Saturday, October 16, 2004
Soldiers Think For Themselves
News From the Work Resistance Front:
Jeremy Hudson, reporting for the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Missippi, broke the news yesterday of an entire platoon of soldiers in Iraq engaging in an act of work resistance, or what the military calls a mutiny.
"A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday."
While this is big news, it is only part of growing resistance inside the ranks that started even before the invasion. The military is doing its best to cover up the level of resistance, but it has admitted, for instance, that there have been numerous instance of stateside soldiers failing to show up for deployment, and in the current issue of Mother Jones there is even an article about soldiers who have fled to Canada to avoid going to Iraq. There are several organizations of returning veterans protesting the war, including the Iraq Veterans Against the War. As more troops return home (if they can avoid being sent right back into the fray) we can expect more of these kind of reports. From further in the Clarion-Ledger article we read:
"Aviation regiments have complained of being forced to fly dangerous missions over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old missile-avoidance systems. Stories of troops' families purchasing body armor because the military didn't provide them with adequate equipment have been included in recent presidential debates."
More and more we read not just of soldiers being unhappy with their own conditions, but also being horrified at being ordered to kill civillians. Increasingly, they are responding with desperate measures. The military reports a 40% increase in the rate of suicide since the war began. They will not admit just what the rate of AWOLs are, but they admit to it being on the increase.
It is to be expected that the military leadership would exhibit a callow disregard for loss of life. Their job, after all, is to kill people. And, as conditions inevitably deteriorate in this poorly planned adventure, that loss of life will include more and more of their own men and women. Men and women who are coming to the realization that they are fighting a war in the interests of only the corporate elites, not to defend the country they love. That they are being blown to hell for a pack of lies.
The more widespread these mutinies become - and we have no way of knowing how widespread they already are - the more untenable the war becomes. Whether it's the battfield or the shop floor, the witholding of labor is the greatest weapon of resistance we have in our struggle against the bosses. Spread the word: put down your tools and take a vacation for liberation!
Jeremy Hudson, reporting for the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Missippi, broke the news yesterday of an entire platoon of soldiers in Iraq engaging in an act of work resistance, or what the military calls a mutiny.
"A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday."
While this is big news, it is only part of growing resistance inside the ranks that started even before the invasion. The military is doing its best to cover up the level of resistance, but it has admitted, for instance, that there have been numerous instance of stateside soldiers failing to show up for deployment, and in the current issue of Mother Jones there is even an article about soldiers who have fled to Canada to avoid going to Iraq. There are several organizations of returning veterans protesting the war, including the Iraq Veterans Against the War. As more troops return home (if they can avoid being sent right back into the fray) we can expect more of these kind of reports. From further in the Clarion-Ledger article we read:
"Aviation regiments have complained of being forced to fly dangerous missions over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old missile-avoidance systems. Stories of troops' families purchasing body armor because the military didn't provide them with adequate equipment have been included in recent presidential debates."
More and more we read not just of soldiers being unhappy with their own conditions, but also being horrified at being ordered to kill civillians. Increasingly, they are responding with desperate measures. The military reports a 40% increase in the rate of suicide since the war began. They will not admit just what the rate of AWOLs are, but they admit to it being on the increase.
It is to be expected that the military leadership would exhibit a callow disregard for loss of life. Their job, after all, is to kill people. And, as conditions inevitably deteriorate in this poorly planned adventure, that loss of life will include more and more of their own men and women. Men and women who are coming to the realization that they are fighting a war in the interests of only the corporate elites, not to defend the country they love. That they are being blown to hell for a pack of lies.
The more widespread these mutinies become - and we have no way of knowing how widespread they already are - the more untenable the war becomes. Whether it's the battfield or the shop floor, the witholding of labor is the greatest weapon of resistance we have in our struggle against the bosses. Spread the word: put down your tools and take a vacation for liberation!
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