VIGILS AND ACTION: SUPPORT WAR RESISTERS NOW MORE THAN EVER!

DEAR CANADA:  LET U.S. WAR RESISTERS STAY!

Jan. 25-26 Days of Action
www.couragetoresist.org/canada


Support the Troops with the Courage to Resist!

Join and support January 25, 2008 vigils and delegations in support of U.S. war resisters currently seeking sanctuary Canada. Actions are being planned in Washington D.C., New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Supporters will meet with officials at Canadian Consulates across the United States in order underscore that many Americans hope that the Canadian Parliament votes (possibly as early as February) in favor of a provision to allow war resisters to remain.

The following day, Saturday, January 26, the War Resisters Support Campaign (Canada) has called for a Canada-wide mobilization to ensure that deportation proceedings against U.S. war resisters cease immediately, and to support a sanctuary provision.

Today the fate of approximately 200 U.S. war resisters in Canada is at a very critical juncture. Your support can make a difference. Let the Canadian government know that you support U.S. servicemembers that are taking a stand against the Iraq War and occupation. They should not be deported to face prosecution for following their conscience and upholding international law.

On December 6, Courage to Resist organizers attended a
meeting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration
of the House of Commons in Ottawa that adopted a motion that
was a critical victory for Iraq War resisters seeking sanctuary. It’s
now possible that the full House of Commons may vote on this
resolution as early as February. However, in the meantime, deportation
is becoming a real possibility for some of the resisters. It is critical to
build momentum in the wake of this important fi rst victory.

SAMPLE LETTER
Hon. Prime Minister Stephen Harper
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2, CANADA
Hon. Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Diane Finley
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1, CANADA
Stéphane Dion, Liberal Party
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6M8, CANADA
I am writing from the United States to ask you to make a
provision for sanctuary for the scores of U.S. military servicemembers
currently in Canada, most of whom have traveled to your country in
order to resist fi ghting in the Iraq War. Please let them stay in Canada.


TAKE ACTION

1. SIGN THE LETTER ONLINE
Courage to Resist volunteers will print and post via international
fi rst class mail three letters (intro text below-left) on your behalf. Each
will be separately addressed to a Canadian offi cial and will feature your
return name and address. See webpage above for complete text. Please
encourage friends to sign the letter online as well!
OR use the letter as an outline for a more personalized appeal
on behalf of yourself, church, union, or organization.

2. HELP COLLECT SIGNATURES
Download and print PDF letters and 11”x14” petitions.
Collect signatures and simply send the completed forms back to us.
We’ll mail the letters to Canada, and we’ll send signers a thank you.

3. DONATE
Consider a donation to Courage to
Resist so that we can continue sending
these letters regardless of signers ability to
contribute. Each set costs us over $2.50 to
produce and mail, so we’re counting on you.
ALSO, please consider donating to
War Resisters Support Campaign
(Canada) to directly “help U.S. war
resisters in need and to continue to
build a national campaign to ensure that
the Canadian government will make a
provision for US war resisters to stay in
Canada.” For more information, and to
donate: www.resisters.ca

4. Hold a House Party
Help get out the word. Invite friends over to watch and discuss
the new 60 min. documentary “Breaking Ranks” (available from
Courage to Resist for a $30 donation).

5. DISTRIBUTE
POSTCARDS
Order “Dear Canada:
Let U.S. War Resisters
Stay!” postcards for local
organizing and outreach at
events. Each pre-addressed with
a brief message to Canadian offi cials. Twenty sets of postcards (3 per
set—60 total) are available for only $10.
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
www.couragetoresist.org
510-488-3559

America lets veterans down again

Editorial: America lets veterans down again

By: M.J. Editorial Board

Posted: 1/15/08

A New York Times piece this week revealed 121 murders committed in the United States by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three-quarters of these were still enlisted when they committed their crimes, which included the murders of spouses, children and fellow soldiers, as well as strangers.

Post Viet Nam, Americans became aware of the high rates of homelessness, substance abuse and suicide among veterans. Their continuing misery should have long since sounded a warning to both the military and the American public that the mental health issues of veterans have not been sufficiently addressed. The warning, however, seems to have gone unheeded. Just as Viet Nam veterans were failed by the country they served, today's veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are being just as ruthlessly discarded, left with few resources to manage the emotional trauma of the bloodbath in which they participated.

As the military runs out of fresh bodies for its adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, recruitment standards are lowered and reports abound of shady practices by recruiters themselves that allow people ill-suited to combat to enlist. With the stresses of war enough to tax the mental resources of even the most well-adjusted recruit, those who suffer from preexisting mental and emotional conditions are almost guaranteed to break down in one way or another upon their return to the U.S.

