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| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/21/2007 6:59 PM
Report abusive post | Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier
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Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier
James Circello, Iraq Veterans Against The War
[link to www.afterdowningstreet.org]
To those Businessmen and women holding seats in Congress,
To the Highest Court of America,
To every Department within the U.S. government,
To the President's Cabinet,
To the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
To the Vice President and President of the United States of America:
My name is James Circello. I am sure some of you already know who I am now that wiretaps and spying on American citizens has been approved.
Or maybe you've heard of me when you saw my name on a comprehensive list of Anti-War activists.
Or maybe you just know of me because I was a Sergeant in the United States Army and served as an Airborne Infantryman for six years, went to Iraq in March 2003 and served until March 2004, remained in the Army a little longer before refusing to take part in the Occupation of the Middle East and went AWOL.
I am writing you today, not asking for forgiveness for what I decided to do, but to give you an idea of what brought me to that decision to leave the Army and speak out against the Occupation. Though some will claim I left for other reasons and will try to force the discussion away from the facts and at the same time attempt to assassinate my character with half truths and out right lies, these are the facts. If later we wish to get into more of my personal life, we can do that: I have no fear of it.
I will first like to say that I am no longer a member of the United States Armed Forces. When I left the military on Easter morning, April 2007, I have officially resigned from service to that military. There are no ties between myself and an oppressive military regime set on occupying groups of impoverished indigenous people.
I am no longer a Sergeant or a paratrooper.
I will not respect an organization that can and does, at its own will, change entire enlistment contracts for the purpose of extending soldiers;
Gives quarterly sexual harassment courses and still allows roughly 30% of women to be sexually assaulted in some way, shape or form;
Openly discriminates against people based on homosexuality, race, gender and ethnic background;
Allows crimes against humanity and peace to occur and covers them up with internal investigations;
Actively recruits young boys and girls from low level income high schools and communities with false promises of health care, school and job experience and fails on all accounts;
Refuses to recognize conscientious objectors (C.O.), and when individuals apply for C.O. status that are administratively "punished" by their chain of command;
I refuse to be a part of a military and Administration that continue to abuse and torture, doesn't recognize the rights of detainees and allows them to be shipped to secret detention facilities for "National Security" purposes; a military that is illegally, based on all U.S. as well as International Law, inside of Iraq; a military that is over extended, under funded in a war with no foreseeable end (because time tables give our enemy a "sense of victory", but how can the enemy have victory when "Mission Accomplished" has been declared?); a military that watches billions of government contracts given to private military outfits, while they run through the streets of Iraq unchecked, and allows soldiers to be poorly equipped and the V.A. poorly funded.; the No Child Left Behind Act and it's policy of making it mandatory for schools to send out the information of all students attending the school to military recruiters, or they are threatened with being cut off from Federal funding (I thought school was a place of
learning, not a place of turning our youth into the:
"(insert Arabic country name here) Veterans Against The War".
This and many other reasons are why I tell you today, I do not recognize any of the warrants that may have been placed upon me. These warrants are merely a way to silence any opposition to this criminal war. I do not support the United States foreign policy and will not be the fool that enforces it.
The United States has a history of using the poor of this country to massacre and oppress the poor of other countries and I say to everyone that is able to read this - I am no longer a member of the United States Armed Forces.
I also say, this by no way makes me Un-American. I love this country and feel very strongly that it can be saved and that it must be saved.
I say this without a growing ego, but my acts as of now are what the Founding Fathers envisioned and wrote about. This is what Democracy looks like.
Dissent isn't Un-American, it is what Patriotism means.
Patriotism is not blindly following a Flag waver, it is Direct Action.
I joined the Army after the towers of New York fell. Swept up in the fervor, I left college to enlist. My country was attacked - I, like many, wanted to defend it.
But here is where a majority of Americans, as well as Politicians have made their largest mistake: Defending your country does not mean destroying other Nations out of and/or for Revenge. But the People bought into the outcry that we must kill to feel better, and the Politicians sang their songs and danced their dances, in an attempt to show who was the most Patriotic of them all!
