AWOL Soldiers On Iraq
The Times Online is running a story about American soldiers who have deserted since the beginning of the Iraq war, and interviews two men, now living in Canada, about the reasons they put their freedom and futures at risk for the sake of their conscience.
“Soldiers were describing to me how they had beaten prisoners to death,” he says. “There were three guys and one said, ‘I kicked him from this side of the head while the other guy kicked him in the head and the other guy punched him, and he just died.’ People I knew. They were boasting about it, about how they had beaten people to death.” He says it again: “Boasting about how they had beaten people to death. They are trained killers now. Their friends had died in Iraq. So they weren’t the people they were before they went there.”Anderson says that even the small talk was difficult to tolerate. “I hate Iraqis,” he quotes his peers as saying. “I hate these damn Muslims.” At first he was puzzled by such talk. “After a while I started to understand. I started to feel the hatred myself. My friends were dying. What am I here for? We went to fight for our country; now we’re just fighting to stay alive.” In addition to taking shrapnel from a roadside bomb – the injury that earned him the Purple Heart – Anderson says he often found himself in firefights. But it was work at a checkpoint that made him seriously question his role. He was guarding the “backside” of a street checkpoint in Baghdad, he says. If a car passed a certain point without stopping, the guards were supposed to open fire.
“A car comes through and it stops in front of my position. Sparks are coming from the car from bad brakes. All the soldiers are yelling. It’s in my vicinity, so it’s my responsibility. I didn’t fire. A superior goes, ‘Why didn’t you fire? You were supposed to fire.’ I said, ‘It was a family!’ At this time it had stopped. You could see the children in the back seat. I said, ‘I did the right thing.’ He’s like, ‘No, you didn’t. It’s procedure to fire. If you don’t do it next time, you’re punished.’”
Anderson shakes his head at the memory. “I’m already not agreeing with this war. I’m not going to kill innocent people. I can’t kill kids. That’s not the way I was raised.” He says he started to look around at the ruined cityscape and the injured Iraqis, and slowly began to understand the Iraqi response. “If someone did this to my street, I would pick up a weapon and fight. I can’t kill these people. They’re not terrorists. They’re 14-year-old boys, they’re old men. We’re occupying the streets. We raid houses. We grab people. We send them off to Abu Ghraib, where they’re tortured. These are innocent people. We stop cars. We hinder everyday life. If I did this in the States, I’d be thrown in prison.”
August 28th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I am bothered deeply when I hear stories like this, but perhaps not for the reasons you may think.
Why don\’t I hear these stories say anything about attempts to alert the proper authorities when such alleged atrocities occur? There are systems in place to punish and remove those responsible for violating military code and other laws. There are organizations who would have loved to have heard this soldiers story long before he went AWOL so that they could have done something about it, while he was still a witness on the right side of the law.
Also he doesn\’t say he actually witnessed anything illegal, just that he heard people brag about it… people brag about a lot of things. Also, he was ordered to fire on someone and refused that order (regardless if it was right or not). It is a soldiers duty to not follow an illegal order. If he felt he was given an illegal order, he can fight it through the system. If not, well then why did he joining the military in the first place? It\’s not like there\’s a draft. The sole purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. If he had trouble understanding that principle, he had no business signing that form.
Any career that involves proficiency in an assault rifle as part of job training, is likely going to involve doing things you don\’t like, and likely killing people for reasons that may not be entirely clear, or that you agree with. This should surprise no one.
Going AWOL doesn\’t help anyone and only marginally helps in getting his story out. In fact it may hurt his chances because he has to do it from outside the system as an outlaw. Also, if he where jailed for refusing orders, it could give him more credibility, and would avoid the possibility of anyone labeling him a coward.
Fortunately, these are isolated incidents that are not wide spread nor seem to be indicative of the military as a whole. These sorts of incidents are often good indicators of bad moral, and compared to other wars, levels of soldiers going AWOL for any reason are extremely low.
August 28th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Your response / explanation is fairly reasonable. What’s striking to me, however, is that since 2000, nearly 40,000 people have deserted. I’m not sure what the number for a similar time period was before this so I have nothing to compare it to, but it sounds like a lot to me.
I’ve had quite a few friends who were disillusioned by their time in the Middle East. If you read the entire article (I don’t know if you did or not), it’s pretty clear that the reports were first-hand and based on much more than just hearsay or bragging.
I find it very difficult to believe that any military system designed to offer counsel to troubled enlisted men would be of any real help to a person who thought that the entire instititution had become something entirely un-American. The idea of American soldiers kicking around the decapitated heads of people that they came to “save” makes me sick.
