Winter Soldier
Testimony of War Atrocities and War Profiteering in the Iraq War
I attended an eye opening presentation the other night. It was put on by Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.IVAW.org and www.VeteransforPeace.org ( local chapter www.milwaukeevfp.org ).
Click on the www.IVAW.org link to go to their website and watch testimony or get more information on Winter Soldier.
Not only did they provide compelling statistics to get you to consider whether or not the Iraq War is worth the cost, but they provided eye witness testimony regarding what is happening to our military while they are there and when they get back. It also provides evidence of the high level of civilian casualties or "collateral damage" (civilians account for 97-99% of all deaths including military deaths).
It was interesting that one of the witnesses, Jason Moon, was a member of a National Guard Military Engineers group which was deployed to Iraq, who told me that during the time that Bush and Rumsfeld were telling the U.S. public that they had no intention of keeping U.S. bases in Iraq for more than 16-18 months, his group was building a base that was designed to be there for 5-10 years at a minimum. All the military there knew they were going to be there for years to come, but the media either never connected the dots or just never reported on it.
The base was complete with all the amenities that one could wish for from a 5 star hotel or a luxury condo complex.
All this, while they were promising that they were going to rebuild the villagers’ electric power plants, and water treatment plants and other “luxury” amenities to win over their “hearts and minds”. That didn’t start until after the base was completed, and then only if individual units decided to take on a “pet project.”
Another soldier testified that the villagers in Sadr City are still only getting power for 2-4 hours a day, and the water is still not being properly treated.
Some of the work that his group was involved in doing, was for a construction project that Halliburton got a no-bid contract for. Halliburton couldn’t do the work, so the U.S. National Guard did the work instead. But Halliburton still got paid for the job.
He told us of the rules of engagement, where they were instructed that “If an insurgent was using fewer than 30 civilians to shield himself from them, they could open fire and kill all of them. But, if an insurgent was using more than 30 civilians to shield himself from them, that they would need to call to headquarters and get orders on what action to take.”
Sometimes he would guard a KBR employee who would drive a fully armored air-conditioned Humvee, and wear full Kevlar with ceramic plate body armor. That guy was also making $120,000 a year. On the other hand, as a National Guard enlistee, he was being paid $6 an hour, did not get an armored Humvee to drive, and did not get ceramic plates for his body armor. (But of course, Republicans like to tell us that privatizing government jobs drives the cost down. Right.)
But what really got the audience, was when he informed us that when their career minded commander (who pushed to get their unit into a combat area so that he could fast track himself for promotion), explained to them the operating procedures that they were to follow in driving their caravan. They were told that children would often run up to the caravans begging for food or water, and that they were not allowed to give them anything, or they would be punished. But then they were told that if anyone, even a child, was seen walking in front of the caravan that their orders were “not to stop, not to slow down, and not to swerve.” Jason Moon said that he was compelled to do something that soldiers were trained not to do.
He raised his hand to ask a question.
He asked if he was hearing the orders correctly, and that if the orders meant that they weren’t to stop, slow down, or swerve, that it also meant that they were just supposed to run down the person in front of them, even a child, with their vehicles. His commanding officer repeated that their orders were “not to stop, not to slow down, and not to swerve.”
Out of over 480 troops in that unit, he was the only one who went to his Commanding Officer and told him that he would not be able to follow that order and would not drive in the caravan. He was the only one to refuse to follow an unlawful order, let alone question it. (If you wonder why he was the only one who stood up against this obvious lawful order, look back to how many (few) U.S. citizens took to the streets to protest the illegal elections of the two Bush terms, and their acquiescence to the illegal run-up to the war with propaganda being sold as “evidence” by our national media, politicians, and military and intelligence “experts”. They are representative of a U.S. population that until recently has been largely apathetic to obvious lies.)
As punishment, he was assigned the co-driver position in the last vehicle in the caravan. The last vehicle in the convoy is typically the one that insurgents single out and hit the most often, and which the convoy just leaves behind (because of course, they don’t stop).
When he first came forward to tell the public about the orders that he had received, military and civilians alike considered him to be a liar, because they didn’t believe that anyone in the military would give such an order, because it was not only against the Geneva Conventions, but it was against Military Law.
You are not supposed to follow an unlawful order.
You can be Court Martialed and imprisoned for following an illegal order. Look at what happened in the Abu Gharib prison torture incident with low level soldiers who were prosecuted for following orders, while no high level officer has been imprisoned for giving the order or covering up the circumstances.
Since then, hundreds of other military troops have come forward to testify that they were given the same orders, to drive over children.
He also continued to get “into trouble” throughout his tour of duty, so that he would get the worst assignments, when the rest of his unit was allowed to rest and recreate. I believe he said that it was on a Sunday, on Thanksgiving that he found out that a group of soldiers who had been to Iraq on previous tours of duty were being given an assignment that day, that he would normally have been given. One of them was a backhoe operator. He was surprised that he wasn’t given that assignment because he was a backhoe operator. So he spent some time asking around to find out what the big secret was. He eventually found out.
