"Army of None" - New
Book, Tour
"Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment,
End War, and Build a Better World." A new book by Courage to
Resist organizer David Solnit and Gulf War objector Aimee Allison. The
tour will visit over 40 cities beginning in September.
GI Resister Updates
Mark Wilkerson released from brig! Eugene
Cherry avoids court martial, discharged. Eli Israel
imprisoned, but home soon. Capt. Peter Brown
fights for conscientious objector status. Rev. Lennox
Yearwood discharge hearing postponed. Korey
Rowe arrested. Lt. Ehren Watada retrial
rescheduled for October 9.
Report from Pacific NW resister
events
Hundreds attend events to support GI resisters as Agustín
Aguayo tours Oregon and Washington State. Los Angeles community
welcomes Agustín at Friday, July 27 homecoming
celebration.
Message from Howard
Zinn
Historian and author, "A People's History of the United
States": "I would urge people to support Courage to Resist in
whatever way they can."
Army of None - New Book,
Upcoming Tour
New book by Courage to Resist organizer David Solnit and Gulf War
objector Aimee Allison |
"Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military
Recruitment,
End War, and Build a Better World" - A new book by Courage
to Resist organizer David Solnit and Gulf War objector Aimee Allison.
Uniformed US Army Officers lunch with students in elementary school
cafeterias. Army training programs including rifle and pistol instruction
replace physical education in middle schools. Like never before, military
recruiters are entering the halls of US schools with unchecked access in
an attempt to bolster a military in crisis.
However, even as these destructive efforts to militarize youth
accelerate, so do the creative and powerful efforts of students,
community members, and veterans to challenge them. Today, the counter
recruitment movement--from counseling to poetry slams to citywide
lobbying efforts--has become one of the most practical ways to tangibly
resist US policy that cuts funding for education and social programs
while promoting war and occupation. Without enough soldiers, the US
cannot sustain its empire.
Army of None exposes the real story behind the
military recruitment complex, and offers guides, tools, and resources for
education and action, and people power strategies to win.
Counter recruitment is one of the most compelling and effective parts
of the anti-war movement today. On July 9, ABC News reported that the
Army has fallen short of its recruiting goals for May and June by almost
17%. (Read the full article here), a testament to both the movement's effectiveness
and the unpopularity of this war.
Aimee and David will be traveling to 40 communities from
September through January - visit their Myspace page
for frequent updates. Contact Jen Angel to schedule a
presentation, workshop, or performance.
For more information:
www.myspace.com/armyofnonebook
www.couragetoresist.org/armyofnone
Order "Army of None" today from Courage to Resist:
www.couragetoresist.org/orders
GI Resister Updates
Courage to Resist. July 27, 2007
Army Spc. Mark
Wilkerson
After nearly seven months in Fort Sill, Oklahoma military brig, Iraq
War veteran turned GI resister Army Spc. Mark Wilkerson is finally free!
Prior to sentencing, Mark explained, “I could not [again] deploy to
a foreign land with a weapon in my hand, representing my government. I am
not willing to kill, or be killed for my government. When I enlisted in
the Army, I thought I would be able to, but after Iraq, my beliefs became
such that I could no longer participate.”
Only days after being released, Mark has already begun working with
Iraq Veterans Against the War. He is looking forward to attending the
upcoming Veterans for Peace national convention next month in St. Louis
where he will be joining the Courage to Resist panel discussion on GI
resistance in the military today.
Army Spc. Eugene Cherry
On the eve of a court
martial last week for resisting redeployment to Iraq, Army medic Eugene
Cherry was granted a general discharge. The Fort Drum, New York soldier
with the 10th Mountain Division faced a bad conduct discharge for going
AWOL to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder after the Army failed
to provide him with adequate treatment. Instead, Eugene is now out and
will be able to keep most benefits, including lifetime medical from the
VA.