As harmful as the recruiters who nudge through soldiers who don't meet enlistment standards and officials who turn a blind eye to their dishonesty, is the military's nefarious practice of forcing soldiers into repeated and extended tours, in essence, working them until they break.

Although the military makes a great to-do about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder screening for those about to be discharged, the reality is that many go untreated. Those suffering from stress-induced mental illnesses are often undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed with some more innocuous-and less expensive-disorder. Add to this a military culture that treats mental illness as a sign of weakness; a thing to be hidden and ignored, and it's easy enough to see how those who enlisted with dreams of patriotic glory returned home murderers.

The military and the country as a whole have failed these veterans twice. First, by sending them to fight an unjust and unnecessary war, and again, when we leave those who return alone with the demons we gave them.

---

© Copyright 2008 Michigan Journal
http://www.themichiganjournal.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=82b615c8-8288-479f-8e42-57d01e61fb56
( http://tinyurl.com/yvaj7v )

Global day of protest AGAINST Guantánamo Bay

		Global day of protest A protester stands on the National Mall in Washington DC on January 11th, 2008.  Around the world, thousands demonstrated calling for the closure of Guantánamo on its 6th anniversary. ©AI In the past 24 hours, thousands of Amnesty International supporters staged protests in more than 30 countries spanning all five major continents, calling for an end to the unlawful detention centers at Guantánamo Bay. You are part of a global movement. Six years ago today, the U.S. began detaining people at Guantánamo Bay, without charge, without trial, without end. Since then, conservatives and liberals, military officers and interrogators, Senators and Members of Congress have condemned the detention camps there as immoral and ineffective.i We believe the perpetrators of the heinous attacks of September 11th must be brought to justice, and believe the U.S. has a duty to protect its citizens. But Guantánamo Bay helps us do neither. Justice only comes when governments uphold the rule of law and universally respect human rights. Those held at Guantánamo Bay must be given a fair trial or released. ii Take action today to help us tear down Guantánamo Bay. Tearitdown.org is now available in 5 languages and activists from around the world will be joining with you to take down Guantánamo Bay bit by bit, pixel by pixel. Remember that you are joined by millions around the world who are ready to see the U.S. change course: it's time for the U.S. to promote, defend and respect human rights. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Larry Cox Executive Director i Visit www.tearitdown.org to see quotes denouncing the detention centers at Guantanamo Bay. ii Framework for Closing Guantanamo Bay
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Appeals court upholds conscientious objector status for doctor

By Associated Press
Thursday, January 10, 2008

BOSTON - A federal appeals court has upheld a judge’s ruling that the Army was wrong to deny a Massachusetts doctor’s application for conscientious objector status.

Doctor Mary Hanna had agreed to serve four years on active duty and another four years in the reserve after the Army paid $184,000 for her to attend Tufts University School of Medicine.

But Hanna — a 31-year-old anesthesiologist — argued that her religious beliefs had since changed and she could not in good conscience participate in war. She went to court after her application for conscientious objector status was denied last September by an Army review board, which last September.

Judge Nancy Gertner overruled the decision and ordered Hanna discharged.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld Gertner’s ruling Wednesday by a 2-1 vote.

© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

to thr source
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1065718&srvc=rss

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PLAYING SOLDIER

January 8, 2008

You Too Can Have Your Child "Beasted"

Playing Soldier

By MICHAEL DICKINSON

"Join now. What are you waiting for?"

The Crown copyright website 'Camouflage', aimed at 12-17 year old children interested in discovering what it takes to make it in the British Army, requires registration for full access in order to watch its videos, read feature articles and play its 'awesome' online games.

Pictures on the homepage of active soldiers canoeing, mountain-climbing and skateboarding must have tempted many an adventure-starved youngster to log in, if only to check out the games.

It's simple to register. Even a child could do it. Just click the 'Sign up' button, give them your name and address, mobile phone number, and say if you are in, or intend to go into further or higher education. Do you really need to? "An Army career will teach you all the skills and knowledge you need for life," promises 'Camouflage'. They need your home address because they want to send you 'a credit card torch, kit bag and Camouflage Magazine, packed full of news and stories about the Army'.

Once they've got you on their register, you can access the site and learn things like the difference between soldier and officer skills, find out how the army survives in Kenya's hostile environment, and have fun with 'Think Tank', where you "imagine yourself in command of the British Army's ultimate armoured weapon ­ the big, bad Challenger 2 battle tank." The website aims to catch them young. As Colonel David Allfrey, head of the British Army's Recruitment Strategy remarked last year: "It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, 'That looks great." From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip."

