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AFGHANISTAN: 10 Reasons to Resist {Refuse to fight if in the Military}
Sep 10, 2009
Focus: Peace
Action Request: Think About
Location: United States

  1. Like Iraq, it is also illegal
  2. No military solution to terrorism
  3. Funds used for war are needed at home
  4. Civilian casualties are not acceptable
  5. War is not good for women in Afghanistan
  6. Support the troops: Bring them home now
  7. Torture and human rights abuses
  8. Climate change and resource wars
  9. War destabilizes Afghanistan and the region
  10. Respect Afghani self-determination; No to global military intervention

Afghanistan: Ten reasons to resist

Image

By Courage to Resist. August 5, 2009



 

 

 

 

..... While the military is not forthcoming with information about the number of troops refusing deployment to Afghanistan, statistics suggest military resistance overall is on the rise. Since 2002, the Army has court-martialed twice as many soldiers for desertion and other unauthorized absences per year than for each year between 1997 and 2001. AWOL rates in the Army are at their highest since 1980, with the desertion rate having jumped 80 percent since the start of the Iraq War, according to AP.......Several individuals have publicly refused deployment to Afghanistan......

[War Resistor Victor Agosto wrote:] "There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect." The words were scrawled on a military counseling statement, a routine piece of paperwork turned in to the commander of a Ft. Hood, Texas Army unit headed for Afghanistan. It was signed Victor Agosto, U.S.Army........Agosto is now awaiting an August courts martial for publicly refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan. Having served in the Army since 2005, including a tour in Iraq, Agosto can no longer bear to serve and says that he is, "ready for the consequences, whatever they are."

.....Agosto admits he has been scared of what might happen to him at each step along the way, from writing his refusal on his counseling form to refusing an order on base. Yet, he is determined not to fight this war.

"Overwhelming support from the central Texas peace community has made things easier," says Agosto. "People at Under the Hood and in the greater peace community have been there for me every step of the way."

Agosto has also received support from fellow soldiers as well. "Some of the people in my unit will flash me peace signs when they walk by me," he says. "The other day when I was coming back from the shop, this soldier stopped me and said he wanted to shake my hand. He told me he looked up to me for not going to fight a war I don't believe in."

Help support Victor! Donate to his defense at couragetoresist.org/victor

From "Courage To Resist; Supporting the troops who refuse to fight!"   www.couragetoresist.org  facebook.com/couragetoresist     

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Posted: Sep 10, 2009 12:51pm
BUSH SCARED OF MUTINY; SUPPRESSES PEACE MOVEMENT
Aug 3, 2007

 
Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement visit site
US Politics & Gov't (tags: bushadministration, bush, constitution, americans, freedoms, government, iraq )

Pamela Ly  - globalresearch.ca
"Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" provides the President with the authority to confiscate the assets of whoever opposes the US led war. Under this executive order, opposing the war becomes an illegal act.
=================================
The ONLY answer to this situation, is to MUTINY FOR PEACE.
MUTINY FOR PEACE.
You may be noticing, that CONGRESS IS TAKING NO ACTION;
AND WILL TAKE NO ACTION.
So DON'T BE SURPRISED if NOTHING happens there.
You are DELUDING yourselves if you think the answer lies with Congress.
NOBLE EFFORT, guys, thank you, and I am doing it too.
Knowing that IT HAS NO CHANCE OF WORKING.

The ANSWER LIES WITH THE ARMY.
Bush/Cheney are COUNTING on the Army, to carry out
and ENFORCE their Dictatorial Decrees. With GUNS.
But, the Army are OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
The Army is NOT ROBOTS, NOT ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE.
 
The Army must BREAK THE HABIT OF BLIND OBEDIENCE,
subservience to a Commander-in-Chief who is
NOT WORTHY OF ANYONE'S OBEDIENCE OR RESPECT.
Bush is COUNTING ON the Army. If the Army will shoot, on Bush's orders,
an Iraqi, the same Army will shoot, on Bush's orders, YOU.
MUTINY FOR PEACE is the ONLY solution.

I probably will be one of those who
"has my property confiscated" for saying this.
But, WE MUST LET THE ARMY KNOW, THAT WE SUPPORT THEM 
WHEN THEY MUTINY FOR PEACE.

