GI SPECIAL 3D29:

Mother grieves the loss of her son killed in Iraq. Another family member feels the pain. Camp Casey, Crawford Texas, Sept. 2005

Something Is Seriously Wrong With This Picture:

Sgt. Gets 15 Months Prison For Resisting Iraq War:

Captain Gets 45 Days For Stealing And Selling Body Armor

November 27, 2005 Jack Dalton, Jack-dalton.blogspot.com [Excerpts]

It has been said of Sgt. Kevin Benderman by those in command and control at Ft. Stewart, GA., after Kevin publicly announced his refusal to deploy to Iraq a second time, that his action was "endangering" those from FT. Stewart who would be deploying to Iraq.

Officers at FT. Stewart, as well as some senior NCO's (non-commissioned officers for you non military types) along with the Hawks in the blogging community, were incessant in their condemnation of Kevin; with all of them articulating the same theme of how Kevin was endangering those who would go to Iraq by his (Kevin's) refusal to go.

Kevin is now in a military prison for the next 15 months.

(For full details and timeline on and about Kevin's position as a Conscientious Objector, trial and subsequent events, I strongly urge you to see: BendermanTimeline )

Captain Schenk, S-2 at FT. Stewart, GA. (S-2 is Army military intelligence), was busted for stealing. He was stealing the armored plates for the body armor vests the troops from FT Stewart would be wearing in Iraq. Capt Schenk was then selling those plates on E-Bay for between $3,000 and $4,000 a piece.

Capt. Schenk was sent to jail for 45 days behind his theft of and sale of the protective gear the troops from FT. Stewart would need in Iraq.

For me, this presents an unanswered question: Why does a man who refuses to be a participant in what were illegal orders, in an illegal war, which was based on provable lies and deceptions, spend 15 months in a military jail; while a thief, a commissioned officer at the same base at the same time, gets caught selling the troops protective equipment and only gets 45 days in jail?

Something is seriously wrong with this picture to say the least!

This is an email Monica sent to me about life in the RCF at Ft Lewis, per a conversation with Kevin:

"The tables at the RCF mess hall were decorated with cornucopias full of fruit and nuts -- there were candy dishes full of treats in front of every inmate -- and there were three enormous ice sculptures on the serving tables.

"Kevin talked to one of the cooks who told him that the ice sculptures alone cost almost $1000.00.

"The inmates were not allowed to eat any of the candy, nuts or fruit.

"They have to wait longer to make phone calls home today - the phones near the command center at the front of the facility are off limits to them today because that is the entrance being used by family visitors who are coming to eat with the inmates and for special military guests. The inmates are not allowed to interact with anyone who has not been approved to come visit them, so they have been kept in hiding with access to the phones only at the back of the facility.

"The Col's response was that there were two budgets, one for decorations for the mess hall, and one for maintenance, and the toilets were part of the maintenance budget. Kevin said he told him that they needed to cancel the decor budget and fix the toilets.

"Kevin also told several that he was thankful for being at the RCF, and that he was sure he wanted to stay now that he had such a beautifully decorated mess hall to eat in. He said he told every commander he could find that he was grateful for his command at Ft. Stewart having lied and manipulated evidence just to put him at Ft. Lewis so he could see everything that he had - he thought he'd seen it all until he got there, and now they had just given him more to speak out about.

"Several told Kevin that it was Thanksgiving and that he should give it a rest for one day. Fools."

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

"They All Need To Get Out Of There Before Any More Of Those Guys Die"

Local Soldier Killed

November 21, 2005 The Associated Press

Coos Bay

A soldier whose wife and two children live in Coos Bay died from injuries suffered in Iraq, the Army said.

Spc. Vernon R. Widner, 34, and Pfc. Anthony Alex Gaunky, 19, of Sparta, Wis., both members of the 101st Airborne Division, were in a Humvee that was intentionally struck by a civilian vehicle, according to a news release from Multi-National Forces-Iraq.

