June 5th, 2006

email from Iraq Veterans Against the War:

Dear Members,
IVAW is getting behind an officer who is getting ready to refuse deployment orders publicly. Camilo Mejia has been in touch with him and asked me to share the following information about his case. I’m also including it as an attachment so that you can print it out or forward it in a nicer format to others you know.

Please see message below from the Friends and Family of LT Support Committee. Please contact Camilo at Black65d@aol.com for further details or if you want to do direct support for the officer.

Thanks.

Amadee
National Office
Iraq Veterans Against the War


A Call to Support U.S. Military Officer to Refuse Illegal Iraq War
June 2, 2006

The first U.S. military officer poised to publicly refuse orders in support of the illegal Iraq War requests your immediate support and assistance. Having already attempted to resign his commission in protest, he now poised to refuse deployment via simultaneous, cross-country press conferences, within days.

“I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to ‘stay the course.’ . . . I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home.” – LT, US Army officer*

(*At the press conferences “LT’s” name will be made public, but we want hundreds of messages of support, and thousands of petition signatures before then.)

A working group has formed to facilitate an unprecedented political and legal support campaign on his behalf. Well respected civilian legal representation has been secured. A legal and political defense fund has been created. Many of us have already met LT* and have been moved by his determination to help stop an unjust war.

We envision a broad political support campaign with this petition as our basis of unity:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THANK YOU, LT for standing up for international, U.S. and military law by REFUSING TO DEPLOY TO IRAQ in support of the ongoing ILLEGAL war and occupation.

From the preemptive invasion based on deception, to the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and nearly 2,500 U.S. troops, to the infamous Abu Ghraib torture cells and the recent Haditha massacre, no more evidence is required of how very WRONG this war is. In light of these facts, we appreciate your decision to NOW follow your conscience.

We agree with you LT, it is past time for U.S. forces to leave Iraq. We salute your true LEADERSHIP in these dark times, and believe that we can all learn something from your COURAGE.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Time is short. We are now asking people to:

* 1) Sign the petition online: http://www.thankyoult.org
Or send an email with your name, title, organizational affiliation (if any), city and state to petition@thankyoult.org.
* 2) Help collect personalized brief messages of support (to be used publicly) from notable people. These can also be sent via the website, or by email to statements@thankyoult.org.
* 3) Encourage your local or national organization to become an official endorser and supporter of this effort.
* 4) Distribute this call to action and petition to friends, family, and organizational lists.
* 5) Check http://www.thankyoult.org for breaking news and forthcoming organizing materials. Add yourself to the Updates and Alerts email bulletin (provided by Courage to Resist).
* 6) Help organize nationally coordinated support actions prior to any possible military court martial.
* 7) Contribute to the legal and political defense fund. Contributions are tax-deductible. Online credit card and PayPal donations at http://www.thankyoult.org > donate.

Please make check out to “Not in Our Name” and note “Thank You LT Fund” on your check’s memo line. For tax-deductible donations of $250 or more, make check out to “Not in Our Name / Agape Foundation”. Send check or money order to:

Thank You LT Fund, c/o Not in Our Name, 3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Additional quotes from first U.S. military officer to publicly resist Iraq War:

“Never in my life did I ever imagine I would have to disobey my President. But then again, never did I imagine my President would lie to go to war, condone torture, spy on Americans, or destroy the career of a CIA agent for political gain. I would rather resign in protest, but the army doesn’t agree.”

“Mr. President, you have violated: Article I of the Constitution by deceiving Congress, Article 2 of the U.N. Charter, U.N. Gen. Assembly Res. 3314 and the Nuremburg Tribunal Charter barring wars of aggression, and many other international and domestic laws. As a commissioned officer of the U.S. Armed Forces my legal and moral obligation is to the Constitution — not to those who would issue unlawful orders. It is my duty to refuse to fight this illegal war.”

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The friends and family of LT working group, http://www.thankyoult.org, (866) 797-0967:

Clare Bayard, Catalyst Project / War Resister’s League
Max Diorio, Not in Our Name / Courage to Resist
George Johnson, Veterans for Peace
Jim Harris, Courage to Resist / Tom Joad
Michael Hoffman, Campus Anti-War Network / ISO
Lori Hurlebaus, Courage to Resist / GI Rights Hotline
Nancy Mancias, Global Exchange / CodePink
Camilo Mejia, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Steve Morse, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
Jeff Paterson, Not in Our Name / Courage to Resist
Sandra Schwartz, American Friends Service Committee
David Solnit, Courage to Resist
Bill Schwalb, Veterans for Peace
Matti Tamura, Not in Our Name
Mike Wong, Veterans for Peace
Parents of LT

To contact Iraq Vets Against the War, write, call, or email:

IVAW
P.O. Box 8296
Philadelphia, PA 19101
Tel: 215.241.7123
email: ivaw@ivaw.net
http://www.ivaw.net

also posted at: http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2006/06/05/197/

but I will recommend this thread & kick it.

“Mr. President, you have violated: Article I of the Constitution by deceiving Congress, Article 2 of the U.N. Charter, U.N. Gen. Assembly Res. 3314 and the Nuremburg Tribunal Charter barring wars of aggression, and many other international and domestic laws. As a commissioned officer of the U.S. Armed Forces my legal and moral obligation is to the Constitution — not to those who would issue unlawful orders. It is my duty to refuse to fight this illegal war.”

I've been waiting for someone to publicly say this for YEARS. :applause:

It's the Constitution, stupid.

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts" - Aristotle

"Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience." - JF Clarke

"To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform." - TH White

:kick:

:kick:

Thanks, DUers.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1339631

Skinner signed the petition. Ava from Peace Takes Courage signed the petition. Many others as well. (over 700) People are sending this out to their personal and organizational mailing lists. And we haven't even gone public yet... but we will, within days.

I think with the public's growing disgust and disillusionment with the war, this will create much discussion. There will be debate. Most of all, it will encourage people to take risks to stop the war. It will reinvigorate the peace movement yet again. I think it will be something on the caliber of Cindy Sheehan's Texas encampment.

So sign on to the petition and stay tuned.

:kick:

Saw your post the first day and signed and forwarded... This is amazing.....just noted that Cindy Sheehan has signed...more organizations signing on...
Also signed up for notices...waiting for him to go public...
Hoping for rallies and a lot of noise in the streets when this happens...A man of honor...
PEACE~

In the end this LT will be kicked out with a bad conduct discharge. Future employers will see this and he can not successfully explain away the type of discharge he is out of luck. Let's hope he can find a job/career with a understanding boss. I don't think this will be an issue though. It is possible that he could serve time. I expect that this matter will be ramrodded through, the faster he is gone the less press this will get. My 2 cents:hi:

I think he will serve as an example of the kind of risks all of us should take to end this illegal, immoral war.

See this thread, and kick it to heaven.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1368240&mesg_id=1368240