plans to deport the Hinzman family back to the United States. Title Card: Hinzman faces a court martial and up to 5 years in military prison for opposing the Iraq war and coming to Canada. There
is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which
includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei
Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste,
Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano
Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal,
Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn,
Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross
Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique,
Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez,
Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada,
Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen,
Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman,
Kevin Lee, Daniel Baker, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing,
Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk,
Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey,
Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua
Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell,
Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake,
Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres,
Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and
Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada
have applied for asylum. US
Secretary of State Condi Rice snuck into Baghdad. She held a press
conference there with Hoshyar Zebari (Green Zone spokesmodel for Jenny
Craig as well as the country's foreign minister) to discuss the treaty
they're attempting to pass off as a SOFA. Jonathan S. Landy (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes
Rice relaxing at Nouri al-Maliki's palatial digs declaring, "Nothing
will be signed today." Of course not. Even Gordon Johndroe was
attempting to slowly explain that to the press via the traveling White
House (in Crawford, TX) on Tuesday. ("Drafts aren't final until they're
final," Johndroe declared. "So there are drafts and there have been
drafts for the last few weeks.") For those who still can't grasp it,
Condi and Hoshy held a joint-press conference in the Green Zone. It was
cute the way Hoshy thanked her (repeatedly) for dropping by as he
pointed out that "you have so many other preoccupations, but thank you
for making the time to visit us." Yes, Condi, "thank you for making the
time" despite your "many other preoccupations." She's just the
Secretary of State. How nice of her to make time for a war that the US
launched. As the White House announced Tuesday: "Secretary Rice was
scheduled to lead a delegation to the closing ceremonies of the
Olympics in Beijing this coming weekend. Because of ongoing events
around the world she is no longer going to be leading that delegation."
Landay was at the press confernece and asked
Hoshy, "You have to put it" SOFA "through your political and national
security committee, your Parliament, and Ramadan falls early this year.
What will you do if you can't get this done by December 31st." Hoshy's
optimistic but also noted that the draft of the agreement has to go to
the Executive Council as well ("an important body"). Stephen Farrell and Thom Shanker (New York Times) reported this morning:
"The main sticking points, in fact, are also the most delicate: setting
a timeline for American troops to leave and declaring whether American
forces would be granted immunity from Iraqi prosecution." Today at the
White House, Gordon Johndroe again tried to stress the obvious:
"Discussions are ongoing. We have made some progress in the recent days
on an agreement with the Iraqis, but there is no final agreement yet.
We will continue to have these discussions with the Iraqis." Johdnroe
danced around Senate ratification at first when asked about the US
Congress' role by saying certain members had been consulted but then,
pressed, stated, "So it's not a treaty, so it would not require Senate
ratification or anything like that." At the Pentagon, Bryan Whitman
explained that "it's very premature at this point to say that we have
an agreement." And it's premature to assume the US Congress is going to
go along with being shut out of any process. Among the House members on
record publicly raising objection to ignoring the Constituation are US
House Rep Susan Davis, US Senators Russ Feingold and Hillary Clinton
and US Senator and chair of the Committee of Foreign Relations Joe
Biden. And for those confused about the basics, US House Reps Bill Delahunt and Rosa DeLauro explained it in a column for the Washington Post last month explained how "congressional approval of the agreement" is required and urged an alternative to the treaty: We
should extend the U.N. mandate for a short period to maintain the
status quo and ultimately turn this issue over to the next president
and Congress, who must implement any agreement. Rather than dictating
the terms of our long-term relationship with Iraq, such a policy would
allow us to work with Iraqis to craft an agreement that includes the
carefully coordinated withdrawal of U.S. combat forces that majorities
in both countries support. Doing so would also solidify the type of
sustainable partnership that the people of the United States and Iraq
need and deserve.
As so many in the press corps rush to gush and pretend a treaty has been finalized, Deborah Haynes (Times of London) appears
to be the only one who looked beyond the arranged press briefings who
notes that "a flying visit to Baghdad by Dr Rice, which drew a scathing
reaction from the anti-US cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr. He
accused Washington of trying to pressure the Iraqi authorities to bend
to its will." Meanwhile, Campbell Robertson and James Glanz (New York Times) explore
the Iraqi Finance Ministry claims (in figures they handed over to the
Times as well as in statements to the paper) that they are spending 57%
"of their annual reconstruction budget" and the paper's examination of
the figures finds that 18% is the better number and if monies for the
Kudistan region (which have not been spent, only allocated) is removed,
the figure "drops to 8.7 percent." Stephen Farrell (New York Times) reports
that Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora followed "in the footsteps
of King AbdullahII of Jordan" by visiting Baghdad yesterday where he
held a joint-press conference with Nouri al-Maliki "about an agreement
to export oil to Lebanon." China's Xinhua quotes
Sinora stating that "we advise the Arab leaders that Iraq should return
to the Arab group. The return of Iraq is an essential goal." CNN adds:
" Saad Hariri, the leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority, visited
Iraq last month. Lebanon named an ambassador to Iraq two years ago, but
he died, and a replacement has not yet been chosen. There is an Iraqi
Embassy in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon." And Dexy's back in Iraq. And apparently hasn't learned a damn thing while gone as he rushes to write a 'peace in the valley' piece for the New York Times today. In some sort of a Karmic Smackdown, his fluff runs the same day the paper editorializes " Afghanistan On Fire"
(A22) which should serve to remind everyone that Kandahar is where the
puppet of Afghanistan can semi-freely roam and the Green Zone in
Baghdad is where the puppet of Iraq can semi-freely roam. There is no
peace in either country. Turning to some of today's reported violence .
