Saturday, January 29, 2005

Iraq War: Dissent among soldiers

I have several links on various forms of dissent by soldiers and veterans.  First, some follow-up on the soldiers who refused a foolish order that was little more than a suicide mission. 

Convoy incident: No courts-martial by Jerry Mitchell Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger 12/07/04. Mitchell is the reporter who originally broke the story.

Some Army reservists in the 343rd Quartermaster Company have lost rank and pay for refusing a dangerous mission to transport fuel in Iraq.

But the military said Monday it has no plans to court-martial any of the 23 members of the South Carolina-based company, which includes two Jackson men. ...

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson commended the Army for handling the matter expeditiously. "My office has worked continuously on this matter since notified by the families of the soldiers in October," he said in a statement.

Thompson noted none of the punishments "will be career-ending." His office is awaiting a response from the Army on a request for congressional inquiries.

Military investigators found some complaints the soldiers raised, including vehicle maintenance and protection, were credible and actions were taken to address the issues. (my emphasis)

But if it hadn't been for the prompt action of their families back home, who publicized this and insisted that their relatives be treated correctly, the Army would surely have railroaded them and given them much more severe penalties.  An administration and an Army command that allows the kind of excesses that seem to have become routine in Iraq, not least of them the grotesque and blatantly illegal torture practices revealed at Abu Ghuraib, certainly cannot be trusted to deal with servicepeople fairly or justly or according to the law in such situations.

More links on that incident:

Is It Really a Mutiny? Frederick J. Chiaventone Los Angeles Times 10/28/04

Defiance in Iraq: Orders Refused by Ann Scott Tyson Christian Science Monitor 10/18/04

5 troops may get general discharge by Jeremy Hudson Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger 10/17/04

General: Convoy had no armor Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger 10/18/04

These are a pair of more general articles about dissent in the military:

Breaking Ranks by David Goodman Mother Jones 10/11/04

Dissent on Iraq within the military is not entirely new. Even before the invasion, senior officers were questioning the optimistic projections of the Pentagon’s civilian leaders, and several retired generals have strongly criticized the war. But now, nearly two years after the first troops rolled across the desert, rank-and-file soldiers and their families are increasingly speaking up.

The New Anti-War Protesters by Joseph Rosenbloom American Prospect Online 10/28/04

Porter, 51, didn't set out to be an anti-war activist. She and her husband are lawyers who had a joint practice in Kansas City representing corporate clients until they relocated to New Hampshire three years ago. Boone Porter, 54, now works as a corporate lawyer out of a home office. In the last presidential election, he voted for George W. Bush. Recently, though, they've joined a small but seemingly growing and increasingly organized community of military relatives who are going public with grievances about the Iraq War.

To be sure, many military families support the government’s war policy, as a recent poll by the Annenberg Public Policy Center suggests. The survey of military families found that 63 percent, compared with only 41 percent of the public generally, approve of Bush’s handling of Iraq.

During other wars involving the United States, even ones that divided the nation, members of military families rarely spoke out publicly against the government’s policy, according to Lawrence Wittner, a professor of history at the State University of New York at Albany and an expert on U.S. anti-war movements. When military families have taken a public stand during a war, they generally have sought to bolster the government’s position. Mothers of children serving in the armed forces, for example, have joined Blue Star Mothers of America Inc., which has supported the troops and promoted patriotism since World War II.

Finally, the following is a post by a veteran who returned home from Iraq about the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life, which in his case as reported were quite serious.  I should note that he made the post on the Daily Kos blog, and so far as I know it was not vetted in the way a news agency would vet a story. 

PTDS and my Iraq Homecoming by Liberal Rakkasan, Veterans for Common Sense 11/23/04:

The original was posted at the following link, which seems to have expired:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/23/95414/024

His Kos diary was at this link, which also seems to have been taken down: http://www.dailykos.com/user/LiberalRakkasan

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sir I'd really like to see your sources on how this operation took place. Don't even try posting a column from the ACLU, which like most liberals, cowardly and only wanting the defeat of the US in the war on terror. Do you know why they didn't have any armor? Because it kept getting blown up as it was being transported by supply trucks. After the supply lines kept getting hit, Bush past the bill that would give more funding to the war effort to pay for more shipments of body armor and the liberals tried to block it. That did not help the war effort at all. It eventually got passed, however lives could have been saved had it not been for the liberals in congress and abroad. If you don't know, 98% of all US troops serving in Iraq support the war and our president. You sir are doing no help to your country by critisizing your leader and critisizing the war in which our troops are willingly putting their lives in for. If you don't believe me, then look at the recruitment offices! It's a volunteer military!

Anonymous said...

If you click on the titles of the articles in blue, it should take you to the articles.  I haven't re-checked them, so some might have expired.  But you can search for the article using the article name and author.

Jerry Mitchell of the *Jackson Clarion-Ledger* was the reporter who broke this story and wrote extensively about it.  If you think he has misstated some of the facts of the story, you should contact him and correct them.

I don't recall the reason for the lack of armor being at issue.  The point was this unit was ordered to go on a suicide mission and they declined to do so, for good reason.

I'm also not sure on what you base your claim that 98% of all US soldiers in Iraq support the war, by which I assume you mean support Bush's war policies there.  The only survey I recall seeing indicated that two-thirds or more of the soldiers wanted a rapid pullout of US forces.  That is not the Bush policy. - Bruce

Anonymous said...

For one it's an all volunteer military. They volunteered to defend their country and they are damn proud of it. I don't know who it is that guy talked to, because every soldier who has served in Iraq knows that a rapid pullout would lead to a disaster. The enemy would see it as a retreat and they'd wait until all soldiers were out before they made a large scale counter-attack. A Green Berets once told me that "I'd rather have terrorists trying to kill us, than American civillians". It happens on almost a daily basis that the troops in Iraq come across a document that has blueprints of a US federal building or monument. Don't believe me? Ask the troops YOURSELF. These sources you indicate all come from someone else. Why don't you ask them YOURSELF, to get a more accurate opinion. The poll I mentioned came from the Army Times.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.  Do you really think that EVERY soldier that served in Iraq opposes an immediate withdrawal?  Do you think that the reporters in the stories here just made it up?  Part of the Great Liberal Media Conspiracy? - Bruce

Anonymous said...

Yes it is indeed part of the mainstream media propoganda if that means anything to you.....