'Camouflage' is mentioned this week in a critical report funded by the Rowntree Charitable Trust entitled 'Informed Choice? Armed Forces and Recruitment Practice in the UK'. In it, author David Gee claims that the primary target groups for armed forces non-officer recruiting are children and adolescents, mainly with "low educational attainment and living in poor communities" who have few options for the future and are seduced by the promise of an "action-man" lifestyle. Marketing to children below the recruitment age glamorizes warfare, the report says.

Britain is the only European country which recruits youngsters into the armed forces from the age of 16, an age at which they still can not legally drink alcohol or vote. Not too young to be trained to kill, however, although not deployed on operations until they are 18.

Overly optimistic literature gives new recruits a misleading picture of armed forces life, the report continues, and a survey last year found that 48 per cent of all soldiers found army life to be worse than expected, with only 20 per cent thinking it was better. Many recruits enlisted without fully understanding their legal obligations and the literature failed to explain that, unless they leave within six months of enlisting, minors have no legal right to leave for four years. Often recruiters do not meet the parents.

David Gee recommended sweeping changes to army recruitment policies, including a new charter setting out the government's responsibilities, a radical review of army recruitment literature, phasing out the targeting of minors, and new rights for soldiers to leave the service.

The report also highlights well-publicized problems in the army such as bullying and a lack of adequate attention paid to those with post-traumatic stress disorders.

The Ministry of Defence has criticised the report, saying some of its assertions were incorrect and ill-informed, others were selective in their interpretation of recruitment practices, and some of the evidence quoted was out of date. They denied targeting under-16s, saying that teams visited schools who invite them to raise "awareness of their armed forces in society, not to recruit." A spokesperson added: "Our recruitment practices avoid 'glamorising war' and we refute any allegation that they depict warfare as 'game-like'.

Meanwhile, back at the British Army website 'Camouflage', you can play the videogame 'Hostile Territory', where "you are an elite soldier on a dangerous mission deep in the Burmese jungle. Think you can stay alive in this action-packed multilevel game?"

How sad to think that some new recruits, after signing up for the promised life of adventure, find instead the disciplined territory of the barracks more hostile than a mission in the Burmese jungle, and even death preferable to the sadistic hell of bullying and abuse they find themselves trapped in.

New boys are pushed to the limits to see how much they can take. 'Babooning' is a common initiation ritual in many barracks, where the bare backsides of young rookies are whipped till red and raw. 'Beasting' is another, where a recruit will be stripped and anally penetrated with a broom handle. An ex-soldier recently anonymously claimed that a sergeant made a recruit jump from a second floor window, and would strip recruits naked and defecate on them.

Of the 23 young soldiers who have died at Catterick Camp army base in Yorkshire since 1994, seven have been found hanged, and six others dead from (possibly self-inflicted) gunshot wounds.

In 2004 a police probe at the Princess Royal barracks in Deepcut, Surrey, into the bullet-inflicted deaths of four young rookies aged between 17 ­ 20 (one a girl), uncovered over 100 claims of rape, racism and beatings. An independent review of the deaths, conducted by Nicholas Blake QC, concluded that the deaths were probably self-inflicted, but criticised army training, citing "harassment, discrimination and oppressive behaviour".

This week it was announced that the Deepcut barracks are to be demolished and the land used for a 5000-home housing estate, as part of an ongoing review aimed at maximising defence training outputs. There is growing concern among army chiefs that the service cannot go on performing tasks demanded of it, and 'preparing for other contingencies', without a substantial increase in manpower. At present more than £2bn is invested each year in recruiting and training

Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson, in charge of recruitment in the Armed Forces, argued that its recruitment processes are honest, but it is forced to compete against private companies, and that media coverage meant recruits could not be fooled as to the realities of military life. "We don't glamorize war," he said. "It wouldn't make sense for us to do so."

Meanwhile, the grieving parents of their children who died not in war, but in barracks, have formed a pressure group, 'Deepcut and Beyond'. Their demands for a full official inquiry have so far been met with denials, delays and suspected cover-ups by the Ministry of Defense.

It's time for the British Army to take off its camouflage and come clean. It's not going to be a pretty sight, but it will have to be faced and mended if we are to progress from the war games, the bullying and playing at soldiers, to a new world where an army of young men go out into the world not to kill and mindlessly obey the orders of fascists, but as a band of friends bent on doing good, to helping and mending the world we have almost destroyed.

Michael Dickinson, whose artwork graces the covers of Dime's Worth of Difference, Serpents in the Garden and Grand Theft Pentagon, lives in Istanbul. He can be contacted via his website http://yabanji.tripod.com/ or at: michaelyabanji@gmail.com


to the source:
http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson01082008.html