According to the New
York Times, “Mr. Cherry’s supporters suggest that the
publicity, as well as his good record before he went absent without leave,
helped persuade the military to cease prosecution and grant him a
discharge.” Support for Eugene was organized out of the Different
Drummer Internet Café located near Fort Drum.
Army Spc. Eli Israel
Last month Army Spc
Eleonai “Eli” Israel, while stationed at Camp Victory in
Baghdad with JVB Bravo Company, 1-149 Infantry of the Kentucky Army
National Guard announced that he would no longer fight. Afterwards, Eli
noted “It would have been a lot "easier" for me to simply
keep doing combat missions for a couple more weeks, and be done with
things. Moral convictions are not based on timing or
convenience.”
He is scheduled to be released today from the Theater Field
Confinement Facility at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait were he served a 30 day
sentence. Eli pleaded guilty to five counts of disobeying orders at a
summary court martial. He expects to receive an Other Than Honorable
discharge and to be flown to Mississippi within a couple of weeks. After
he's out, he plans on fighting for a discharge upgrade as the officer who
sentenced him ignored his application for discharge as a conscientious
objector or take into account his prior service.
Army Capt. Peter Brown
A 10th Mountain
Division officer serving in Iraq has sued the Army to gain conscientious
objector status. Capt. Peter Brown, 2004 West Point graduate, has been
stationed in Baghdad since August with the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry
Regiment. According to his petition, he joined the infantry his
senior year at West Point "to be at the forefront of the
action."
The Army chaplain who interviewed Brown found his religious beliefs to
be sincere, and the Army’s own Investigating Officer agreed and
recommended that Brown be discharged as a conscientious objector. A
retired senior Navy chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Bernard R. Wilson, also
interviewed Brown and reported that his “convictions are sincere and
that he now holds these convictions deeply with all his heart, mind and
soul.” He filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the District of
Columbia last week with the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union
after military officials twice rejected his applications for
conscientious objector status.
Air Force Reserve Officer Lennox Yearwood
The Air Force has indefinitely postponed the discharge review hearing
of Rev. Lennox Yearwood. Not only is Lennox the President of the Hip Hop
Caucus, he is also an officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. On
March 26th, Lennox received notification from the Air Force that they
were taking action to honorably discharge his on the basis of
"behavior clearly inconsistent with the interest of national
security." The letter arrived a week after he announced the
launching of a national "Make Hip Hop Not War" tour at a press
conference on Capitol Hill. After anti-war activists, including Cindy
Sheehan, began organizing a protest outside the gates, the military later
postponed their July 12th hearing at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
Lennox was preparing
to fight the discharge because, “The power of our voices against
the U.S. occupation of Iraq is reaching the top echelons of the military
and the administration. Our government is persecuting Americans who speak
out against the U.S. military presence in Iraq. The U.S. military has
launched politicized attacks on its own military members and moral leaders
who oppose the war to discredit their voices of dissent.”
Army Spc. Korey Rowe
Afghanistan and Iraq Wars veteran Korey Rowe turned war resister/video
producer was arrested in his hometown of Oneonta, New York this week.
Local police arrested Korey on an outstanding military warrant for
allegedly "deserting the Army."
Korey has played a
high-profile role in the “9-11 truth movement” since leaving
the Army in June 2005. He co-produced the movie Loose Change, the central
premise of which is that “the United States Government was, at the
very least, criminally negligent in allowing the attacks of September
11th, 2001 to occur.”
On the Loose Change web site, Korey explains, “At 18 for no
apparent reason I joined the Army. I guess for a way out of my home town.
Joined and not even six months later I found myself in a fox hole in
Kandahar, Afghanistan (1/14/02 – 7/15/02). Served six months there
before returning stateside for a hellish seven month full out training
cycle before being shipped back across the Atlantic to Kuwait were we
staged for a nice long year in Iraq (2/28/03 – 1/16/04)…As
for the future, only life can tell. My life to date has been very
interesting."