America stayed fixed to the lies from Fox News (can it really be called "News"?) and we watched the towers fall so many thousands of times until we were all ready to go kill and die for the Eagle and Red, White and Blue.
Though, I will admit, I was angry and young but it didn't take me too long to see that this wasn't about defending America, but creating an entirely new enemy.
It was all there.
It was almost too perfect.
They are of different color.
They speak a different language.
They are a people that have been made to be poor - not a people that are poor; there is a difference.
They follow a strange religion that Americans don't understand! A religion so very similar to Christianity, that - get this - it recognizes almost the same individuals as being Prophets that the Bible does.
They "hate us (you) for our (your) freedom".
They will come here and kill our women and children if we do not go there (and kill their women and children first).
The Administration and all of Its men and women sold it and Americans bought it.
How many people got chills when the American flag was placed there at Ground Zero? Remember when there were so many flags outside of houses, and flag stores ran out of them?
So I went to Iraq and I saw their faces. People that I thought wanted to kill me, and hated me because I was free, brought me into their homes, offered me food and something to drink.
Was the food poisoned? No.
Was it a poor family that could barely afford the food they were offering, but offered it to me without charge or regret? You bet.
I was quickly disillusioned by the military. Senators and Representatives from Congress would come to visit us - and we would be told to get everything clean for the Dog and Pony Show.
We would up the security levels, to make everything look ship-shape. When it was time for the questions and answers portion, we would never be without a question, because the chain of command was always there for us - and thankfully they had come up with the questions we were allowed to ask our Representatives. This is what happens every time someone from D.C. came for a little sight seeing visit. I can only imagine what kinds of shows they put on now.
Long story short, I left Iraq feeling really uncomfortable with America's position in this entire conflict. It didn't feel right. It didn't look right. And after much soul searching and researching, I discovered that it plain out just wasn't right.
It took me a while to finally decide to leave. I wanted to leave prior to invading Iraq, while witnessing the illegal "Shock and Awe" that killed so many innocent people and destroying the infrastructure of the country that we hadn't destroyed from the first bombings in the Gulf War and what wasn't antiquated and useless from the illegal sanctions held over the heads of the every day Iraqi citizen.
I fell for the trap of "don't let your buddies down". And what a well spun web it is. I can not control the conscience of another man. I can only follow mine. And after deciding what I believe in is not consistent with the United States military and learning that "don't let your buddies down" is just a form of domination through guilt, I left my post in Italy to return to America. I began speaking out against this Occupation. I do not fear arrest. I do not stay hidden. I go to all national events and travel the country at my own leisure.
I say this to you Congressional Democrats: you have failed us. I delayed my going AWOL, because when I learned both Houses of the Congress were controlled by Democrats I was confident that the war was finally over. You ran on the platform of ending the war. I told all of my friends to just hang on, it will be over very soon. You funded the war and you continue to fund it. By no means is my hostility solely directed towards the Republican bench of the government. You lied to the American people, and more so, you failed the American people. We are finally awake and more and more are realizing that we don't have a two party system in America, we have a single party that is not representing the will of the People.
Realize this Congressional Democrats, that when you agreed to continue funding the Occupation, this was no longer the President’s war against the Arabs.
You helped buy this Occupation and now you own it as well.
And I will remind you every time that I see your faces.
The People say end the war. Stop funding the Occupation. The Soldiers want to come home. The insane idea of we must stay in Iraq and Afghanistan so that these thousands of soldiers will not have died in vain should never be said again! We tried saying that in Vietnam! The Iraqi people are strong and can defend themselves. They also want us out.
It took years for a G.I. Resistance to begin within the Military during Vietnam, but I am telling you right now - the feeling of resentment is there. The feeling that Politicians and Businesses are profiting off of this Occupation while we suffer through extended tours and battle Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depleted uranium, losing friends and family and losing our lives and limbs through wounds.
