Dahr Jamail in Ashland Wednesday Night

Allen Hallmark, 03.10.2009 03:42

If Dahr Jamail's lecture could have been viewed and heard by a national TV audience on a major network last night instead of 100 or so folks at Meese Auditorium on the SOU campus, Americans might be outraged today about the toll the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking on our soldiers, on the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan and on the credibility of our nation. Americans should never have allowed these wars to be launched in the first place. But certainly if they were privy to the kind of information independent journalist Jamail provided us last night, they would be demanding the immediate return home of our troops.

Having spent a long time in Iraq himself as an unembedded reporter and having spent years interviewing American soldiers, sailors and airmen about their experiences, Dahr came loaded with very specific examples of how the Pentagon and our government are abusing the troops and their power to prosecute these two illegitimate wars.

Dahr told of a medic he interviewed who told him how of his "mentorship" by a seasoned Army nurse when he arrived at a military prison (I believe) in Iraq (possibly Abu Ghraib). The newly arrived medic was ushered into an interrogation room where an Iraqi man was standing nearly naked on a stool. The Iraqi's face and body were covered with cuts and bruises and the new medic was told that the interrogation had been ongoing for three days. The experienced medic went up to the Iraqi to check his condition to see if he was fit enough for interrogation to continue. When he touched the Iraqi's rib cage, the man screamed in pain. The experienced medic had the new medic feel the man's ribs to detect where the ribs were broken, then the "mentor" went to the Iraqi and punched him hard in the ribs. Then, the two medics left the room and the interrogation continued.

Dahr also chronicled the rampant rate of rape and sexual abuse of female US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, often by superior officers. When the women file official charges or complaints, he said, it is the women victims who often face the consequences of being ostracized and shunned by their officers and colleagues, while the perpetrators rarely are punished. He said his research shows that the Pentagon's estimate that 20 percent of US military women are raped or sexually assaulted while deployed is probably way low because studies have shown that up to 80 percent of rapes and sexual assaults go unreported.

He also told of some victories GI's who resist the military machine. The best example is that of Lt. Ehren Watada, who the Army announced recently will be released from the military without punishment after years of accusing him of treason for refusing to be deployed to Iraq. Watada steadfastly insisted that the war in Iraq was illegal citing statements by Kofi Annan, who was then the secretary-general of the United Nations. After a botched court martial trial, Watada is being released. Dahr said the longer the two wars go on and the more soldiers get redeployed with PTSD and other mental and physical disorders, the more disgruntled the troops will become until the day will come when the wars can no longer be fought, which happened in the last years of the Vietnam War, forcing the US to finally pull out. While the level of discontent hasn't yet reached that level, it is growing stronger by the day.

Please consider buying Dahr Jamail's two books: Beyond the Green Zone and The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope you will buy them at a locally owned bookstore.

Also, consider giving some money to the organization Courage to Resist (go to www.couragetoresist.org), which provides legal and other assistance to active duty GI's who have or or considering refusing redeployment or going AWOL due to their conscientious objection to these wars.

Many thanks to Mary Madsen of Collateral Repair Project and Citizens for Peace & Justice, Jill Mackie of the Ashland chapter of Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, Liisa Wale of CPJ and Peace House, Pam Vavra of Peace House and many others who worked hard to make this program happen. Watch for announcements of an effort to make Ashland a Sanctuary City where housing and support for GI's resisting the military will be available.

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unjust war, illegal violence 04.10.2009 - 07:06 U.S. Judge Jackson who chaired the Nuremburg Trials (1945) says that the planning and doing of aggressive war is the supreme international crime on the planet, as it actuates all other crimes high,low, big, and small. He further says that it is the supreme crime whether Germany does it or the U.S.A. does it. The U.S. constitution says that treaties signed on to by the United States are to be treated as the supreme laws of the land. This fact shows clearly that international and national laws are being broken by the U.S. Imperialist military in their unjust wars, and illegal violence globally. The anti-fascist side fought to eliminate aggressive wars as foreign policy throughout the world. Clearly the world needs to implement the full measure of the laws both internationally and nationally. Judgement day is comming and soon rather than later. The crimes are too large and deep to forgive or forget. Nuremburg> Homepage:: http:// Ashland knows whats important 22.10.2009 - 23:00 I so appreciate being able to read and learn from this event and article, and I am so proud of Ashland WILPfers, Jill Mackie (you rock mom!), Mary Madsen, the Vets for Peace and SOU for supporting the resistance to war and building alternatives for soldiers. Luvaction, Linda Richards Linda Richards> Homepage:: http://