Thousands traveled to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 20, 2010 to commemorate the 7th year that the US illegally invaded Iraq.

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The Truth Commission on Conscience in War, a national gathering of community and religious leaders, advocacy groups, and artists, will receive personal testimony from veterans and briefings from expert witnesses about:
moral and religious questions facing soldiers both before and during combat
moral and religious criteria of just war
international agreements governing the justification and conduct of war
limits of military regulations on Conscientious Objection

Truth Commission proceedings will launch conversations about just war, international law, and greater freedom of conscience for our nation’s service members, conversations led by the Commissioners.

JOIN US ON MARCH 21, 2010, the Riverside Church, New York City from 4 PM to 8 PM.

Commemorating those killed in Afghanistan:  A Cry for Peace

by:  Sam Diener

This past Saturday, October 2nd, 2009, starting at 6 a.m., I began placing pairs of empty combat boots on the Ellipse within signt of the White House. I worked alongside members of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Veterans for Peace, and Iraq Veterans Against the War to install one set of boots for each US soldier killed in Afghanistan. By the time we finished, six hours after we began, we learned that we had to add three more. The names of three additional US soldiers killed in Afghanistan had been announced while we worked.

Next to this improvised cemetery of loss and mournful rage, of commemoration and protest, we set up another: a small spiral of civilian shoes to recognize the untold thousands of Afghan civilians killed in the ongoing cycle of violence that has engulfed the country for the last 30 years, and in particular, the last eight.

Laying out the boots and shoes was a contemplative, sad, slow process. As we unpacked each pair of boots and positioned them into the grid, flecks of the bootblack rubbed off on our hands, leaving them indelibly stained with the ashes of unknown memories. Some boots were dried and twisted. Some were still spit-polished, gleaming in the sun, evoking the lost soldier so sharply I imagined passing my hand in the heat-shimmering air over the boots, trying to re-conjure the vibrancy of a human life severed by the terror of politics.

I met people who were taken aback by the field of grief. One Marine dropped by as we were still setting up, and told me, almost inaudibly, “Some of my buddies are out in that field.” They had fought in HelmandProvince, and he was scheduled to redeploy there in March. I told him about www.girightshotline.org if he had second thoughts or needed information about his rights in the military. I told him we wanted to mobilize enough political protest to convince the politicians not to send him and his unit back. He looked at me skeptically. I acknowledged that it would be tough; too many politicians seemed fixated on continued military escalation. He nodded and said, “I’m grateful that you guys are doing this,” and left.

In the afternoon, two soldiers from FortCarson dropped by. One was a military intelligence interrogator in Iraq; the other’s military occupational specialty was in maintenance. They eagerly took down information about the GI Rights Hotline and told us about buddies who had been killed in Iraq. One said that while her mother wouldn’t be the “speaking out” type, she might want the emotional support of other families opposed to the war. She took down contact information for MFSO.

Offering leaflets to hundreds of tourists and DC residents who chanced across our protest, I met only one person who voiced anger at us for mounting the display. He said to me, “I think it’s shameful what you’re doing, shameful.” I asked, “What do you think is shameful?” but he had turned away. I’m not sure he even heard me. If he did, I hope he considers where the shame should lie. I do.

Part of my guilt lies in not doing more to resist the wars being waged by the government that claims to represent me. I think the exhibit is an effective challenge, asking us, asking Congress, asking the President, to confront our guilt as a country, demanding that we stop piling reasons for guilt on top of the still-growing piles of the dead. A Presidential motorcade roared by the Ellipse at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday. Did the President, or the President’s advisors see the boots, a visual counterpoint to General McChrystal’s lobbying Obama, earlier that day, for 45,000 more US troops? We don’t know, but we do know a White House cook stopped by. His brother was killed in Iraq. He, too, thanked us for commemorating the dead.

The exhibit seems to open many people’s eyes to the horror of war, and it’s a way of reaching far beyond the peace movement’s usual constituencies. Additionally, Peter Lems from AFSC told me that Aziz, an Afghan who works for AFSC in Kabul, was surprised and pleased we were focusing this protest on ending the killing in his land. We don’t know precisely how many Afghan civilians have been killed during this war, but if the exhibit contained a pair of shoes for each of them, it would no longer fit on the Ellipse.

We owe it to the people of Afghanistan, to the military personnel already deployed and waiting to be deployed, and to all those who love them, to speak out for an end to the bloodshed.

As dusk loomed, we lit hundreds of candles amid the shoes and boots. The candles glowed red in the deepening twilight, flickering memories of lives snuffed out. They’re crying out to us, “Remember us. Stop the killing.”

Saturday was Sam Diener’s first day on the job as the National Organizer for Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org). He is the outgoing co-editor of Peacework Magazine (www.peaceworkmagazine.org).

Elaine Brower, MFSO-NY

Members of Military Families Speak Out are actively opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, husbands, children and we are related to members of the armed services who are serving in the war, and who are veterans.  We are outspokenly against wars of aggression! BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW and TAKE CARE OF THEM WHEN THEY GET HERE!

The statement by Elaine Brower, of MFSO-NY, is below.  This letter was also hand delivered to Councilmember Jackson, as well as all the City Council members, and directly to the Mayor’s assistant.

June 9, 2009

Dear Councilmembers & Mr. Mayor:

I am the mother of a Marine Corps. Reservist who has served 3 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  My  son was also a victim of the JRTOC program. 

I stand here today to beg you to stop funding the Junior Reserve Officers’  Training  Corps with tax money that amounts to over 2.4 million dollars.  This money must be spent on educating our youth, not militarizing them further.  Government military recruiters have full access to our children, more than we would have ever dreamed, and that which we strongly oppose through the “No Child Left Behind” Act.  Why give more of our money to a military institution, when we are in dire need of funds for real education and social programs. 

