Category: War

Thomas Paine

These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

-Published on 23 December 1776

This diary was written to be read while listening to Rusted Root’s “Cruel Sun” off their album “When I Woke” (1994)

Click to listen….then click ‘play’…

Cruel Sun

See the bloody faces lifted to the sky

Do you want to run to a future left behind?

I remember asking why, there lies aggression.

Separation where there should be love

Power plays while the people die

Let it rain and protect us from this cruel sun

Let it rain and protect us from this cruel sun

I remember asking why, there lies aggression

Separation where there should be love

Power plays while the people die

I remember asking why, I remember asking why

I remember asking why, I remember asking why, why.

Open up your eyes, your eyes and let the child learn.

Open up your eyes, and let the child learn

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

Why does war kill only the small man?

Why does war kill only the small man?

I think we know, yes, we know

I think we know, know, know

I remember asking why.

I remember asking why.

I remember asking why.

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

Let it rain, and protect us from this cruel sun

My mother was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer on September 10th, 2001…a day before the Twin Towers were felled.  

We sat there we two, in front of the telly, mesmerized like the rest of the world…numb…unable to function…motionless…expressionless…empty.

I had just happened to fly home to visit my mother in California for a week and was unable to leave…all flights grounded…how could I leave her alone in her condition anyway???

I stayed and took care of her, of course…I don’t shirk my responsibilities…I had to leave my job and school in Miami Beach, Florida, gave up my apartment and split with my then boyfriend, whom I am now married to.  Luckily he was very understanding…

I was her only child, and she raised me by herself…it was always just the two of us.

So, on October 6th, the night before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, aggravated by the recent politics and propaganda, I climbed into bed with my mother for the first time in my adult life and held her tight.  

As we both lie there crying for what was about to happen, I remember asking why…why did we jump so quickly and so blindly into war without so much as  an investigation?

I remember asking why…was war even a possibility with so many other tools at our disposal, we were such a civilized society here in the states, that there must be some other avenues to trod down first.  Pre-emptive war must always be the last straw, not first thought.

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will have hearings, reports and testimonials from the women and men who have fought in this war.  All three days of hearings will be broadcast on several outlets including, Pacifica FM Radio, warcomeshome.org, and speak peace tv.

Pacifica’s schedule is:

  Friday, 3/14 ….. 9AM to 7PM EDT.    Saturday, 3/15 ….. 9AM to 7PM EDT

                           Sunday, 3/16 …… 10AM to 4PM EDT  

More information and on-line streaming at kpfa or on war comes home, linked at kpfa.

The first Winter Soldier hearings were in early 1971 during the Vietnam war.  It was a forum where combat troops could voice their disillusionment at having found themselves in a crazy and illegal war.  Like today, Winter Soldier gave troops a safe environment to express their guilts, fears and anguish at participating in a war where atrocities were committed, where it felt like some wrongs had to be committed just to survive.

The name “Winter Soldier” comes from Thomas Paine in 1776:

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

When I first listened to the Vietnam Winter Soldiers, years ago, it felt as if my soul was ripped apart, but ripped apart in a necessary, righteous, imperative way.  I knew I must understand what these wars do to our soldiers, to the “enemy” and to all of us.  The hearings were a step toward healing.  They were also a major factor in raising awareness about the conflict.  Two other actions flowed from the Winter Soldier hearings: Dewey Canyon III, A Brief Incursion into the Country of Congress, and troops tesitfying at congressional hearings.  

Dewey Canyon III was named after an illegal invasion into Laos called Operation Dewey Canyon (I & II) where American troops met the NVA (North Vietnam Army regulars) and suffered heavy casualties.  Dewey Canyon III was a very powerful and effective action where troops camped for days on the capitol mall, and threw their medals back on the capitol steps.  As one vet said, while throwing his medals back —

I’m not proud of these medals.  I’m not proud of what I did to receive them.  A whole year, we never took one prisoner alive.  Just wasted them.

As for Winter Soldier I:

It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit – the emotions in the room, and the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.”