Vernon Widner, 34, was well-known at Don's Diner & Ice Cream Parlor in Reedsport, where he worked as a cook for about four years, Tammy Widner said.

He joined the Army in April 2003, and Tammy Widner and her two sons moved from Reedsport to Coos Bay, where she is a certified nurse's aide at Bay Area Hospital.

Widner is also survived by his parents, Emmanuel and Sandra Widner of Redlands, Calif. Tammy Widner said she and her husband met in Redlands in 1994 and were married three years later.

The family moved to the Oregon Coast because "we wanted to get out of California and not raise our children there," she said. The boys are Cody, 11, and Dylan, 8.

Widner, 29, said she believes her husband wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a career Army man.

"His dad was in the Army, and it was something he thought he should do," she said. "He always wanted to do stuff like that. I know he liked it and was going to make it a career like his dad."

Widner said her husband had just returned to Iraq on what was at least his second tour of duty there. She last saw her husband, who was based in Fort Campbell, Ky., in late 2003. They kept in regular contact by computer, she said.

"I'm going to miss him playing with his boys," she said. "He was a very great dad."

Widner said she had never held a strong opinion about the war.

"I just think they all need to get out of there before any more of those guys die," she said. "He was only 34. It's young."

"I Just Wanted To See Him Come Home Safe"

November 23, 2005 By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer, Capital Newspapers

ALBANY -- Sgt. Dominic J. Sacco's luck was running out.

On Sunday, it wasn't a bomb, but a bullet, that killed Sacco, 32.

Although the hatch on Sacco's tank was shielded by armor plates on the front and back, Sacco caught a round from the side, possibly from a sniper, Livingston said.

"They said he died instantly," she said.

Sacco stuck his head out of the tank to make sure it was on course during a patrol in Taji, Iraq, a town north of Baghdad that previously was home to a missile plant.

Sacco was the kind of sergeant who put his troops first and tried his best to make sure they were safe, his sister said.

"He always said he looked out for his men," Livingston said, recalling talks with her brother about Army life and the perils of serving in Iraq. "He was very proud of that."

It was that sense of pride, along with his easygoing nature, that Sacco will be remembered for, said Livingston and Bryan Swim, who had known Sacco since they were in first grade together at the old School 23 on Whitehall Road.

"I still consider him my best friend," Swim said.

Sacco and Swim were typical Albany kids. Sacco lived on Mereline Avenue; Swim was a few blocks away on Hampton Street. They followed the Mets and L.A. Lakers, playing baseball during the summer and Atari during the winter. They hung out at the arcade in Crossgates Mall and shot hoops at School 23.

Swim recalled his buddy's adventurous side as well: They hiked at Thacher Park and once rode their bikes across the Dunn Memorial Bridge all the way to Troy and back.

After graduating from high school in 1991, Sacco found himself at loose ends for a couple of years, Swim said. He figured joining the Army could provide some focus and direction, so he signed up in 1996. "I think he wanted a change in his life," Swim said.

Sacco went to Fort Riley, Kan., where he trained to be a tanker. Swim didn't have as much contact with his childhood friend and didn't worry a lot about his safety until the Iraq war started.

Sacco would have turned 33 on Saturday.

"I just wanted to see him come home safe," Swim said.

Sacco leaves behind his wife, Brandy Armstrong, in Kansas; a 4-year-old stepdaughter, Elissa Armstrong; and a son, Anthony Sacco, who was born in August. His former wife, Louisa Testa, lives in Colonie. His parents live in Florida.

Livingston was headed to Kansas today for funeral arrangements and to comfort Sacco's widow and children.

She is planning a memorial service for him in Albany later this year, probably around the holidays.

21-Year-Old Oregon Marine Killed In Action

November 19, 2005 The Associated Press

ALBANY, Ore. - A 21-year-old marine from Oregon was killed in Iraq Saturday, his family confirmed.

Tyler Troyer, a lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine G Company, was attacked by insurgents on an early morning patrol near Fallujah, his mother told the Democrat Herald in Albany.

