----- Original Message ----- Subj: Call to Conscience from Vets to Active Duty Troops and Reservists Date: 1/14/2003 10:49:12 PM Pacific Standard Time From: "Vets_Call_to_Conscience" Call to Conscience from Veterans to Active Duty Troops and Reservists For more information, or to add your name to the list below: http://www.calltoconscience.net/ We are veterans of the United States armed forces. We stand with the majority of humanity, including millions in our own country, in opposition to the United States' all out war on Iraq. We span many wars and eras, have many political views and we all agree that this war is wrong. Many of us believed serving in the military was our duty, and our job was to defend this country. Our experiences in the military caused us to question much of what we were taught. Now we see our REAL duty is to encourage you as members of the U.S. armed forces to find out what you are being sent to fight and die for and what the consequences of your actions will be for humanity. We call upon you, the active duty and reservists, to follow your conscience and do the right thing. In the last Gulf War, as troops, we were ordered to murder from a safe distance. We destroyed much of Iraq from the air, killing hundreds of thousands, including civilians. We remember the road to Basra-the Highway of Death-where we were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We bulldozed trenches, burying people alive. The use of depleted uranium weapons left the battlefields radioactive. Massive use of pesticides, experimental drugs, burning chemical weapons depots and oil fires combined to create a toxic cocktail affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf War veterans today. One in four Gulf War veterans is disabled. During the Vietnam War we were ordered to destroy Vietnam from the air and on the ground. At My Lai we massacred over 500 women, children and old men. This was not an aberration, it's how we fought the war. We used Agent Orange on the enemy and then experienced first hand its effects. We know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder looks, feels and tastes like because the ghosts of over two million men, women and children still haunt our dreams. More of us took our own lives after returning home than died in battle. If you choose to participate in the invasion of Iraq you will be part of an occupying army. Do you know what it is like to look into the eyes of a people that hate you to your core? You should think about what your "mission" really is. You are being sent to invade and occupy a people who, like you and me, are only trying to live their lives and raise their kids. They pose no threat to the United States even though they have a brutal dictator as their leader. Who is the U.S. to tell the Iraqi people how to run their country when many in the U.S. don't even believe their own President was legally elected? Saddam is being vilified for gassing his own people and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. However, when Saddam committed his worst crimes the U.S. was supporting him. This support included providing the means to produce chemical and biological weapons. Contrast this with the horrendous results of the U.S. led economic sanctions. More than a million Iraqis, mainly children and infants, have died because of these sanctions. After having destroyed the entire infrastructure of their country including hospitals, electricity generators, and water treatment plants, the U.S. then, with the sanctions, stopped the import of goods, medicines, parts, and chemicals necessary to restore even the most basic necessities of life. There is no honor in murder. This war is murder by another name. When, in an unjust war, an errant bomb dropped kills a mother and her child it is not "collateral damage," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a child dies of dysentery because a bomb damaged a sewage treatment plant, it is not "destroying enemy infrastructure," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a father dies of a heart attack because a bomb disrupted the phone lines so he could not call an ambulance, it is not "neutralizing command and control facilities," it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a thousand poor farmer conscripts die in a trench defending a town they have lived in their whole lives, it is not victory, it is murder. There will be veterans leading protests against this war on Iraq and your participation in it. During the Vietnam War