The Governor, the Mayor and the New York City Council, have made cutbacks in children’s day care which impacts women who must find places to care for their child while they work to support a family; the city government is threatening layoffs, specifically in the field of education where talks of excessing our bright young teachers of promise are quietly being conducted; and also making cutbacks in our city services and in programs that feed and house the homeless. 

And yet, funding is still being considered for a frivolous, and dangerous program such as JRTOC in our high schools when these same schools may not have the necessary updated textbooks or computers for our children to use for learning. 

Why is this?  Why is it that social service programs which are meant to enhance the lives of families, are the first to go and militarization is the first to stay.  Beware of this process, we condemn other countries for training young children for war, but yet we do it here ourselves.  How can you justify that? 

JRTOC is just that, the indoctrination of a child.  Taking a child and placing them in a program that does not tolerate dissent, that only speaks in one voice of nationalism, my country right or wrong, and would not allow another viewpoint.  Our children will then only learn this, and will always fear speaking truth to power, or disagreeing with the constant clamor for war.  The more we feed our kids into this program, the more we become an objectionable society.

I speak from experience.  My son was part of the JROTC program, and all he did was wear his uniform when told, raise and lower the flag when told. They helped him pass the ASVAB, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery so then they could escort him to the nearest recruiting station, which they did. 

When he was having trouble in school, they did not help him.  I had to constantly run to his aid and dig him out of any hole he had put himself in as a young boy.  There was absolutely no support from the Naval JRTOC program that he was a part of.  In fact, they would chastise him to the point of belittlement, making him feel inferior and unable to do anything on his own.  This only led to more problems for him, and for me to fix. 

Trust me when I tell you this program is only there to capture and detain our most precious commodity, our children, to be militarized and surpress their freedom of speech and individuality.

I urge, no I demand, that the funding be allocated to programs for educators to help and teach our children in their quest for knowledge and growth, and not fund those who hide under the uniform that represents the destruction of that very same element we so espouse to emulate.

If an adult decides to join the military, that is his or her decision, on their own made with all the tools that educators and parents could have given to them through their formative years.  When the military gets into the business of public institutions, such as our school system, it clearly has conflicts of interest.  We all stand here today representing thousands and thousands of voices who say NO TO JRTOC!

Sincerely,

Elaine Brower

Military Families Speak Out

On the weekend of May 23rd and 24th, Military Families Speak Out teamed up with activists from Movement for a Democratic Society-Staten Island, Peace Action Staten Island, and others to set up a vast display of crosses, Stars of David, Crescents, combat boots and shoes of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the beach on the south end of Staten Island, off the recently built Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier, 200 markers representing soldiers and marines killed who came from New York State and died in Iraq and Afghanistan, were displayed.  Along with the markers, combat boots tagged with the names of the soldiers and marines were placed in the sand, with a memorial flower.  Flags were erected representing Iraq, Afghanistan, United States and a World Peace flag, in the center of the entire exhibit, running lengthwise along the beach.

Visitors who came on bike, foot, or stroller stopped and gazed in amazement at this memorial for the human cost of wars.  The exhibit received a tremendous amount of local press running on the local TV news stations, as well for 2 days in the Staten Island Advance. Coverage from Staten Island advance:

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/arlington_new_york_state_retur.html

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1242906303275270.xml&coll=1

http://photos.silive.com/advance/2009/05/524_news_photos_6.html

On Saturday, the first day of the exhibit, a press conference was held highlighting speakers such as Ed Josey from the Staten Island chapter of the NAACP, Elaine Brower of Military Families Speak Out, Sue Niederer, Gold Star Mom of Seth Dvorin, KIA in Iraq 2004, Sally Jones, Peace Action New York State, Hugh Bruce, Veterans for Peace Chapt. 34,  Debi Rose, candidate for City Council and Rev. Susan Karlson, Minister of the Unitarian Church on Staten Island.

Over the course of 2 days, thousands of people witnessed the display and reacted.  Whether they were for the war or against it, people were reflective about what they saw.  Family members visited their loved ones who were from New York, and it gave them a little comfort to see the boots and names of the person they so missed. 

Motorcycle groups visited, and solemnly walked to the Iraqi shoes representing those civilians killed in the war, and then turned to walk through the crosses and boots, with the same expression of sadness and grief.

The war has touched us all on some deep level, and taking our Arlington New York State exhibit to the beach brought it home to Staten Island.

For more media and photos see:

http://nextleftnotes.com/NLN/?p=593

by Staten Island Advance

Friday May 15, 2009, 4:06 PM

Back in March, nearly 200 white crosses and pairs of boots sat in the sand behind the South Beach Boardwalk next to the fishing pier.

The unusual, shocking display lured people in during the two days it was visible on the weekend of March 14 and 15.

The “Arlington: New York State” exhibit is returning for Memorial Day weekend, and will be in the same spot all day on May 23 and 24, according to Great Kills resident Elaine Brower, of Military Families Speak Out.

Folks are invited to come and plant their own white cross, as well as light their own candle at a candle-lighting vigil at night.

“For me, it’s a solemn moment of reflection for what this country’s done,” Mrs. Brower said two months ago.

She and the attending organizers plan on showing a movie on a proejction screen called “Arlington West: The Film” at night.

Arlington West was the first memorial of this sort, spawned by Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. It formed in Santa Barbara, Calif.

View an Advance slideshow from the last time the memorial was here in March.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/arlington_new_york_state_retur.html
-Reported by Mark Stein