Terri Thorpe, of Tangent, said her son was shot in the head.

Troyer, a 2002 graduate of West Albany High School, enlisted in the marines after graduation to earn money for college. "I had to sign the papers because he wasn't 18," said Thorpe.

She said the yellow ribbon adorning her yard will stay put.

"He gave his life for people that he didn't know," she said. "Whether he was right or wrong, or the war's right or wrong, I can't answer that. I don't expect anyone to understand how I'm feeling. I do expect them to show our guys in Iraq respect," she said.

Troyer is the third West Albany High student to die in Iraq.

"Our school's going to be devastated," said Susie Orsborn, principal of West Albany. "I can't believe we have another one. I just can't believe it."

He was West's only left-handed pitcher and helped lead the team to the playoffs in 2002, the first time in 41 years.

Chad Angel, who coached Troyer for one season, described him as: "Real talkative. Typical left-handed pitcher, you know? A little bit out there at times. Everybody liked him. He was everybody's friend."

He was engaged and planned to get married on the beach in Oregon when he returned early next year.

Thorpe said two marines in dress uniform arrived at her doorstep on Saturday afternoon. "The minute I opened the door, of course, obviously, you know," she said. "I screamed and yelled and fell to the floor, and so did my husband."

Tyrone L. Chisholm

November 16 2005 SavannahNOW

Sgt. Tyrone L. Chisholm wanted to make sure his two little girls had a merry Christmas.

So when he returned from Iraq for a two-week break in September, he announced to his aunt, Evelyn Wilson, that her attic was a "fire hazard" and set about clearing it out.

The next day Chisholm came home with more than $200 in gifts. In the attic, he hid a plastic Jeep, Elmo and Winnie the Pooh toys, plus clothes for his daughters, Laionna, 3, and Chi'Kiyah, 2.

"He got up there and cleaned that attic for me, but he was really making room for those Christmas gifts," Wilson said. "He was just a good man, and he was a good dad."

Chisholm, 27, was killed Friday by a string of roadside bombs that detonated near his M-1 Abrams tank in Tal Afar, Iraq. The city is near the Syrian border, where the U.S. military has launched an attack aimed at tracking down insurgents and stopping the weapons flow from Syria.

Chisholm is the second Savannah native to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March of 2003. He was assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colo., and was on his second deployment to Iraq.

The Groves High School graduate joined the Army after traveling overseas to visit his brother, Staff Sergeant Frederick Wilson, who was then posted in Germany.

"He was really excited about the Army. He was proud of what he was doing, and he died doing what he wanted to do: serve his country," said Delores Baron, Chisholm's aunt.

Whenever Chisholm returned to Savannah, Wilson said he looked forward to eating her home-cooked meals, which he grew up on. Barbecue, okra soup and shrimp casserole were among his favorites.

In Lamarville, where Wilson lives, she said Chisholm was considered a role model to the children.

"Everybody knew him. Everybody loved him," she said.

Chisholm returned to Iraq on Oct. 5 after securing a promise from his family they'd make sure his daughters got their Christmas presents.

At the airport, he became emotional and told Wilson he would try to get the Army to assign him to Fort Stewart, so he could be closer to home.

"It was the first time I ever saw him cry," she said. "He missed his family."

World Lost 'Perfect Kid'

November 23, 2005 By Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer

HAZEL PARK  At his parents' house in Hazel Park, John Dearing looked at pictures of his only son John W. Dearing in his National Guard uniform and tried to come to grips with the grief that seized him in waves.

"I wanted to keep him home," Dearing said as he looked at a photo of the young man the family called "J.W."

Dearing covered his face with his hand and fought back two deep sobs.

"The world lost a perfect kid," he said.

PFC John W. Dearing, 21, of Hazel Park was a gunner riding in a Humvee with five other soldiers when it ran over a land mine Monday in northern Iraq, killing him instantly. The other soldiers suffered serious burns over most of their bodies but survived.

Dearing's paternal grandmother Mary Lee Dearing watched her son as he walked off to the kitchen where relatives tried to comfort him.