In one of the most famous antiwar speeches of the era, Kerry concluded: “Someone has to die so that President Nixon won’t be – and these are his words – ‘the first president to lose a war’. We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Since it is imperative that we:

         End the madness of War     and     Create the Sanity of Peace

It is also imperative to have as much information as possible and to do everything we can to reverse this course.  Bush has called for a war without end.  We must counter with a peace movement without end.  In a preview of this Winter Soldier II, one vet expressed this perfectly, saying that when a war ends, the peace movement just picks up and goes home; we must not do that again.  The peace movement must remain, ever vigilant, saying “No” again and again to any and every threat of permanent war.

Winter Soldier Begins Today, Live Coverage Begins Tommorrow

Posted on: March 13, 2008 – 5:27am by Aaron Glantz

Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan kicks off in Washington, DC today, with hundreds of veterans of the two wars descending on the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland to talk about what they saw, and did, in the name of America. Pacifica radio will be carrying the proceedings live beginning at 9am Eastern tomorrow morning. Audio will be streamed live from Warcomeshome.org and kpfa.org until 4pm EST on Sunday.

They Didn’t Hate Us Before!

Just One Of Tens of Thousands, NOW!!

Um Saad, a middle-aged woman living in the Sunni district of Khadra in west Baghdad, blames the Americans for the death of her husband and two of her sons and threatens revenge.

An Update to my post from last night, I also expect a Video report following a local TV Stations nightly news from the area, with the family press conferance.

Body identified as former Marine Hall

(Last updated: March 12, 2008 11:14 AM)  

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has notified Eric Hall’s family this morning that the remains found in a culvert Sunday was the former Marine.

A detective from the agency notified the family at 10 a.m. and relayed the cause of death has not been determined.

Becky Hall, Eric’s mother, plans a press conference at noon.

The family scheduled a military memorial service at noon Thursday at the Faith Lutheran Church, 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda.

I certainly hope this Country is out of it’s collective Denial, about Vietnam, and it’s Apathy as to this World we live in, much of it created by our past policies and now the present, for the Future is Here!

I’m not one of the IGTNT Posters, that do such a Great Honor for those who have lost their lives to this Countries Failed Policies. And I doubt they’ll mind me using the initials for I bring Sad News!

Back on Febuary 21st I posted an Alert about a missing Marine, Eric Hall {that link takes you to my site}.

I started that off with this:

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book that in 2008, its sixth year, the Iraq war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the “burn” rate of its earliest years.

YIKES!  I can see where that might have an effect on our economy beyond the already trillions-of-dollars deficit we currently are dealing with.

From AP:

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show.

Actually, with the current amount of violence in Iraq beginning to climb once again, that statement might be incorrect in itself.  Anyway, back to the wars and the economy.

Beyond 2008, working with “best-case” and “realistic-moderate” scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs.

On Sunday, 3-9-08, a fundraiser was held at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach for Iraq veterans eager to talk about the war they saw; a war rife with death, anger, courage and lies. The fundraisers intent was to help defray the costs needed to send the same vets to speak in Washington D.C. at Winter Soldier II, to be held from Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16, prior to that  The District Weekly of Long Beach asked several of them to tell them their stories.

Below you will find some snips about each and what they had to say, with the link above taking you to the rest.

March 19th marks the 5th anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.  This debacle is costing us ,upwards of two trillion dollars, nearly four thousand American lives so far, and a million or so Iraqi lives.  

The Origin of the VA Motto

To care for him

who shall have borne the battle

and for his widow, and his orphan

A couple of days ago I posted this Lets See Now, ‘Supporting The Troops’

On a few boards, the link here goes to my site.

In the post I asked a question “Once again I’ll ask, if we as a Country ‘Support The Troops’, why do We Make Those Same Troops and Veterans Jump through Hoops of Red Tape and Broken Promises to Seek That Support ?!!!!

I’m not going to go into what many of my ‘Nam Brothers went through, upon returning and loooong after, it’s easy to find the facts for those to young or not around than. For those old enough, well, most just plain weren’t paying attention, and Now We’re Repeating because of that!