Regarding your comment that going AWOL doesn’t help anyone - I disagree. I personally feel that it’s an important form of protest and if enough people protest in this way, it sends an important message to the Administration that the even the lowest ranks of enlisted personnel have a conscience and are willing to sacrifice their own freedom to demonstrate it.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
I\’ve not seen any figures that sound anywhere near that high. In fact, the article only mentions about 200 known deserters. But desertions do happen in any war. I guess we have a different circle of friends because most people I know who have served in Iraq, believe very much in what they are doing. So much in fact they are repeatedly signing up to return to Iraq to put their lives on the line and see the mission through. The military has repeatedly met or exceeded their recruitment goals for years all showing that moral is high.
The part of the article where the Joshua Key describes an incident in which he arrived on a scene where Iraqi villagers are found decapitated sounds an awful lot to me like the aftermath of a terrorist attack. There are many documented incidences where terrorist groups would go into a village or police station and slaughter everyone, often by beheading. Beheading is the MO of Islamic terrorists, not United States soldiers.
As for kicking around heads like soccer balls is concerned, (And assuming you take him at his word) it was probably bad judgement, but it is also possible it is an exaggeration of a soldier examining the dead bodies with a boot. I don\’t know, I wasn\’t there.
What I can say however, is that by going AWOL these men turned their backs on America and on anyone else who may be feeling the same way. If their story is true then the proper way of protesting would have been to seek change from within the system. Growing up I learned that the patriotic way to change the law is to work from within it not by breaking it (and thus showing your disdain for it). By choosing the easy way out (AWOL) instead of the more difficult (jail time) to fight the system he has cheated himself, his story, and anyone else that could be helped by his standing up and refusing to run and hide.
Look at hugely successful peaceful activists the likes of Jesus, Gandhi, and others. One theme you will find in their stories is they all stood their ground, and all served jail time (And some even forfeited their lives) all on principal. That is the difference I am speaking of.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Many soldiers do believe in what they are doing but moral is anything but hi all the time. Not only that but they are not meeting their recruitment goals. Here are some links.
http://community.fox6.com/forums/thread/802251.aspx
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2006/thomas0206.html
I am not sure where the idea of them reaching their recruirments comes from. If anything they have lowered standards to get more in. Every news station including fox news has acknowledged this.
I am more disappointed in the ways in which some top brass have disabled or used the corrective mechanisms to stop injustice in Iraq.
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August 30th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
P, the first link you provide appears to have information that’s about 2 years old.
The second link, I admit I only skimmed and didn’t see any mention of military reqruitment goals.
If you want links, just a quick internet search turned up these articles:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/10/81258.shtml?s=us
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/1682207.html
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,96821,00.html
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,93876,00.html
Keep in mind the reqruiting goals have been going up not down.
And as for recruiting forign nationals, I have absolutely NO problem whatsoever with someone gaining US citizenship, proving it by putting their life on the line for our country.
August 31st, 2006 at 12:37 am
Morale is high here, except when it comes to mainstream media coverage and stories about random AWOL soldiers. Want to know what discourages a good soldier the most? When America\’s own media and citizens offer criticism of their job and discusses two soldiers going AWOL when there are thousands serving heroically overseas every day. That\’s discouraging.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:27 am
So far, any soldiers who have been shown to violate standards of behavior have been prosecuted (Abu Gharib). These people might not have been held accountable if soldiers who stood as witnesses against them simply went AWOL.
When you sign that paper and take that oath, you are confirming a contract with America, that means each soldier is contracting with you, me and our country that they will serve for a certain amount of time.
I know we talk about many accusations against our soldiers behavior (Much of it unsubstantiated) but what doesn\’t get spoken about is the behavior of our own citizens against said soldiers. Between extremely offensive funereal protesters to stories like the following, where a National Guardsmen was brutally attacked by supposed \”Peace Activists\”.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/9765757/detail.html
What many of us seem to forget is, these soldiers are our neighbors, friends, relatives and fellow church members. Let us not forget that when we impugn America and it\’s soldiers, we impugn us all. Remember, we should all be considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:43 am
Ben,
I can appreciate what you’re saying. Are you over there, already, by the way?
Here’s the deal from my perspective: I know that we’re not getting the full story on Iraq, Afghanistan, or anything else. I’ve spent enough time overseas to know that, despite all rhetoric to the contrary, our media actually spends most of its time supporting the actions of our government. The few stories, like this, are not even from the American media.