We have ALREADY lost our Democratic Rights. Congress is AFRAID.
The next {s}elections WON'T BE HELD; unless the Repug thugs can STEAL THEM.

MUTINY FOR PEACE. MUTINY FOR PEACE.
MUTINY FOR PEACE. MUTINY FOR PEACE.
Tell the Troops the Truth of what is happening here.
Then the Troops will know what to do.
If the Troops lose the Will to fight, THERE IS NO POWER ON EARTH
THAT CAN MAKE THEM FIGHT. No threat, and no punishment can make
Troops fight, if they lose the Will to fight.

MUTINY FOR PEACE. Believe me, it's our ONLY HOPE.
BMutiny ThemIDefy

 Friday August 3, 2007, 9:35 am
"In substance, under this executive order, opposing the war becomes an illegal act.

The Executive Order criminalizes the antiwar movement. It is intended to "blocking property" of US citizens and organizations actively involved in the peace movement. It allows the Department of Defense to interfere in financial affairs and instruct the Treasury to "block the property" and/or confiscate/ freeze the assets of "Certain Persons" involved in antiwar activities. It targets those "Certain Persons" in America, including civil society organizations, who oppose the Bush Administration's "peace and stability" program in Iraq, characterized, in plain English, by an illegal occupation and the continued killing of innocent civilians.

The Executive Order also targets those "Certain Persons" who are "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction", or who, again in plain English, are opposed to the confiscation and privatization of Iraq's oil resources, on behalf of the Anglo-American oil giants.

The order is also intended for anybody who opposes Bush's program of "political reform in Iraq", in other words, who questions the legitimacy of an Iraqi "government" installed by the occupation forces.

Moreover, those persons or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who provide bona fide humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians, and who are not approved by the US Military or its lackeys in the US sponsored Iraqi puppet government are also liable to have their financial assets confiscated.

The executive order violates the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the US Constitution. It repeals one of the fundamental tenets of US democracy, which is the right to free expression and dissent. The order has not been the object of discussion in the US Congress. So far, it has not been addressed by the US antiwar movement, in terms of a formal statement.

Apart from a bland Associated Press wire report, which presents the executive order as "an authority to use financial sanctions", there has been no media coverage or commentary of a presidential decision which strikes at the heart of the US Constitution.. "
===========================================
THIS ORDER, AS YOU MAY NOTICE, DOES MORE THAN MERELY
CRIMINALIZE THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT.
IT SEEKS TO LEGITIMATIZE THE SEIZURE OF IRAQ'S
OIL RESOURCES BY BUSH/CHENEY/HALLIBURTON;
AN OUTRIGHT THEFT NO BETTER THAN A BURGLARY.

The U.S. Troops who are assisting their Commander-in-THIEF
with this BURGLARY and OUTRIGHT THEFT, are actually, if
they ONLY KNEW IT, NO BETTER THAN HIT MEN AND HIT
WOMEN FOR THE MAFIA, FOR A KLEPTOCRACY OUT-OF-CONTROL.

THE TROOPS ABSOLUTELY MUST BE TOLD THE TRUTH OF
WHAT THEY ARE PARTICIPATING IN. THEY MUST. THEY MUST
BE TOLD THE TRUTH, AND ALL THE TRUTH.
Then the Troops themselves will know what to do with this information.

MUTINY FOR PEACE.
That is the ONLY way to END THIS LONG NIGHTMARE,
which is getting WORSE.
Aside from the deaths and their OWN injuries and
psychological disabilities, WHAT SORT OF WORLD
WILL THE TROOPS BE COMING HOME TO???
Unless THEY THEMSELVES STOP FIGHTING in Iraq
and MUTINY FOR PEACE????????????? 
        
"Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out & resonate
in every word & every deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There's no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message."