"He's so angry about it," Mary Lee said. "He's angry that his only son volunteered to go over there and got killed."

J.W. was an honor student and athlete who graduated from Oscoda High School in 2003. His mother Kitty still lives there.

He had joined the reserves when he was still in high school, Mary Lee said.

"He was a good kid who graduated with all A's and loved baseball and the Atlanta Braves," she said.

A small, undecorated Christmas tree sat on the dining room table where Mary Lee gathered with some of her relatives. About a dozen pictures of J.W. were spread out on the table beneath the tree in the place where presents usually go.

They remembered how his favorite ballplayer was the Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and how he had just married his wife Amanda in June, starting out in a rented house on Garfield Street.

Amanda, a 2004 Hazel Park High School graduate, was with her parents at their house Tuesday, a short distance away from the Dearing clan.

She remembered how she found out Monday that her young husband was dead.

"I was downstairs in the basement and my dad called me up to the living room," said Amanda, 19. "I saw three National Guard officers standing there and I started bawling my eyes out. Nobody had to say a word. I knew right away."

Tuesday brought memories for Amanda. She recalled J.W.'s great sense of humor and how they hit it off as soon as they met in September 2004. They got engaged a month later.

Inside the house they shared in their brief married life, J.W. had trophies for baseball and track, she said.

"He was free spirited but he was serious when he was doing his job," Amanda Dearing said.

J.W.'s Saginaw-based Guard unit had already done a tour of duty in Egypt and he volunteered to go to Iraq after he returned.

"He moved down to Hazel Park from Oscoda to work with his uncle doing excavation work," Amanda said. "He volunteered to go to Iraq. I was worried. But he wanted to serve his country  he really believed in that  and he volunteered."

About a week after he married Amanda, J.W. began a series of deployments with his Guard unit that ended in Iraq where he celebrated his 21st birthday Sept. 10.

Amanda will talk with a counselor today who deals with grieving families, she said.

"I've had a lot of support from family and friends," she said. "I'm just trying to cope with the brutal reality of things."

The night Mary Lee Dearing found out her grandson J.W. had been killed in action, she spent a long time at the kitchen simply crying and trying to come to terms with reality of his death.

"I cried it out (Monday) night," she said.

In the darkness outside her house, a porch light cast a circle of light and illuminated part of a yellow ribbon wrapped around a large tree.

The relatives talked about what today will bring.

J.W. is to be buried at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, his father said. "We'll be going up there (today) I guess," he said, running a hand through his gray hair. "We don't really have any other details yet though."

Baquba IED Wounds Four U.S. Soldiers

11/28/2005 Reuters

BAQUBA - Four U.S. soldiers were wounded in a car bomb attack on a military convoy in Baquba, north of Baghdad, on Monday, the military said. At least one vehicle was destroyed in the attack, witnesses said.

OK. YOU GOT IT:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

U.S. Army Spc. Edward Williams of Waco, Texas, sits on a humvee above a sign that says 'danger' in Arabic in central Baghdad Oct. 26, 2005. Some Iraqis said they hope the U.S. 'occupiers' will soon go home. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Mt. Shasta Soldier Dies

Nov. 23, 2005 Associated Press

MT. SHASTA, Calif. - A 21-year-old Mt. Shasta man who chose the Army over firefighting has been killed in Afghanistan.

Spc. Matthew P. Steyard died Tuesday when an improvised explosive device blew up near his Humvee while he was on patrol in the village of Shah Wali Kot, the Army said.

Steyard graduated from Mt. Shasta High School and the College of the Siskiyou's Fire Academy, but decided firefighting wasn't for him and joined the Army in September 2003, his stepfather, Richard Patrick, said Wednesday.

"He thought if he could jump out of airplanes and see the world, that's what he wanted to do," Patrick said.

Steyard was trained as an infantryman and graduated from jump school before being assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, which is based in Vicenza, Italy. The unit was sent to Afghanistan last winter.