They needed a backhoe operator and guards to dig a grave for a young girl that the U.S. military had killed. They needed to bury her before the rest of the village found out that she was missing.
He asked us how we would have felt if it was our child that had been killed and what it would take for us to have our “hearts and minds won over.” He asked how many electrical plants, water treatment plants, schools and hospitals someone would have to build for them before we would forgive them for killing our child.
He said that winning the Iraq War was really no option, because “when we started killing civilians to get to the insurgents, when we started running over their children…that was when we lost the war.”
When he came home, he was suffering from symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and complained about his different medical symptoms to the medical personnel at the VA. But the VA officer that he reported to, who was responsible for dealing with PTSD cases, stated that she didn’t believe that PTSD existed. Each time he came in for an evaluation, he was put off for another three months, for his “next re-evaluation”. This went on for over a year. When he finally got through the red tape and found out how to file a claim, he was informed that there was a one year statute of limitations that had expired so he wouldn’t qualify for any medical assistance.
Jason Moon not only carried out his duty as a Guardsman, with courage and integrity, (even though his government and the military refused to live up to their obligation to provide him with medical treatment for his PTSD), but he has the courage to speak out against the unlawful activities of his government.
It is up to the rest of us to stand up, speak out, get as much information as possible on the issues, march, write letters, campaign for candidates to remove incompetent and criminal politicians from office and prosecute politicians, media, corporate and military war profiteers
Jason Moon has a website www.JasonMoon.org
He composed songs about the war which attempt to put some of his experiences into a humorous light. They attempt to hide the deep pain he lives, which was evident to everyone who attended. Honor him and honor his continuing service.
The experiences that this courageous Guardsman has been through, and which he has provided public testimony to, should be enough for every American of good conscience to reflect on what we are doing, why we are doing it, and whether or not it should continue.
It reminds me of a Robert Redford film “Lions for Lambs”, which was panned by right wing film critics (probably because it was so powerful, and so accurate in its depiction of what is going on in this country from three different points of view) –
a journalist who is being pressured to write a propaganda piece that she knows is absolutely false, and designed to take us down the same path, in order to advance a young politician’s career, and her editor’s as well;
a professor who is trying to get his students to use critical thinking to make important decisions about what they should be doing rather than follow the easy path and ignore what is going on around them, just to make an easy buck;
and young soldiers from unpriviledged backgrounds, who make the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to be able to “make their case from a position of knowing from experience”.
The title of the film comes from a German WWII General, who upon seeing the heroic bravery of U.S. soldiers charging into murderous fire and certain death, marveled at the sacrifice of these “Lions, who gave their lives for the Lambs who ordered their deaths.”
It also very poigniantly demonstrates the emotional debate that we all have to have with ourselves in order to get to the point where we consciously make a decision to do something about resolving our problems by holding our political, corporate, media and military leaders accountable for their actions.
For some very damning evidence documenting the crimes of the Bush Administration, the (primarily) Republican Congress, the Media, War Profiteer Corporations, and the Military who supported and covered up the war profiteering and war crimes that are taking place in Iraq, I strongly recommend that you see Robert Greenwald’s documentary film “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers”. It is put out by Brave New Films and you can see trailers of the movie at www.IraqforSale.Org
The 5th Congressional District Democratic Party of Wisconsin is making copies available for a minimum $12 dollar donation to cover the cost of the films. We have and will continue to make the film available at Democratic events, fair booths, and campaign offices through the fall.
The film shows how the Bush Administration provided no bid contracts to only Bush Campaign Donors and their companies, like Halliburton, KBR, TITAN, CACI, Blackwater etc… so that they could make hundreds of billions of dollars for doing little or nothing, but still be paid while they fraudulently bill U.S. taxpayers with little or no accounting for their “expenses”.
It shows hundreds if not thousands of vehicles being regularly destroyed, rather than being repaired for minor things like replacing batteries or tires, because it was more profitable to the contractors to just bill the government for a new one.
It shows how Halliburton/KBR regularly overbilled for meals that were never served to the military, and provided polluted water to our servicemen, rather than filtering and decontaiminating the water as they were contracted to do.
It showed how people were being hired for positions that they were not qualified to hold, but were being given because they were Bush loyalists, and the military who did know how to do the job, were forced to sit back and watch someone else do their job, or have to teach unqualified contractors to do the job, or do the job for them, while the contractors got paid for work they didn’t do.
It shows how our military are constantly being denied medical treatment for conditions that this adminstration is covering up so that they don’t have to pay for the medical costs.
And what is so compelling is that all of the people who came forward and testified, used to be loyal Republicans who trusted these companies, and thought that they were honorable and doing the right thing. When they found out that they and our troops and the country were being defrauded by war profiteers they stepped forward.