. . Bombings?
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
Maj Gen Ahmed Rasheed ("director of the government office that issues
identification cards") was shot in Baghdad today and is "injured
seriously," in another Baghdad shooting 1 person was killed and another
wounded and, in seperate incidents, 2 police officers were shot dead in
Mosul. Corpses?
In
the US, Congressional opponent of the Iraq War Stephanie Tubbs Jones is
dead. Tubbs Jones was a courageous member of the House who stood up for
the voters and for the vote in January 2005 (along with US Senator
Barbara Boxer). The New York Times
had long ridiculed questions of voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004
elections. Tubbs Jones and Boxer's stand meant the press had to take it
a little more seriously. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a judge, a
prosecutor and, following the November 1998 elections, a member of the
House of Representatives. The Clintons -- Bill, Hillary and Chelsea -- issued the following joint-statement:
There
are few words to express the shock we feel at this time our deepest
condolences are with Stephanie's son, Mervyn, her family, and her many
loved ones, friends, and supporters. Stephanie's friendship meant the
world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and
challenge. We could always count on her to be a shoulder on which to
lean, an ear to bend, a voice to reassure. Over the course of many
years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side --
unwavering, indefatigable. It was that fighting spirit -- safely stowed
behind her disarming smile, backed by so much integrity and fiery
intelligence -- that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginings,
to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress
in our country. All of us who were lucky to know her and love her can
only hope now to live like her -- to be as passionate, loyal, hard
charging, and joyful in life's pursuits. Stephanie was one of a kind.
We will miss our friend always.
Stephanie
Tubbs Jones was a strong foe against the Iraq War so her passing is
included for that reason. There are many other reasons. As 2005
community members will recall, there's the White Man who refused to
highlight Tubbs Jones' continued work on the Ohio vote and dismissed it
(and her) in what we will just call here 'far from left' comments. No,
we don't link to that trash. Among the many other reasons to note
Stephanie Tubbs Jones' passing is Ruth Conniff. Apparenly Ruth's
unaware that Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a friend of and super delegate
for Hillary. When she does find out, she will, no doubt embarrass
herself again -- as she did earlier this month by using the murder of
Bill Gwatney -- a friend of Bill and Hillary's -- as an excuse to trash
the Clintons. A man was shot dead in Arkansas and, for Ruth Conniff,
his friendship with the Clintons provided her the perfect opportunity
to scribble some more garbage attacking them. How proud she must be so
have sunk so far into the gutter. Kat called Conniff out here. Turning to the US presidential race, independent candidate Ralph Nader is providing audio commentaries at Ralph's Daily Audio and the one below is "Debates Declaration:" This
is Ralph Nader. The two major parties -- Republican and Democratic
Parties -- and their candidates seem to want to ration debates in this
country. Why do we allow presidential debates to be rationed?
We
don't allow weather reports to be rationed, entertainment to be
rationed, sporting events to be rationed. But when it comes to the
future of our country and it's place in the world, when it comes to the
livelihoods and the necessities of the American people, we're left with
three debates, so-called, in the fall with only Barack Obama and John
McCain on the stage. Their own debate commission/corporation ensures
that no one else on the stage and they're really not debates, they're
like parallel interviews.
So we want people to open up the debates and to support the following declaration:
"We
call for opening up the debates. The scope of discussion must be as
broad and deep as the serious challenges we face as a nation. We agree
that vibrant debate is the heart beat of our democracy and our First
Amendment especially during an election year. We recognize that smaller
third parties and independents have traditionally played a vital role
in our democracy including leading the charge for the abolition of
slavery, the women's right to vote and economic justice for workers and
farmers. We support opening up the debates beyond the two parties and
the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates -- which is a private
corporation, co-chaired by former chairman of the Republican and
Democratic Parties -- it's time for our presidential debates to once
again be hosted by truly non-partisan, civic minded associations."
If you support this declaration, let's hear from you.
Posted at 03:27 pm by thecommonills
|
|
|
|
|
|
jeremy hinzman
tim richard
jonathan s. landay
mcclatchy newspapers
stephen farrell
the new york times
thom shanker
campbell robertson
james glanz
the washington post
bill delahunt
rosa delauro
deborah haynes
dexter filkins
