Jeremy Hinzman was a soldier in the United States Army's elite
infantry division, the 82nd Airborne. In 2002 and 2003 he served in
Afghanistan in a non-combat role after applying for conscientious
objector status. His application was refused and he learned that he
would be deployed to Iraq. In January 2004 he drove to Niagara Falls,
crossing the border with his partner Nga Nguyen and son Liam.
Background: the view from Germany
Berlin, May 26, 2009. Early in June, President Barack Obama will sign into law the
supplemental funding of 92 billion U.S. dollars for the wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan that was approved by the U.S. Congress last week.
Then he will depart for a speaking tour and meetings with heads of state in
Egypt and in Europe.
MARFA, Texas - "It's a matter of what I'm willing to live with," Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who is refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. "I'm not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong."
Agosto, who returned from a 13-month deployment to Iraq in November 2007, is based at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.
While in Iraq, Agosto never left his base, located in northern Iraq.
"I felt like I was being robbed of everything," Matthew Dobbs said over the phone from his home in Houston, Texas. "I had visions of military police banging down my door and dragging me back to war."
Dobbs, a 26 year-old former soldier who served a tour in Afghanistan from 2003-2004, was recounting a story that has become familiar in the ongoing Global War on Terror. It is the story of a soldier who, after serving a tour overseas and being discharged from Active Duty, received involuntary orders to re-deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan years later.
As Americans are inundated with revelations about the lies, torture and other crimes that
accompanied the US-led war in Iraq, many who resisted continue to be
punished for refusing to participate in those crimes.
On April 21st, 2009, U.S. Sergeant Matthis Chiroux, 25, faces Army
prosecution in St. Louis, Missouri for publicly refusing to deploy to
Iraq last summer. Like many other resisters, Chiroux was in military service for many
years before he came to the conclusion that the wars and occupations in
Iraq and in Afghanistan are wrong and found the courage to speak out.
Since last summer he has been a key activist in the U.S.
In 2004 when Jeremy Hinzmen applied
for refugee status in Canada the Conservative government stepped in at his
Refugee Hearing and said that evidence challenging the legality of the war in
Iraq can't be used in this case. The U.N. Handbook for Refugees and the
Nuremburg Principals say:
A soldier of an army that is involved in an
illegal war of aggression has
a higher international duty to refuse service. They also have the right
to seek refugee protection in any country that is signatory to the
Geneva Convention.
Fleeing Fort Carson, Colo., in an old Camaro, Army deserter Joshua Key had a secret destination: Philadelphia.
After serving seven months in Iraq as a combat engineer, he went on the run during a home leave in 2003 rather than return to a war he had concluded was immoral.
"At the very beginning, I asked a military lawyer, 'What are my choices?' " he recalled recently. "He said, 'You have two: Get back on the plane and go to Iraq, or you're going to jail.' "
In
the past weeks, the Harper Administration has moved swiftly to push
U.S. Iraq War resisters out of Canada, issuing removal orders to five
more resisters who had resettled up north. Two have recently been
forced out of the country, and the rest continue their appeals through
the Canadian Courts. This adds to the growing number of U.S. war
resisters in Canada who are being threatened with deportation and
eventually U.S. military court martials and imprisonment.
When I am asked about Palestinian identity, one idea keeps coming to mind. I was told it would be translated into English as "steadfastness." I looked up what a steadfast person would be like and the dictionary says, "One marked by firm determination or resolution--not shakable--of firm convictions and strong resolve. A man of unbendable perseverance and unwavering loyalty."
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: A leading Palestinian politician defends his people and their nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation.