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
---Leonard Peltier
===========================
The troops must actually be very near to Mutiny now, for this Executive Order, which reflects Bush's FEAR, to come at this time.
If your country has any Troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, this applies equally to YOUR country's troops.
If you are near any American bases in any country, in Europe, Asia, or wherever, YOU CAN TALK TO THE TROOPS THERE.
If you have family or friends in the Military, YOU ARE IN AN ESPECIALLY GOOD POSITION TO TALK TO THE TROOPS; TO TELL THE TROOPS THE TRUTH.
BMT
[The TRUTH is, that they are being HIT MEN AND HIT WOMEN FOR BUSH/CHENEY.
That is the ONLY TRUTH. Many Troops more-than-suspect-it ALREADY. It should NOT BE THAT DIFFICULT, in many cases, to TALK TO THE TROOPS. There are also means like Posters where the troops can see them, Leaflets and Flyers, Signs in demos, and GRAFFITI!]
[A really good opportunity for Americans, is when TROOPS COME HOME ON LEAVE BEFORE RE-DEPLOYMENT. TELL THE TROOPS WHY IT IS IN THE INTERESTS OF THEIR COUNTRY, THEIR COMMUNITIES, THEIR FAMILIES, AND EVEN OF THEIR ARMY BUDDIES, TO NOT RE-DEPLOY!!! It is the Troops' PATRIOTIC DUTY TO NOT RE-DEPLOY.]




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Posted: Aug 3, 2007 1:01pm
LESSONS OF VIETNAM:IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN
May 23, 2007
What will it take to bring an end to the illegal Iraq war and Occupation?
It is on everyone's mind. Both Americans, and non-Americans, wonder what it will take.
Here are some points I would make:

1] There is talk blah blah blah about "storming Pennsylvania Avenue", "revolution", etc. Sorry my Leftist and non-Leftist friends, that simply ain't gonna happen. Life in these United States has just become too difficult and complicated; most people and their families are struggling for survival, to cope with debt or to keep out of debt, to keep healthy and to keep economically afloat. That is what takes up most people's energies these days. You can see it if you read what they write on Care2 groups. Then there are all these Natural Disasters because of Global Warming; broken Health Care systems and Educational systems; destroyed or decaying Infrastructure; etc. Most people simply are trying to make it thru the next month, or DEPENDING on that NEXT PAYCHECK.
They TALK big, to VENT -- but TALK is all that's happening. They are in no position to Storm the White House -- and possibly lose their JOB for that!
{Not to mention the Police armed with tasers, lasers, heat weapons, and god-knows-what!}
Same with wild plans to boycott, not pay taxes, go on strike, shut things down, etc. Sure, they would WORK -- only if EVERYBODY, or MOST people, did it. Ain't gonna happen. For the same reasons. People have FAMILIES to support; and their lifestyles they think they can't do without.

2] So, then what?
Well, THE ARMY ITSELF SAYS, IT IS STRESSED TO THE BREAKING POINT.
The soldiers, it is said, are LOSING THEIR WILL-TO-FIGHT. THIS is why, it is said, the PENTAGON HAS SHUT OFF ACCESS OF TROOPS TO THE INTERNET; except on a tightly-controlled and censored government channel, that they and their families don't like to use.
The same thing happened in Viet Nam. THE TROOPS WOULD NOT OBEY ORDERS TO "ENGAGE THE ENEMY".
And would often "frag" their officers, instead. Historical FACT.
The mis-Administration has learned NOTHING from the Lessons of Viet Nam!

My focus is, and has always been, to BRING THE TROOPS HOME. That, to me, is the KEY. Not silly talk of this & that "ideal" solution -- day-dreaming!!!

See the on-line film, if you haven't, "Sir! No Sir!".
The Resistance to fighting, resistance to obeying the orders they were given, plus civilian support, was what helped hasten the end of U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. Whether people think this was right or wrong, a Good Thing or a Bad Thing, that is what actually did happen.
Following this LOGIC, I say, we Civilians make LOUD AND CLEAR, PERFECTLY CLEAR TO THE TROOPS, our SUPPORT for them -- SUPPORT FOR THEIR COMING HOME!
That we also show our SUPPORT, for Lt. Ehren Watada, and several others, who have OPENLY RESISTED GOING TO WAR.
I think that there is going to be more and more resistance within the military -- that it will become, or is becoming fast, like Viet Nam.
Examples are, the 343rd Quartermasters {in 2005}, the 10th Mountain Division {earlier this month}. They both refused orders to go into danger zones with INADEQUATE armored protection. Well, I've heard that they aren't the ONLY ones with inadequate protection; and it figures, there must be other units where the word just hasn't gotten out, yet, about them. There was a video I remember seeing, about troops refusing to protect a convoy driven by contractors, not the US Army. Don't know if it was released which unit it was.
Stuff like that, the military is just FRANTIC to censor! Doesn't want the word spreading from troop to troop!

