Insights

The causes of My Lai and the brutality of the Vietnam War were rooted in the policies of our government as executed by our military commanders.". For most Americans, "this war has been statistics, it's been rhetoric," said Hughes, the former member of the Illinois National Guard. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of this report, but it's also possible that such records could have been destroyed or misplaced," said Naval Criminal Investigative Service public affairs specialist Paul O'Donnell. "The exact same units that are getting the exact same training and the exact same orders are getting sent to both Iraq and Afghanistan," explained Perry O'Brien, a former U.S. Army Medic who became a conscientious objector after his tour in Afghanistan. The Secretary-Treasurer for the United Auto Workers, Emil Mazey and Michigan Secretary of State Richard Austin also helped raise funds for the event. [44], The previously secret two-week U.S. penetration into Laos in February 1969, which was part of Operation Dewey Canyon (primarily taking place in South Vietnam at the time), became a controversial subject at this event since the Pentagon had only days before denied that any American troops had crossed the Laotian border and carried out military operations. That was true for me when last year I stumbled across some powerful testimony about the current war from Iraq War veteran Mike Prysner. Seven of the 142 total participants would provide testimony at both events. This included confirmation by the Pentagon that WSI participants investigated by reporters were indeed Vietnam veterans. It is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber or a battleship. Independent journalist Aaron Glantz, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, has reported extensively from Iraq throughout the U.S. occupation. Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Lewy wrote that the report stated that some veterans contacted by the NIS said they did not attend the WSI hearing in Detroit or had never been to Detroit, and many refused to be interviewed. The War Comes Home site, which I edit, is associated with the San Francisco Pacifica radio station KPFA and will also feature bios, photos, and videos of the speakers. Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State, The Souls of Black Folk (Dover Thrift Editions), The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, Dark Knights: The Dark Humor of Police Officers, DARK KNIGHTS: The Dark Humor of Security Officers, Dark Knights 3: The Dark Humor of Police Officers, Conscious Breathing: Discover The Power of Your Breath, Beneath the Same Stars: A Novel of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War, DARK KNIGHTS 2: The Dark Humor of Police Officers (Border Patrol Edition), How to Deliver a Great TED Talk: Presentation Secrets of the World's Best Speakers, TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks, A Radical Approach to the Akashic Records: Master Your Life and Raise Your Vibration, DARK KNIGHTS 2: The Dark Humor of Police Officers. It is more destructive than an artillery shell, or a bunker buster, or a tomahawk missile. Two of the discussion panels conducted with veterans during the Winter Soldier Investigations centered on racism in the American military. [11][51][52] In September 2005, it was re-released across the U.S. in small art house theatres. ”The vast majority of people living in the US have nothing to gain from this occupation. [5], The groundwork for what would become the Winter Soldier Investigation was laid by Jeremy Rifkin, Tod Ensign, Michael Uhl and Bob Johnson of CCI. [14]. Criminals who have no remorse for evil done are in the same category of personality disorder. Without Your Support We Simply Don't Exist. In their own words, plainly and without anger or exaggeration, veterans decribe what they lived through, and how it changed them. Mejia says IVAW also hopes Winter Soldier will increase the size and strength of GI Resistance against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. “We were encouraged to bring ‘drop weapons’ or shovels, in case we accidentally shot a civilian, we could drop the weapon on the body and pretend they were an insurgent,” he said. They tell you not to trust anyone but the military and they really start fostering that as your sole relationship in life.”. Hubbard suggested that CCI combine their efforts with Jane Fonda, Rev. If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Tune in to Winter Soldier Hearings by Aaron Glantz Posted on March 10, 2008 August 7, 2009 G et ready for the horrible, honest reality of the American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan like you haven’t heard it before. But action from politicians is only one possible outcome. [12]. [20], The organizers had two primary concerns when considering the testimony they would use. Many observers believe the Army is already close to its breaking point. Antiwar activists are not being encouraged to show up, but are instead being asked to have listening or viewing parties in their own communities. A special panel of psychiatrists was convened, many of whom had served in Vietnam, to discuss the impact of the war on American society. “This event is going to empower soldiers to follow their conscience whatever that means for them,” said Mejia, who deserted the military after five months in Iraq. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. Streaming video on IVAW.org, as well as audio at KPFA.org and WarComesHome.org, will enable people to tune in across the world. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes, so I looked at my friend and said, ‘Well, I can’t let that happen,’ and shot him again. demanded White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman to Colson just a few weeks after the WSI. During the summer of 1970, the CCI were approached by Al Hubbard who had become a full-time organizer with VVAW. [9][10][11], In addition to the testimony panels, the veterans also held open discussions on related subjects such as "What We Are Doing to Vietnam", "What We Are Doing to Ourselves", violations of international law, Prisoners of War, racism in the military, and also press censorship. That’s what’s important.”. In May 1972 it was reviewed at the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals. The CCI advanced its plans for a December event in Washington, D.C., while the WSI's new organizers continued with the original plan to hold its hearings in Detroit. Our enemies are not 5000 miles away, they are right here at home. With the courts martial for the My Lai Massacre making front page news, and the recent disclosure by members of the Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program of its record of human rights violations in Vietnam, the VVAW was determined to expose a broad pattern of war crimes in Vietnam. Mike Prysner gave his testimony at the widely ignored “Winter Soldier Hearings” in New York in 2008 where many Iraq War veterans whose consciences haven’t been obliterated gathered together and spoke of the atrocities that they had seen committed or had committed themselves in the name of the United States government. They can send every last soldier anywhere on earth, but there will only be a war if soldiers are willing to fight, and the ruling class: the billionaires who profit from human suffering care only about expanding their wealth, controlling the world economy, understand that their power lies only in their ability to convince us that war, oppression, and exploitation is in our interests. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. By Aaron Glantz , Emily Schwartz Greco , March 25, 2008 . Video and photographic evidence will also be presented, and the Winter Soldier testimony and panels will be broadcast live on nationally Pacifica Radio and satellite television station Free Speech TV Channel 9415. Dave Fortin, Racism Panel. This quickly prompted investigations by American media such as the Detroit Free Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Boston Globe, which were successful in turning up testimonies from other veterans that they had crossed into Laos throughout a 16-month period extending through all of 1971, well past the enactment of the Cooper–Church Amendment forbidding such actions and which had come into effect in January 1971. Online audio clips of the testimonials will be posted as the hearing progresses. Smith admitted fearing for his life when he heard Hanoi Radio broadcasts saying VC soldiers were being executed in Saigon and the VC was promising to execute Americans in retaliation. [13]. Grouping these veterans by unit would also help to establish that events and practices to which they testified were unit-wide policy, and not just random and rare occurrences. Learn more about the program. [27] Nixon aides formed the Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, according to Colson, as a "counterfoil" to Kerry and the VVAW, and they did everything they could to boost the group. And yet, the war continued with President Richard Nixon pushing ahead with an expansion of U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia, which included the invasion of Cambodia. Allan Akers, Third Marine Division. The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) from January 31, 1971, to February 2, 1971.

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