We come home and barely have time to adjust to being home before we begin training to leave again.
Families are falling apart.
Iraqis are dying.
For what?
A red, white and blue flag that says, "I'm a Patriot"?
Dissent is Patriotic.
Open discussion is Patriotic (this to Speaker of the House Pelosi who refuses to have an open forum with the people of her district. I believe it is going on just over 2 Years now.)
And I say to you dissent is filling the ranks of the military and it doesn't even need a charismatic figurehead to come forth and say "Dissent; Desert!". They are doing it and will keep doing it.
And the military's attempt to censor free speech will not contain it. Blogs, Youtube, Myspace: these sights, and others, weren't blocked for any reason other than these are the most popular places to find out that the G.I. Resistance Movement is growing daily.
So proud Patriots of America, I ask you today for nothing. You are my Employee, never forget that. My tax dollars pay your salary, never forget that.
I do however have demands for you:
-End the Occupation Now. Not tomorrow.
-Bring home all American troops. Replace them with a true international coalition designed specifically for peace keeping operations, NOT military operations.
-Remove all U.S. contractors from the Middle East that continue to benefit off of the death of the Iraqi and Afghan people and the destruction of their countries.
-Allow the Afghan and Iraq governments the freedom to decide what kind of country they want to be in, not what kind of country we want them to have.
-Allow the Afghan and Iraq governments freedom to choose who is given reconstruction contracts - which none should be American companies, for obvious reasons.
-Fund in full all reconstruction projects in Afghanistan and Iraq: We destroyed their countries, by International Law we must pay. By Moral virtue we must pay.
-Support the Troops means take care of them when they come home, not blindly fund their continued existence in a war zone - Completely fund the V.A. Department!
-Fund the Levees; Do NOT allow another Hurricane Katrina or Rita.
-Oversight on Gulf Region reconstruction (where is it?) - I was just in New Orleans, it is still a disaster area two years later. Fix it now.
-Open Diplomatic negotiations with Iran - Do not allow another war to take place. We have Diplomats that are paid by taxpayers to do just that: to Talk and Discuss. Use Diplomats not Depleted Uranium and Cruise Missiles.
I also want to say this before I close, I wrote it in a letter, just yesterday, to the people of Italy that stand up and actively oppose more U.S. military bases in their country. And it says:
The Iraq war is a War of Aggression, led by a cry of "We Will Never Forget"; the famous quote from September 11, 2001. Well, I have something to say for the people of the World and to the People of this Administration, as well as to the members of the U.S. Congress.
We WILL never forget.
We will never forget that the men who hijacked those aircraft on September 11, 2001 were not Iraqi.
We will never forget that Iraq had no Weapons of Mass Destruction (W.M.D) when we invaded.
We will never forget that the W.M.D's that Iraq did have years before, were sold to them by the U.S. Government.
We will never forget the millions of Iraqi men, women and children who have suffered through the Dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, The Iraq-Iran War, The Gulf War, Depleted Uranium, Years of Illegal Sanctions, Shock and Awe, "Liberation" from a Tyrant only to find a new Tyrant take his place.
We will never forget the 2 million of Iraqi men, women and children who are now displaced refugees within their own country.
We will never forget the 1.5 million refugees in Syria, the 775,000 refugees in Jordan and the nearly 200,000 refugees in Egypt.
We will never forget the 1 million dead Iraqi men, women and children since March 2003.
We will never forget that nearly 100,000 Iraqis flee the country each month since 2003.
We will never forget the widows, widowers and orphans of those dead.
We will never forget the effects of depleted uranium in American ammunition that litters the countries of the Middle East.
We will never forget the increased infant mortality rate. The sewage on the streets. The sectarian violence that was never in the streets of Iraq until we installed a Pro-U.S. Government.
We will never forget the destruction of Shock and Awe that destroyed Iraq's entire infrastructure.
We will never forget Abu Ghraib.
We will never forget the Lost men and women of Guantanamo Bay and other Secret U.S. Detention facilities.