Steyard told friends he wanted to pursue a career as a game warden for the state Department of Fish and Game after he left the Army.

"He just enjoyed whatever he was doing," said Jake Cole, one of Steyard's high school classmates. "I never understood why he wanted to jump out of airplanes, but he liked that. He thought it was really neat."

Steyard's high school wrestling coach, Rodney Greer, said Steyard had a "great work ethic that was a part of everything in his life. He just gave 100 percent, from zero to full throttle, nothing in between. That was the way he lived his life."

TROOP NEWS

"We Started The War Based On A Lie, And We'll Finish It Based On A Lie"

November 28, 2005 Stars and Stripes

Weapons of mass destruction?

I'm still looking for them, and if you find any give me a call so we can justify our presence in Iraq.

We started the war based on a lie, and we'll finish it based on a lie.

I say this because I am currently serving with a logistics headquarters in the Anbar province, between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

I am not fooled by the constant fabrication of "democracy" and "freedom" touted by our leadership at home and overseas.

This deception is furthered by our armed forces' belief that we can just enter ancient Mesopotamia and tell the locals about the benefits of a legislative assembly.

While our European ancestors were hanging from trees, these ancient people were writing algebra and solving quadratic equations. Now we feel compelled to strong-arm them into accepting the spoils of capitalism and "laissez-faire" society.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Britney Spears on MTV and driving to McDonald's, but do you honestly believe that Sunnis, Shias and Kurds want our Western ideas of entertainment and freedom imposed on them? Think again.

I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic.

The reality in Iraq is that the United States created a nightmare situation where one didn't exist. Yes, Saddam Hussein was an evil man who lied, cheated and pillaged his own nation. But how was he different from dictators in Africa who commit massive crimes again humanity with little repercussion and sometimes support from the West?

The bottom line up front (BLUF to use a military acronym) is that Saddam was different because we used him as an excuse to go to war to make Americans "feel good" about the "War on Terrorism."

The BLUF is that our ultimate goal in 2003 was the security of Israel and the lucrative oil fields in northern and southern Iraq.

Weapons of mass destruction?

Call me when you find them. In the meantime, "bring 'em on" so we can get our "mission accomplished" and get out of this mess.

Capt. Jeff Pirozzi

Camp Taqaddum, Iraq

A Pentagon Guerrilla-Warfare Expert Concludes:

"We Are Repeating Every Mistake We Made In Vietnam"

[Thanks to Don Bacon, The Smedley Butler Society, who sent this in.]

Sep. 26, 2005 By JOE KLEIN, Time Magazine [Excerpts]

More than a dozen current and former intelligence officers knowledgeable about Iraq spoke with TIME in recent weeks to share details about the conflict.

They voiced their growing frustration with a war that they feel was not properly anticipated by the Bush Administration, a war fought with insufficient resources, a war that almost all of them now believe is not winnable militarily.

"We're good at fighting armies, but we don't know how to do this," says a recently retired four-star general with Middle East experience. "We don't have enough intelligence analysts working on this problem. The Defense Intelligence Agency puts most of its emphasis and its assets on Iran, North Korea and China. The Iraqi insurgency is simply not top priority, and that's a damn shame."

From the beginning of the insurgency, U.S. military officers have tried to contact and negotiate with rebel leaders, including, as a senior Iraq expert puts it, "some of the people with blood on their hands."

The frequent replacement of U.S. military and administrative teams in Baghdad has made it difficult to develop a counterinsurgency strategy.

The accumulation of blunders has led a Pentagon guerrilla-warfare expert to conclude, "We are repeating every mistake we made in Vietnam."

The leadership in Baghdad changed yet again this year. Negroponte left Baghdad in March to become director of national intelligence. He was replaced by Zalmay Khalilzad.

But the turnover in the Iraqi government was far more important: religious Shi'ites, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, took charge, a severe irritant to many Sunnis. "The insurgents see al-Jaafari as a traitor, a man who spent the Iran-Iraq war in Iran," says a senior military officer. "And many of the best officers we have trained in the new Iraqi army--Sunnis and secular Shi'ites who served in Saddam's army--feel the same way."