I know also that the members of the military who are in Iraq are working under extremely difficult circumstances. But I think that we both know that military recruiters actively target young men who come from poor backgrounds without many opportunities for higher education. Many of these guys come from broken homes. So it doesn’t surprise me that there are quite a few bad apples out there. To say this doesn’t mean that I’m criticizing people like you.
On the flip side, people who do join the military should understand that the private citizens who finance these operations have high standards for all conduct. I personally find it sickening to hear stories of abuse and torture. There is nothing un-American about demanding professional behavior, even in a campagin that I believe is inherently wrong to begin with.
Ron, regarding the article you mentioned: of course it’s disgusting that this man was attacked.
I have to disagree with your second to last sentence: “When we impugn America and its soldiers, we impugn us all.” There is nothing sacred about America or its military. We should never consider ourselves or any member of our society above question or criticism. Openness about this sort of thing is the only thing that will keep our society healthy (such as it is).
September 1st, 2006 at 9:32 am
Ray, think you misunderstood my point. What I am saying by pointing out that we should all be considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law is just that. People who are proven to be guilty of committing a crime should always be held accountable.
On the flip side, continuing to spread unsubstantiated claims against our country and its institutions made by people who’s credibility has been severely hurt by breaking the law themselves, does a grave disservice to our service men and women who put their lives on the line for our country.
I also disagree with your premise that there is nothing sacred about America or its military. Regardless of any of our shortcomings (And every country has them because humans are involved), we are a great and wonderful nation. No nation in the history of the world has done more for humanitarian efforts world-wide, nor has there been a military who has spent more money and resources on protecting human life and avoiding innocent casualties. No nation on the earth currently has the capability that we do to target our enemies with as much surgical precision so that innocents are spared. This is not to say that there aren’t casualties but keep the perspective in what we have accomplished compared to ANY other country in the world today (or even compared to our own history) when it comes to warfare.
We live in a country that is so prosperous that those who are considered living in poverty are many many times more likely to have health problems due to being overweight than by starving! They are likely to have multiple TVs and even multiple motor vehicles and would be considered wealthy by many third world nations standards of living.
We live in a country that is so prosperous that we can afford to have a volunteer only military and that a vast majority of our citizens can go about their daily lives during wartime and pretend that nothing is happening, and in fact not have to suffer any direct personal sacrifice because of it. Compare that to WWII rationing.
We live in a country where freedom of religion still exists at levels still unheard of in most of the world. You can’t find such freedom in countries like Iran or Somalia unless you wish to be considered “Dihimmi” (Second class citizen). Even in Iraq and Afghanistan, you risk execution for apostasy or evangelizing.
There are so many reasons I could cite and those are just a small sample of reasons I believe America to be sacred in ways few other countries are. Sure we have our shortcomings because “to err is human”, that doesn’t mean we should simply throw the baby out with the bath water. A diamond in the rough is no less valuable if it has some dirt on it.
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Ron,
I know that our country has done many great humanitarian deeds. That’s a good thing, and I’m not complaining about those. We should be doing more.
But this doesn’t make us sacred. Any nation that views themselves as sacred is in serious error. If we are truly interested in being a great nation, we should constantly question our motives and our actions.
September 3rd, 2006 at 7:06 am
I do believe it is dangerous to be prideful, but it is also important to believe in yourself and your country. After all, I believe it is our belief in American exceptionalism that drives our need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the rest of the world. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give ourselves credit where credit is due, and tear ourselves down needlessly to satisfy some feelings of guilt.
September 3rd, 2006 at 10:16 pm
It comes down to much more than a need to satisfy feelings of guilt. What I am saying is that we are abandoning the very things that are worthy of pride out of fear.
September 4th, 2006 at 11:05 am
I\’m sorry, I just do not see a widespread acceptance in this country to abandon those things worthy of pride simply out of fear as you state. So far there have been many examples of people being held accountable for actions that are seen to violate our principles.
Here is yet another example:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/02/D8JST4QG0.html
I would hope that these soldiers are innocent, but if found guilty, they will get what is coming to them for their actions.
September 4th, 2006 at 11:11 am
I forgot to mention about the article I posted the link to, All Army personnel should request ANY questionable orders in writing. It is the duty for any military person to disobey illegal orders. If they have the orders in writing and refused them, then they can take that written paper as proof that it is their superiors who should be punished. In this case it doesn\’t say if they have those papers, but this what the military court system is there for. It is never a way out to argue that you where simply following orders.