We will never forget the every day Iraqi that is gunned down at a Traffic Control Point by a tired American teenager.
We will never forget the sounds of Improvised Explosive Devices (I.E.D) directed not at the American soldier, but at American Policy.
We will never forget the Women and Children gunned down at random after an I.E.D. explodes, because they were working the vegetable fields and were frightened and began to run.
We will never forget that War is, in fact, Terrorism. And America is the largest State Sponsor of Terrorism.
We will never forget that the Men, Women and Children of the Middle East may be of the same color as Saddam Hussein, but they do not have his face. They are not him. They do not deserve what they have been made to endure.
And we will never forget that corporations are profiting off of the death and destruction.
We will never forget that Blackwater and other private armies, which are in themselves illegal, are running around the Middle East killing at will - and are left unchecked.
We will never forget amazing photo opportunities with the soldiers, whether its walking through a market in Iraq with security all around you and Apaches in the air, or sitting on the deck of a ship under a "Mission Accomplished" banner.
We will never forget that a majority of the American population want the Occupations to end and we will keep repeating it until you do what you are paid to do - and that is, Listen to the People.
The People are United and I know that attempts will be made to have me appear a fool and soon you will have my grade school photographs, my coloring books, a list of every library book I have ever checked out, and whatever other records these incredibly large and over-funded Secret Agencies compile on Activists in America, but I do not fear you.
You have no moral authority over me.
Or any authority at all.
I do not fear you.
Any of you.
We The People,
United within The Struggle,
James Circello; Iraq Veterans Against The War
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| Levi Strauss
User ID: 315398
10/21/2007 7:05 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Right fuckin' ON!
This REALLY should be pinned. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 210301
10/21/2007 7:10 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
That guy is a true patriot. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 210482
10/21/2007 7:10 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Keep Bumping
 |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 314779
10/21/2007 7:11 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Pin This!
Great ! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 142537
10/21/2007 7:26 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net? |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/21/2007 7:30 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
The actual diatribes come from those who sell us these wars ...
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| nobody
User ID: 149517
10/21/2007 7:47 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 142537
Whether professionally written or not I agree with almost everything stated in the post.
[link to www.youtube.com]
[link to www.couragetoresist.org]
[link to www.ivaw.org] |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/21/2007 8:05 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Yes those idiots like the AC142537 are trained to put messages down with all sorts of highly simplified put-down statements.
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/21/2007 8:09 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
We will never forget the Women and Children gunned down at random after an I.E.D. explodes, because they were working the vegetable fields and were frightened and began to run.
It's hard to make up such a point eg when you never saw such happen with your own eyes ...
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| 5 Deferment Dick
User ID: 57834
10/21/2007 8:27 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Take it from me, Five Deferment Dick!
This guy doesn't know what he's talking about!
[link to www.libertypost.org] |
| Earth Daughter
User ID: 315571
10/21/2007 9:10 PM
 | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Excellent find, FF! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315426
10/21/2007 9:36 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
|
| Zangtang
User ID: 314892
10/21/2007 9:42 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
142537 -
please supply some form - any form - of proof that you are actually human.............. |
| DanG
User ID: 313058
10/21/2007 9:56 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
bump ola |
| White_Wolf_Anubis
User ID: 314321
10/21/2007 9:58 PM
 | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
right on! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 282039
10/21/2007 10:04 PM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
back him up..united we stand |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/22/2007 7:09 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315680
10/22/2007 9:56 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
absolute truth. we are the terrortist nation . You government schills leave and go back to prision planet where you belong |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315809
10/22/2007 10:20 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
It is not often i read a long post and agree with every single word..
Absolutely fucken brilliant..
5 stars
He just forgot to mention that 911 was an inside job. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315809
10/22/2007 10:25 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 142537
I wonder how long it will be before you grow a firing neuron. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 314551
10/22/2007 10:46 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
142537 -
Please supply some form - any form - of proof that you are actually human.............. Quoting: Zangtang 314892
Please supply any evidence that your AWOL Sargent is actually AWOL and actually exists in the Armed Forces Records. Until then, you and your story are at the level of lies and liars. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315789
10/22/2007 11:04 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Excellent post.