Al-Jaafari did not help matters by opening diplomatic ties with Iran, apologizing for Iraq's behavior in the Iran-Iraq war and cutting economic deals with the Iranians.

Another hot debate in the intelligence community is whether to make a major change in the counterinsurgency strategy--to stop the aggressive sweeps through insurgent-riddled areas, like the recent offensive in Tall 'Afar, and try to concentrate troops and resources with the aim of improving security and living conditions in population centers like Baghdad.

"We've taken Samarra four times, and we've lost it four times," says an intelligence officer. "We need a new strategy."

"The Soldier Was Talking About How Much The Insurgents Had Improved"

28 November 2005 By Bob Herbert, The New York Times

The disparagement of Iraqi security forces by American troops was so widespread that Mr. Murtha was surprised when one soldier "started talking about how good they are, how much they've improved, and so forth."

It was a miscommunication. The congressman soon realized that the soldier was talking about how much the insurgents had improved; how they had become more sophisticated, and thus "more deadly."

"I Would Definitely Say That Baghdad Is Enemy Territory," Said Colonel Lanza

September 19, 2005 clairmont.info

"I would definitely say that Baghdad is enemy territory," said Colonel Lanza, a member of the first cavalry division responsible for patrolling a wide area of Baghdad with a population of l.3 million.

Captain Peter McCulloch of the Black Watch: "The enemy is everywhere and nowhere. I see children, women and old men; the young men have vanished. But we know as the fighting has shown that we are the hated enemy. The children and the women are no longer afraid.

"How often have we been taunted by young boys and above all girls? Their pet word is 'scum', which hits the bullseye."

On Body Counts

September 20, 2005 Ivan Eland, Commondreams.org

Other comparisons with the Vietnam War can be made. After first avoiding Vietnam-like body counts of enemy dead, wounded, and captured, the U.S. military is now doing them to demonstrate that it is winningat the same time that increasing violence indicates that the opposite is happening.

NATIONAL DAY OF COUNTER-RECRUITMENT:

December 6, 2005

Campus Antiwar Network

http://www.campusantiwar.net

Say No To The Solomon Amendment!

Campus Anti-War Network is calling for actions around the country to show the federal government that they cannot intimidate schools for kicking out military recruiters.

On December 6, the Supreme Court will hear the FAIR v Rumsfeld case (brought by several universities), which will decide whether schools can ban military recruiters without losing federal funding. Currently, the Solomon Amendment allows the government to cut off federal funding from schools that ban military recruiters.

This policy forces schools to accept military recruitment, even though the military's anti-gay "don't ask, don't tell" policy violates university anti-discrimination policies.

Bring The Movement For COLLEGE NOT COMBAT To Your Town!

On Dec 6, when the Supreme Court hears FAIR v Rumsfeld, students will hold protests at military recruiting stations, federal buildings and school administrative offices across the country, including in San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York City, and many other places. In Washington, D.C., a demonstration will take place on the steps of the Supreme Court.

We are proud to join the fight against anti-gay discrimination in the military. We also believe that recruitment for the war in Iraq has no place in schools. Our action comes amid increasing revelations of the horror of the Iraq occupation. Recent video footage shows that the US used chemical weapons (white phosphorus) in Fallujah, laying bare the truth about exactly who is using "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq. Nobody should have to take part in this to pay for school! On December 6, we refuse to let the military recruit young people to kill and die in a war based on lies.

December 6 is also the one-year anniversary of Navy petty officer Pablo Paredes' refusal to board his ship in protest of the war, which sparked a national campaign that displayed and strengthened the growing refusal of soldiers to fight this war. Recently, the counter-recruitment movement won a massive victory in San Francisco, where 60% of voters approved a College Not Combat proposition to oppose military recruiters in schools and support scholarships to counteract the poverty draft  which targets the poor and people of color. Today, with the Bush administration in a growing crisis and expanding calls for immediate withdrawal, we want to spread the "College Not Combat" movement across the country!