thousands in Vietnam and in the U.S. refused to follow orders. Many resisted and rebelled. Many became conscientious objectors and others went to prison rather than bear arms against the so-called enemy. During the last Gulf War many GIs resisted in various ways and for many different reasons. Many of us came out of these wars and joined with the anti-war movement. If the people of the world are ever to be free, there must come a time when being a citizen of the world takes precedence over being the soldier of a nation. Now is that time. When orders come to ship out, your response will profoundly impact the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and here at home. Your response will help set the course of our future. You will have choices all along the way. Your commanders want you to obey. We urge you to think. We urge you to make your choices based on your conscience. If you choose to resist, we will support you and stand with you because we have come to understand that our REAL duty is to the people of the world and to our common future. Veteran signers as of January 13, 2003: Ed Armas, Army, 1962-1965 Peter B. AShaw, Marine Corps, 1951-1954 Tarik Aziz, Army, 1970-1975 Niall Aslen, Royal Air Force, 1962-1986 Aram Attarian II, Air Force, 1965-1966 Collin Baber, Air Force, 1994-1998 David E Baker, Army, 1988-1991 Philip L. Bereano, USPHS, 1966-1970 Anton Black, Navy, 1977-1984 Dave Blalock, Army 1968-1971 Michael Blankschen, Army, 1972-1973 David Bledsoe, Air Force, 1987-1997 Louis Block, Army, 1966-1972 Blase Bonpane, Marine Corps Reserve, 1948-1950 Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ, Air Force, 1955-1959 Don Broadwell, Marine Corps, 1960-1966 Roger W Brown, Marine Corps, 1957-1960 Greg Busby, Air Force, 1980-2000 Rick Campos, Air Force, 1969-1971 William J. Cavanaugh, Army, 1951-1953; Army Reserve, 1953-1982 Fredy Champagne, Army, 1965-1966 Elwood A. Chirrick, Navy, 1970-1972 Debra J. Clark, Army, 1976-1984 Rockney Compton, Army, 1967-1974 James M. Craven, Army, 1963-1966 Charlotte Critcher, Army, 1964-1971 Carl Dix, Army, 1968-1972 Barry Donnan, British Army, 1987-1993 Pat Driscoll, Navy, 1972-1975 Kenneth Dugan, Navy, 1984-1988 Jake Elkins, Marine Corps, 1965-1969 Marcus Eriksen, Marine Corps, 1985-1991 T. Patrick Foley, Navy, 1997-2000 Dr. Ray Foster, Army, 1972-1975 Lou Fox, Army, 1965 Dean Friend, Marine Corps, 1981-1985 India Mahdi Gamboa, Air Force, 1985-1987 Ernest Goitein, Army, 1943-1945 Jay R Goodman, Army, 1969-1970 Todd Greenwood, Marine Corps, 1993-2001 James F. Harrington, Air Force, 1966-1967 Rev. Richard K. Heacock, Jr., Navy, 1944-1946 Glenn Helkenn, Army, 7 yrs Dud Hendrick, Air Force, 1963-1967 Rodger Herbst, Army, 1969-1971 Andres Hernandez, Navy Reserve, 1979-1985 John Hockman, Army, 1963-1965 Walter Hrozenchik, Navy, 1951-1955 Eric Edward Johansson, Army, 1989-1992 James Michael Kearney, Army, 1963-1965 Keith Keller, Air Force, 1966-1972 Ron Kovic, Marine Corps, 1964-1968 Robert Krezewinski, Navy, 1973-1977 Marty Kunz, Navy, 1970-1976 Krystal Kyer, Navy, 1993-1997 Neal Liden, Navy, 1965-1969 Mark McCleary, Navy, 1996-2002 Teresa Media, Navy, 1972-1977 Jack Minassian, Army, 1943-1945 Michael Moore, Army, 1975-1979 Paul S. Moorhead, Navy, 1943-1946 Catherine Morris, Marine Corps, 1981-85 & Army Nat Guard, 1989-96 Paul Pat Morse, Air Force, 1965-1968 Bryan Morrison, Air Force, 1994-1998 Stan Nishimura, Army, 1964-1967 Bruce McFarland, Navy, 1982-1986 Rob Moitoza, Navy, 1965-1971 Dale L. Morgan, Air Force, 1956-1960 David Rees Morgan, British Royal Air Force, 1948-1950 John J. Pagoda, Air Force, 1965-1968 and 1985-1998 Todd A. Papasadero, Army, 1983-1989 John Pappademos, Naval Reserves, 1943-1946 Jeff Paterson, Marine Corps, 1986-1990 Wilson M. Powell, Air Force, 1950-1954 Erwin Rommel, Army, 22 yrs Randy Rowland, Army, 1967-1970 Rodney A Rylander, Air Force, 1962-1967 Lee Santa, Army, 1965-1968 Nikko Schoch, Army, 1968-1970 Betty R. Scott, Navy, 1943-1945 Charles T. Smith, Army, 1969-1971 John Steinbach, Coast Guard, 1965-1969 Darnell S. Summers, Army, 1966-1970 Thomas Swift, Army, 1953-1955 Harold Taggart, Air Force, 1959-1964 Toby Tahja-Syrett, Army, 1992-1996 Tom Trigg, Army, 1967-1975 Joe Urgo, Air Force, 1967-1968 Gerald Waite, Army, 1967-1982 William H. Warrick III MD, Army Security Agency, 1968-1971 Joel Wendland, Army, 1991-1993 David Wiggins MD, Army, Gulf War John P. Wirtz, Army, 1943-1946 Mike Wong, Army, 1969-1975 Howard Zinn, Air Force, 1943-1945 Please reprint and forward to other veterans.