Which is quite amazing since Americans generally don't care about "other" victims except your own. |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/22/2007 11:07 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Please supply any evidence that your AWOL Sargent is actually AWOL and actually exists in the Armed Forces Records. Until then, you and your story are at the level of lies and liars. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 314551
Yes so that you deception experts can track him down and make him disappear, sure a nice idea.
You can't deny that he's right with every word and why can't there be any talented folks in the military who are able to express properly?
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 308408
10/22/2007 11:29 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Please supply any evidence that your AWOL Sargent is actually AWOL and actually exists in the Armed Forces Records. Until then, you and your story are at the level of lies and liars.
Yes so that you deception experts can track him down and make him disappear, sure a nice idea.
You can't deny that he's right with every word and why can't there be any talented folks in the military who are able to express properly? Quoting: FreeFlow
That's really clever. On the one hand you get to squirm out of producing any evidence that your AWOL Sargent exists and at the same time, you get to accuse me of being a hit man.
Asshole. |
| FreeFlow
User ID: 51202
10/22/2007 11:34 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
You know that providing proof on the net is difficult if not impossible, that's why you keep drumming on that.
But nice try anyway ...
The facts and even more his points speak for itself ...
I am here to challenge your indoctrinated false belief that flaming queens don't use shovels ... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 211558
10/22/2007 11:46 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 142537
Does the truth hurt, 142537? |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315834
10/22/2007 11:54 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
So where you holed up? Vancouver?...or,better yet, San Francisco??? Fucktard LOSER!!!!!!!!!!1
BWAHHAHHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAAAHHHHAAAAHHAAHAHAHAA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 5174
10/22/2007 11:56 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 142537
He wrote it, you cowardly douchebag.
[link to www.couragetoresist.org]
He's the real deal.
F you, wanker. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 211558
10/22/2007 11:56 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
Israel shaken by troops' tales of brutality against Palestinians
A psychologist blames assaults on civilians in the 1990s on soldiers' bad training, boredom and poor supervision
Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Sunday October 21, 2007
The Observer
A study by an Israeli psychologist into the violent behaviour of the country's soldiers is provoking bitter controversy and has awakened urgent questions about the way the army conducts itself in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Nufar Yishai-Karin, a clinical psychologist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, interviewed 21 Israeli soldiers and heard confessions of frequent brutal assaults against Palestinians, aggravated by poor training and discipline. In her recently published report, co-authored by Professor Yoel Elizur, Yishai-Karin details a series of violent incidents, including the beating of a four-year-old boy by an officer.
The report, although dealing with the experience of soldiers in the 1990s, has triggered an impassioned debate in Israel, where it was published in an abbreviated form in the newspaper Haaretz last month. According to Yishai Karin: 'At one point or another of their service, the majority of the interviewees enjoyed violence. They enjoyed the violence because it broke the routine and they liked the destruction and the chaos. They also enjoyed the feeling of power in the violence and the sense of danger.'
In the words of one soldier: 'The truth? When there is chaos, I like it. That's when I enjoy it. It's like a drug. If I don't go into Rafah, and if there isn't some kind of riot once in some weeks, I go nuts.'
Another explained: 'The most important thing is that it removes the burden of the law from you. You feel that you are the law. You are the law. You are the one who decides... As though from the moment you leave the place that is called Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] and go through the Erez checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, you are the law. You are God.'
The soldiers described dozens of incidents of extreme violence. One recalled an incident when a Palestinian was shot for no reason and left on the street. 'We were in a weapons carrier when this guy, around 25, passed by in the street and, just like that, for no reason - he didn't throw a stone, did nothing - bang, a bullet in the stomach, he shot him in the stomach and the guy is dying on the pavement and we keep going, apathetic. No one gave him a second look,' he said.