Let's mobilize on Dec 6 to counter the military's ability to wage its illegal war, support the right of universities to oppose military recruiting on their campuses, and bring the troops home from Iraq!

Say No to the Solomon Amendment!

COLLEGE NOT COMBAT! TROOPS OUT NOW!

Organized by the Campus Antiwar Network

http://www.campusantiwar.net / RecruitersOut@yahoo.com

ENDORSED BY:

ORGANIZATIONS: Bay Area United Against War; Bloomington Peace Action Coalition; Central Vermont Peace and Justice; Cities for Peace; Free Palestine Alliance; International Action Center; International Socialist Organization; Justice in Palestine Coalition; Peninsula Raging Grannies; San Juan Peace Network; Stop the War Coalition (UK); Texans for Peace; Traprock Peace Center; Youth Against War and Racism

INDIVIDUALS: AHMED SHAWKI, editor, International Socialist Review and member, steering committee, National Council of Arab-Americans; ANTHONY ARNOVE, editor, Iraq Under Siege; BONNIE WEINSTEIN, Bay Area United Against War; BRIAN WILLSON, member, coordinating Committee, Humboldt Bay Veterans For Peace, and Commissioner, Arcata City Nuclear Free Zone and Peace Commission; CAMILO MEJIA, war resister; Carl Webb, war resister; CEYLON MOONEY, co-coordinator, Wheels of Justice Tour, Voices for Creative Nonviolence; CHARLES JENKS, Advisory Board Chair, Traprock Peace Center; CHARLES PETERSON, Holyoke Community College student assaulted for peaceful counter-recruitment; CHARLIE JACKSON, co-founder, Texans for Peace; CINDY SHEEHAN, mother of U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, who camped outside Bush's Crawford ranch to hold him accountable; DAHR JAMAIL, writer; DAVID AIRHART, Iraq war veteran and Kent State student who beat expulsion charges for peaceful counter-recruitment; DAVID ROVICS, progressive songwriter and musician; DAVID SWANSON, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org; DAVID ZIRIN, author, What's My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States; DENNIS KYNE, Gulf War veteran and activist; DIRK ADRIAENSENS, coordinator of SOS Iraq and member of the Executive committee of the Brussells Tribunal; HOWARD ZINN, author of People's History of the United States; M. JUNAID ALAM, co-editor of LeftHook.org; KATHY KELLY, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence; LINDSAY GERMAN, convenor, Stop the War Coalition (UK); MICHAEL LETWIN, Co-Convener, NYC Labor Against the War, and Former president, UAW Local 2325; NATYLIE BALDWIN, Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center; NORMAN SOLOMON, author and syndicated columnist; PABLO PAREDES, war resister; PALOA PISI, publisher of Uruknet (Italy); PAT ELDER, co-founder, DC Anti-War Network; PHIL GASPER, Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame de Namur University in California; RANDY KEHLER, Vietnam War draft noncooperator, long-time peace activist/war-tax refuser, former national coordinator, Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, co-founder and first Director of Traprock Peace Center; RANIA MASRI, writer and researcher; SHANNYN SOLLITT, Peace Activist/Educator -NetWorks Productions; TARIQ KHAN, George Mason University student assaulted and arrested for peaceful counter-recruitment; THOMAS F. BARTON, publisher of G.I. Special; TODD CHRETIEN, author of Proposition I/College Not Combat ballot initiative in San Francisco; WARD REILLY, South East National Contact - Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Baton Rouge.

All affiliations are for identification purposes only

We welcome all organizations to endorse this day of action and/or organize with us. If you want to endorse, organize an action in your area, or learn about the action nearest you, email recruitersout@yahoo.com and check out our website at

http://www.campusantiwar.net

Campus Antiwar Network

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

11/28/2005 Associated Press & (Xinhuanet) & Reuters & KUNA

A mortar shell fell in central Baghdad's Green Zone and two others fell nearby, just hours before Saddam Hussein's trial was set to begin. There were no report of injuries from the shelling, police Lt. Bilal Ali Majeed said.

