PTSD Soldier
refusing deployment
"I am just trying to get help," insists Jeff Hanks,
US Army infantryman who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is expected to surrender to the Army next week.
Bradley Manning legal
overview
We expect the pre-trial hearing of accused Wikileaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning to take place early 2011, followed by trial about four
months later.
Naser Abdo, Muslim peacemaker
On the
anniversary of the shooting at Fort Hood, Naser
Abdo, a Muslim servicemember seeking Conscientious
Objector status based on the principles of Islam tells the missing story
of Muslim peacemaking.
SF Bay
Area event: Mailing / pizza party this Wednesday
Help Courage to Resist mail our tri-annual newsletter and fund appeal to supporters around the world. Join us at 55 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland CA 94610 this Wednesday evening, November 10, from 5pm-10pm.
AWOL Soldier Jeff Hanks refusing deployment due to PTSD
Please consider a donation to Jeff's defense fund hosted by Courage to Resist. Est. need is approx. $1,500.
By Sarah Lazare, Truthout.
November 5, 2010
"I am just trying to get help," insisted Jeff Hanks (photo right),
active duty US Army infantryman, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"My goal in this situation is to simply heal. And they wonder why there
are so many suicides." Jeff spoke rapidly over the phone from Virginia,
where he, his wife and his two young daughters are staying while he is
AWOL from the military. Days earlier, Jeff had walked out of an airport,
refusing to board a plane headed for Kuwait, which was to be his first
stop on his way back to Afghanistan.
During his mid-September leave from his second combat tour with the
101st Airborne Division, Jeff sought help from Fort Bragg and Fort
Campbell military doctors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
physical wounds sustained in battle. Yet, just as his treatment was
getting started, his command interfered, insisting that his military
health care providers grant him clearance for immediate deployment. His
providers acquiesced, even though they had not completed preliminary
testing.
Jeff, who has trouble being in large crowds of people and
difficulty
controlling his anger, says he is in no state to deploy back
to the
war from which he is still struggling to heal. The 30 year-old
soldier
decided that his only choice was to go AWOL. Jeff plans to turn
himself
into his command at Fort Campbell on Veterans Day, November 11.
He
will be accompanied by supporters, including members of Iraq Veterans
Against the War.
Read more...
Bradley Manning legal update and overview
We expect the pre-trial hearing of accused Wikileaks
whistle-blower Bradley Manning to take place early 2011, followed by
trial about four months later. Both hearings should be open to the
public and media in the Washington DC area. Supporters will be
encouraged to attend. - Courage to Resist
By David Coombs, attorney for Bradley Manning. November 1, 2010
I. The Military Process:
The basic structure of the military
process is similar to any criminal trial in a civilian court.
Once
allegations are made, the government begins to investigate the alleged
crime.
The government’s investigators are usually either Military
Police Investigators (MPI) or Criminal Investigation Division (CID)
officers.
These individuals interview the key witnesses, secure all
available evidence, and create a report that details the nature of their
investigation.
Based upon the investigation by MPI or CID, the government
prosecutor (Trial Counsel) then discusses the case with the soldier’s
chain of command.
The trial counsel will typically recommend to the
command the possible charges that could be preferred against the
individual soldier and discuss the likelihood of success at trial.
II. Charges have been Preferred:
Once charges are preferred
against a
soldier, each level in the chain of command will make a
recommendation
as to what level of court-martial should hear the
soldier’s case.
The
command can recommend a Summary Court-Martial, a
Bad Conduct Discharge
Court-Martial, or a General Court-Martial.
Each
level of court-martial
has different maximum punishments that it is
authorized to impose.
If
the charges against a soldier are serious, such as in this case,
then
they will be most likely be heard by a General Court-Martial.
In
any
case where the command has recommended trial by General
Court-Martial,
the Brigade Commander will direct that the case be first
investigated by
an Article 32 Investigating Officer.
Read more...
Naser Abdo: The missing story of Muslim peacemaking
On the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Fort Hood, TX,
Naser Abdo (photo right), a Muslim servicemember seeking Conscientious
Objector status based on the principles of Islam tells the missing story
of Muslim peacemaking. Please consider a donation to Naser's defense fund hosted by Courage to Resist.
By Kimber Heinz, War Resisters League. November 5, 2010
Today, November 5, 2010, marks the one-year anniversary of the Fort
Hood shooting, in which former Army psychiatrist Major Nadal Halik Hasan
shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, wounding 42 others. As
U.S. servicemembers and the families of the victims of this shooting
grieved for those who were killed and Americans mourned the loss of
life, reports on these crimes riveted the mainstream media. The
shootings were certainly newsworthy. The problem is that almost the only
time Muslims are featured in the U.S. news media is when a Muslim
engages in an act of violence. A one-sided focus on violence committed
by some Muslims fuels the racist narrative that “Islam is a religion of
violence"—which underwrites the so-called “Global War on Terror.”
In spite of ongoing efforts by many in the Muslim religious community
and Muslim-American organizations, the long and vital history of
Muslim
peacemaking has been lost in the avalanche of reports on Muslims
where
the mainstream media connects them only with violent extremism.
The lack
of acknowledgment and recognition in the U.S. of Muslim
peacemakers
continues to have grave effects on Muslims all over the
world as well as
those at home in the U.S.
Additionally, the ongoing hyper-focus by the
U.S. state and
mainstream media on Islamic militants to the exclusion of
those Muslims
whose peacemaking efforts oppose militarism of all kinds
continues to
prop up and justify ongoing U.S.-backed military
occupations, including
those of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.
Private
First Class Naser Abdo, a 20-year-old Muslim servicemember
currently
serving in the U.S. Army and seeking Conscientious Objector
(C.O.)
status on the grounds of Islam, is a Muslim peacemaker.
Read more...
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