The soldiers developed a mentality in which they would use physical violence to deter Palestinians from abusing them. One described beating women. 'With women I have no problem. With women, one threw a clog at me and I kicked her here [pointing to the crotch], I broke everything there. She can't have children. Next time she won't throw clogs at me. When one of them [a woman] spat at me, I gave her the rifle butt in the face. She doesn't have what to spit with any more.'
Yishai-Karin found that the soldiers were exposed to violence against Palestinians from as early as their first weeks of basic training. On one occasion, the soldiers were escorting some arrested Palestinians. The arrested men were made to sit on the floor of the bus. They had been taken from their beds and were barely clothed, even though the temperature was below zero. The new recruits trampled on the Palestinians and then proceeded to beat them for the whole of the journey. They opened the bus windows and poured water on the arrested men.
The disclosure of the report in the Israeli media has occasioned a remarkable response. In letters responding to the recollections, writers have focused on both the present and past experience of Israeli soldiers to ask troubling questions that have probed the legitimacy of the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces.
The study and the reactions to it have marked a sharp change in the way Israelis regard their period of military service - particularly in the occupied territories - which has been reflected in the increasing levels of conscientious objection and draft-dodging.
The debate has contrasted sharply with an Israeli army where new recruits are taught that they are joining 'the most ethical army in the world' - a refrain that is echoed throughout Israeli society. In its doctrine, published on its website, the Israeli army emphasises human dignity. 'The Israeli army and its soldiers are obligated to protect human dignity. Every human being is of value regardless of his or her origin, religion, nationality, gender, status or position.'
However, the Israeli army, like other armies, has found it difficult to maintain these values beyond the classroom. The first intifada, which began in 1987, before the wave of suicide bombings, was markedly different to the violence of the second intifada, and its main events were popular demonstrations with stone-throwing.
Yishai-Karin, in an interview with Haaretz, described how her research came out of her own experience as a soldier at an army base in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. She interviewed 18 ordinary soldiers and three officers whom she had served with in Gaza. The soldiers described how the violence was encouraged by some commanders. One soldier recalled: 'After two months in Rafah, a [new] commanding officer arrived... So we do a first patrol with him. It's 6am, Rafah is under curfew, there isn't so much as a dog in the streets. Only a little boy of four playing in the sand. He is building a castle in his yard. He [the officer] suddenly starts running and we all run with him. He was from the combat engineers.
'He grabbed the boy. I am a degenerate if I am not telling you the truth. He broke his hand here at the wrist, broke his leg here. And started to stomp on his stomach, three times, and left. We are all there, jaws dropping, looking at him in shock...
'The next day I go out with him on another patrol, and the soldiers are already starting to do the same thing."
Yishai-Karin concluded that the main reason for the soldiers' violence was a lack of training. She found that the soldiers did not know what was expected of them and therefore were free to develop their own way of behaviour. The longer a unit was left in the field, the more violent it became. The Israeli soldiers, she concluded, had a level of violence which is universal across all nations and cultures. If they are allowed to operate in difficult circumstances, such as in Gaza and the West Bank, without training and proper supervision, the violence is bound to come out.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said that, if a soldier deviates from the army's norms, they could be investigated by the military police or face criminal investigation.
She said: 'It should be noted that since the events described in Nufar Yishai-Karin's research the number of ethical violations by IDF soldiers involving the Palestinian population has consistently dropped. This trend has continued in the last few years.' |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 315834
10/22/2007 11:59 AM | | Re: Open Letter to the Government From an AWOL Soldier | Quote |
I wonder how many months or years it took the professional script writers of a made-up James Circello, to polish this diatribe of complaints and get it onto the net?
He wrote it, you cowardly douchebag.
[ link to www.couragetoresist.org]
He's the real deal.
F you, wanker.
And how the fuck do you know "he" wrote it?
You definitely are ready for the propaganda machine to take your mind over, because you are not capable of thinking for yourself...... |
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