Insurgents shot dead a leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

Iraqi Islamic Party members Iyad Alizi and Ali Hussein and one of their bodyguards were killed when insurgents opened fire on their car near Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad in Innaz area east of Fallujah. Alizi was one of the party's candidates for next month's parliamentary polls.

Insurgents frequently attacked Iraqi Islamic Party members since the party dropped opposition to the draft constitution two days before the Oct. 15 referendum.

KIRKUK - One Iraqi soldier was killed and another was wounded when armed fighters opened fire on their convoy south of Kirkuk on Monday, police said.

MAHAWEEL - A local Interior Ministry official's bodyguard was killed and four people were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy they were travelling in on Monday, police said. The ministry official was unhurt.

BAGHDAD - One of Baghdad mayor's guards was shot dead on Monday in the Albaya district of Baghdad, hospital sources said.

In the Rabae Street in the western part of Baghdad, insurgents at noon Monday used machingun fire to kill two newsmen of the government-run Iraq T.V. channel. Four crew members were injured in the attack, an Iraqi police source said.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

"When The Soldiers Discover They Have Been Reared On A Diet Of Lies They Start To Crack"

From: JM

To: GI Special

Sent: November 28, 2005 5:28 AM

Subject: The other side of the story part 2:

"The Fellow Soldiers Called Upon The Commanding General Not To Cashier The Four Refusers"

I think this is the normal Israeli propaganda.

Remember how Hitler, in the early days, painted himself nice and the opposition evil.

The Israeli right wingers are much more expert. When they shot and killed the UN representative, Ian Hook, they said he was shielding terrorists. Remember the frightened little schoolgirl who was shot repeatedly to confirm the kill. There are men, in prison, in Israel for refusing to be in the IDF or fight in the occupied territories.

I feel these soldiers may represent a growing number who are unable to live with what they are forced to do.

The whole society is orientated towards the belief that the IDF are heroes and the public are fed much anti-Arab/Palestinian propaganda.

There is a wide divide between reality and what official reports say.

When the soldiers discover they have been reared on a diet of lies they start to crack.

Some end up in prison for refusing to continue and others develop psychological problems. This is normal but the lies continue.

They do not have fierce battles. They Palestinians don't have many weapons - that why they have to resort to detonating explosives on themselves.

Most of the targeted killing follow careful planning. The men killed are either hit by a missile, that kills the civilians in the area as well, or shot without warning, or killed when they are unarmed. Only infrequently is an Israeli soldier injured or killed.

The official statements put out by the IDF are illusions, cover-ups, delay tactics. In other words they are complete fabrications, lies, that people only believe because they want to.

A History Of U.S. Armed Forces Rebellions:

1. Bloods, Con't

By Martin Smith (Sgt. USMC; out of service)

Writing this was about healing a really dark chapter in my life, my experience in the marine corps. The words I wrote came out of an inner pain and experience that needed to heal.

But most of all, I hope that my words in some way bring an end to this god damn war and that no one else will have to come back in a body bag.

This isn't about me, it's all about bringing the troops home now,

Martin Smith

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African American troops in Vietnam used the language of black power as well. By reclaiming specific words as symbolic of black unity, troops began to express new forms of solidarity and empowerment with each other. Raising consciousness by subverting verbal expressions, troops used the expression "to blackenize" to describe the transformation that allowed GIs to express pride through cultural identity. As veteran Reginald "Malik" Edwards, who served in the marine corps from June 1965 to March 1966 at Da Nang recalls:

"When I went to Quantico, my being black, they gave me the black squad, the squad with most of the blacks, especially the militant blacks. And they started hippin' me...[T]hey hipped me to terms like "exploitation" and "oppression."...So then one day, I just told them I was black. I didn't call them blanco, they didn't have to call me Negro. That's what started to get me in trouble. I became a target. Somebody to watch."

Other words such as "bloods," "brothers," "togetherness," and "unity" affi