So, then, eliminating all the stuff that WON'T work, that CAN'T POSSIBLY work, this is ALL I can come up with! Like it or not!
Some people strongly disapprove of this -- of troops, in essence, mutinying. {The Pentagon calls it, "Combat Refusal".}
Well, number one, it IS happening, whether someone personally likes it, or approves, or not. Just like the "fragging" of over 800 officers happened, in Viet Nam. {I think that was atrocious. But it DID happen! We can't close our eyes to it! Whether we approve or not!}{I HOPE, the FEW instances of fragging in this war, remain just a FEW!}

Number two, I think, no I KNOW, that it will GIVE TROOPS THE WILL TO RESIST ILLEGAL ORDERS, if they KNOW that the folks at home support them 101% in that!
Illegal orders, for example, ACCORDING TO THE ARMY'S OWN UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE {which I have read}, WOULD INCLUDE PARTICIPATION IN TORTURE, AND IN MURDERING CIVILIANS AND TAKING THEIR PROPERTY.
These are PUNISHABLE OFFENCES and soldiers can be PROSECUTED for them. "I was only following orders" is NOT a defence! A SOLDIER HAS THE OBLIGATION TO NOT FOLLOW ILLEGAL ORDERS.
According to treaties the U.S. has signed, which ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION ARE THE LAW OF THE LAND, and the Geneva Conventions, THE ENTIRE IRAQ WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR. This was the DEFENCE that Lt. Watada tried to bring to his trial {postponed}. His defence for not deploying with his company for Iraq.

Therefore, I PERSONALLY STATE, that I am FOR THE SOLDIERS NOT OBEYING THEIR ILLEGAL ORDERS whether BEFORE, or AFTER, deployment to Iraq.

It would have been better, if Lt. Watada's entire COMPANY had refused to go to Iraq; as someone who deserts his or her company, is perceived by many as a traitor. Altho MANY INDIVIDUAL SOLDIERS have expressed SUPPORT for Lt. Watada -- and several of my friends are active in his support -- it is when entire UNITS refuse, that THERE CAN BE A REAL TURNAROUND.

THIS IS WHAT DID HAPPEN DURING THE VIET NAM WAR. There was a famous instance, when LIVE ON NATIONAL TV, an entire COMPANY REFUSED to go on patrol into a danger zone! HOW EMBARASSING FOR THE ARMY BRASS -- who had probably ORDERED them to go in the first place, to GRANDSTAND FOR TV!!!!!!! I sortof remember the FUROR that caused at the time! and the lift it gave to the anti-war movement I was then a part of!
This was just one of many instances of Combat Refusal by entire units in Viet Nam.
There was even a group of B-52 Bomber Pilots, who refused for "reasons of conscience" to go on missions to bomb Cambodia; and were prosecuted by the Military.
There were other units about which there is just "hearsay" -- what the troops widely reported when they got home.
There is a book about this, written by a General, deploring this, which I could refer to if asked.

So, anyone asks my opinion, you got it. I think there could and should be a DYNAMIC set up, between the troops, and the extended Peace Movement. In SPITE of military censorship, people, families, WILL find means to communicate!
WE support the troops, and EXPLODE the LIE that they are "Protecting" us, or "protecting" anything but Bush's oil! So they don't feel uncomfortable "sitting down".
THEY support US, {and our Economic Survival!} by not dragging on this war any further!
I think, under such circumstances, the war COULD end on the TROOPS' TIMETABLE; rather than on Bush's NON-EXISTENT "timetable"! Bush keeps EXTENDING AND EXTENDING THE WAR AND THE TROOPS' DEPLOYMENTS; he is simply LYING about any troop pullout, EVER EVER EVER. And the troops should KNOW this, by now!!!
THE TROOPS WILL ONLY COME HOME, AT ALL, EVER, NOT IN BODY BAGS, IF THEY TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS.
And to finish, as Patrick Henry said to the Virginia Burgesses {before the American Revolution}: "If this be TREASON, then MAKE THE MOST OF IT."

This is what I truly think, and will stand behind it till I die.
BMutiny T



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Posted: May 23, 2007 8:08pm

 
 
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.

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BMutiny TCorporationsEvil
female, age 77, single, 1 child
Seattle, WA, USA
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