(It was recently reported on MSNBC that since the war began there have been over 300 reports of war profiteering submitted for investigation for each year of the war. The department responsible for investigating these reports has a reported 900 case backlog.)
There is also a taped section of a debate on the floor of Congress, where Republicans repeatedly blocked attempts by Democrats to prevent companies who were repeatedly getting Pentagon no-bid contracts, even though there was evidence of fraud and over billing in the hundreds of millions and even into the billions of dollars. Democrats offered a compromise piece of legislation, which Senator Lindsey Graham promised to support so that it could be passed, where any company found to have overbilled or defrauded the U.S. Government by over $100 million in one contract would not be able to receive any future government contracts in the future.
Senator Lindsey Graham reneged on his promise to support the bill with other Republicans and the bill was defeated along party lines. Republicans voted against it. Democrats voted for it.
When Robert Greenwald brought the film before a Congressional Subcommittee and attempted to show a 4 minute clip of the film to Congress to provide graphic evidence, he was barred from showing the film by the Republicans in Congress who didn’t want it to be shown.
Everyone needs to see this film. More importantly, if you have friends, family or neighbors who are open to discussion and documented facts, this film can give you the tools to convince them not to support Republicans who have allowed this corruption to continue.
Get a copy and sit them down and force them to see this film. Particularly if they are about to enlist into the military or take a job with one of these companies.
You have an opportunity not only to change their political affiliations - you might also save their lives.
Other documentaries are also available through Brave New Films. Links to them are available at www.IraqforSale.org
Background Information:
According to the Six Articles of the Code of (U.S. Military) Conduct, Article IV states “If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me, and will back them up in every way.”
Under national military rules of engagement, using Ireland as an example:
“The rules are not so rigid as to be utterly proscriptive, since soldiers are required to utilize their initiative, with the rules of engagement providing them with suitable guidelines. A further consideration is that the rules of engagement in a civilian arena are governed by national law; thus, in Northern Ireland, the principle that only the minimum force necessary may be used is enshrined in the regulations. Where it is deemed that this principle has been breached, prosecutions under civil law have taken place.” David Jordan
“The Laws of War (LOW) include international treaties and customary practices that guide civilized nations. The basic LOW principles of necessity, proportionality, and avoiding collateral damage are the fundamentals that guide the drafting of ROE for all U.S. military operations.
In the 1980s, a series of incidents caused a reexamination of ROE for U.S. forces. The multinational force ROE in Beirut in 1983 restricted sentries from loading their weapons without instructions from a commissioned officer.
This rule was in effect when a suicide truck-bomber ran the gate of the U.S. compound at the Beirut airport, destroying the Marine barracks and killing 241 Marines.
In another incident, ambiguous ROE for the warship USS Vincennes contributed to the destruction of a civilian Iranian airliner and the death of all aboard on 3 July 1988.
After an extensive review, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1994 approved new Standing Rules of Engagement (SROE) to replace the Peacetime Rules of Engagement (PROE) in use since 1988. The SROE provide for self-defense whenever U.S. forces are subjected to a hostile act or when there is clear evidence of hostile intent.
Military lawyers are usually involved in the preparation and dissemination of ROE, but guidance on the use of force is ultimately the commander's responsibility. When U.S. forces engage in multinational or United Nations– sponsored operations, U.S. policy now requires effective ROE that provide adequately for both mission accomplishment and self-defense.”
Bibliography
• Major Mark S. Martins, U.S. Army, Rules of Engagement for Land Forces: A Matter of Training, Not Lawyering, Military Law Review (Winter 1994).
• Colonel F. M. Lorenz, U.S. Marine Corps, Forging Rules of Engagement, Military Review (November–December 1995), p. 17
DEFENSE OF SUPERIOR ORDERS BEFORE MILITARY COMMISSIONS
Necessity and Compulsion.
In addition to mistake defenses, the defense of superior orders also embodies the principles underlying the defenses of compulsion and choice of evils. The demands of military discipline and consequences of insubordination coercively place the subordinate in a difficult position.45 The soldier must make a choice of evils, deciding whether to follow an order, which if illegal will subject him to liability, or to defy the order, which if legal will subject the soldier to liability for insubordination. One scholar noted, "he [may] . . . be liable to be shot by a court-martial if he disobeys an [*pg 397] order and to be hanged by a judge and jury if he obeys it."46 While not necessarily a capital offense, military personnel are subject to disciplinary proceedings for disobeying orders.47 A soldier is compelled to follow orders as a means of escaping criminal liability for insubordination.
45.
Mathew, supra note 4, at 55.
46.
Id.
47.
E.g., MANUAL FOR COURTS-MARTIAL, United States (2000), art. 90 (addressing willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, and reserving potential capital punishment for disobedience in times of war), art. 91 (addressing insubordinate conduct toward warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer), art. 92 (addressing failure to obey standing order or regulation).
Cited: 13 Duke J. of Comp. & Int'l L. 389
[*pg 389]