Army Lt. Ehren Watada
The second court martial of the Lt. Ehren Watada, the first military
officer to public refuse to fight in Iraq, has been rescheduled for
October 9. If the military is allow to carry out this trial—despite
the clear prohibition against double jeopardy outlined in the
Constitution—Lt. Watada’s trial would take place around the
same time that his Stryker brigade (3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division)
is scheduled to return from Iraq after a 15-month deployment.
Double jeopardy
clearly applies in the case of Lt. Watada because the mistrial in the
first court martial held in February was orchestrated by Army Judge John
Head to the favor of the prosecution (which had already rested its case)
over the strenuous objections of the defense. The Army Court of Criminal
Appeals has yet to rule on the issue of double jeopardy.
Report from Pacific Northwest
resister tour
Portland, Oregon counter-recruiting action 7/11/07. Photo: Lori
Hurlebaus for Courage to Resist
|
Army Spc. Agustin Aguayo was recently released from a military brig for
refusing to return to Iraq. Now Agustin, his wife Helga and his two
daughters are speaking out and organizing to support other war resisters.
From Portland to Bellingham near the Canadian border, the Aguayo's
shared their story of pain, frustration, hope and determination and
pledged to continue fighting for justice for Agustin and all military
resisters.
"When we first started this is was just about us, but it's so
much bigger than that" said Helga Aguayo. "We need to continue
fighting for all the soldiers."
Kicking off the tour the Aguayo family led a march organized by the
PDX Coalition to a recruiting center in downtown Portland. In Salem,
Agustin spoke to a group of Latino youth about the realities of military
service and met with organizers of PCUN, a Latino community group,
discussing the connections between immigration issues and military
recruiting.
As the tour made its way up the coast of Washington, people gathered
in classrooms, churches, bookstores, community centers, and coffeehouses
to hear about the Aguayo's personal struggle for justice and the
transformation of not just a soldier, but of a family. "At first I
wanted to quietly leave the military with a conscientious objector
discharge and go on with my life but now I think that was selfish...
Resistance in the military to this war is growing everyday and we need to
show the soldiers that resist that we will be there for them."
The tour, organized by Courage to Resist, included events and
presentations in Portland, Woodburn, Salem, Tacoma, Port Townsend, Port
Angeles, Bellingham and Seattle. At many events the Aguayo's were joined
by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. These events would not have
been possible without the incredible commitment in support of GI
resisters demonstrated by our friends at the PDX Coalition, Veterans for
Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Troops Home Now Coalition, Whatcom
Peace and Justice Center, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, AFSC,
South Sound Peace & Justice Center, and many more.
View
the July 11 Portland forum here (Goggle Video). Featuring
Agustín and Helga Aguayo, Iraq Veterans Against the War members,
and Courage to Resist's Lori Hurlebaus.
Welcome home Agustín!
Los Angeles celebration and fund raiser
Friday, July 27 at 7:00pm
United Teachers Los Angeles UTLA
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (map)
(Wilshire Blvd. and Berendo -- Just west of Vermont Avenue)
With guests: Iraq War resister Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes,
Iraq War resister Marine Lance Corporal Stephen Funk; Gold Star father
Fernando Suarez del Solar of the Guerrero Azteca Project. Funds to
benefit Aguayo Defense Fund.
For more info, call 323-691-5283, or:
www.aguayodefense.org |
A message from Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn, author and historian. Photo: Karen Hester
|
Historian and author, "A People's History of the United
States"
I would urge people to support Courage to Resist in whatever way they
can.
I can think of nothing more important in stopping the war in Iraq than
for the soldiers themselves to refuse to fight. As a veteran myself I know
how difficult it is to break out of the stranglehold the military has on
one's mind, and how much courage that takes.
Those who make such a decision need all the support we can give them,
and Courage to Resist does just that.
Please make a donation
to support the work of Courage to Resist. |