Supporting Our Troops

Marie Marchand and Sgt. Ash Woolson

The American public is largely unaware that one million US soldiers have served in Iraq.  What is well-known, however, is the fact that the system of care for veterans is in distress.  Soldiers are having a difficult time accessing medical and psychological care, not to mention the crucial help they need in transitioning back to civilian society.  Many soldiers respond to their return home with isolation, mania, and even suicide.  

According to figures released by the Pentagon in 2005, US veterans are killing themselves at a rate of eighteen per day.  

The question is clear:  how are we going to support these troops?  Have they not suffered enough injustice and seen enough trauma?  As one veteran put it, "The fight doesn't end when we return from the war zone.  For many of us, it is just the beginning of our hardest battle: staying alive."

Why are so many veterans experiencing this extreme isolation?  Many are shocked when they return home—after one, two, or three tours—to face America's ignorance and apathy.  A veteran who spoke in Bellingham last year reported that when he told someone he'd just gotten back from Iraq, the civilian replied, "Is that war still going on?"  

The make-up of combat forces also contributes to veterans' alienation.  Close to 50 percent of deployed soldiers are National Guard and Reserve.  On average, these soldiers train only thirty-eight days a year, and are being deployed alongside regular Army soldiers who train all year, every year.  

Consequently, a higher percentage of reservists experiences Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than regular army who have been better equipped and trained.  Unlike active duty GIs who return to their bases with their units, reservists and guard members return to their hometowns and families three days after redeploying from Iraq.  This post-combat dispersion poses a challenge to the Veterans Administration to find them and integrate them into the system of care.

Where can our veterans get the support they need if not through the government?  Many are looking to the grassroots.  Iraq Veterans Against the War is a national organization founded in 2004.  With 800 members and chapters in almost every state, IVAW educates the public about Iraq: its people, its culture, and the occupation.  Most importantly, IVAW functions as a peer-to-peer network of support and camaraderie.  

Through IVAW, veterans use their voices to stand up.  They become the antidote to our nation's paralyzing apathy.  

Involvement in the peace movement and the opportunity to take leadership empowers returning soldiers.  Many are used to being demeaned by higher ranking soldiers; now they are the experts.  They speak with credibility, experience, and, oftentimes, vulnerability.  

Since 2002, Whatcom Peace & Justice Center has been a local voice calling for an end to the US occupation of Iraq.  It welcomes IVAW and other returning veterans to our community, recognizing that the alliance between GIs and the peace movement has historical precedence.  During the Vietnam War, as more and more GIs returned to their barracks, underground newspapers flourished and an inter-military movement emerged.  Peer-to-peer initiatives took hold in GI coffee houses, and actions of Civil Disobedience resulted in over-crowded stockades.  GIs and peace activists united.

The partnership between Whatcom Peace & Justice Center and Iraq Veterans Against the War affirms that there need not be a split between "supporting the troops" and being against the war as the Administration and Hollywood would have us believe.  

How can we best support the troops?  Let's welcome them home, listen to their stories, and respect their leadership.  They spent years in Iraq experiencing the horror of war.  They deserve to be cared for and honored.

Marie Marchand is executive director of the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center.  Sgt. Ash Woolson, 724 Engineering Battalion Army National Guard, served in Iraq 2003-04.  He is president of the Bellingham Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.  

Victory for Free Speech!

Judge Debra Lev points the way for Congressman Rick Larsen

Monday, April 23, 2007

Bellingham Municipal Court experienced a transformative opening at Ellen Murphy’s sentencing hearing today.  Statements made in the courtroom by Ellen and Gold Star mother Doris Kent are below.  CDs of the hearing and trial will be available at the peace and justice center later this week.

After Ellen, her attorney Joe Pemberton, and Doris Kent spoke in the courtroom, Ellen’s supporters, including many veterans, stood in silence to express their solidarity.  Judge Debra Lev took the necessary time and thought to fully explore the ramifications of this sentencing.  She recognized the profound difference between the actions and motivations of Ellen Murphy as compared to those of other convicted defendants of the crime of trespass.  Judge Lev sentenced Ellen to a $1,000 fine, with $1,000 suspended; and 90 days in jail, with 90 days suspended; 40 hours of community service; and $43 in court costs.  

Today it was affirmed that civil discourse, expressed through true listening and sharing, still exists and can be upheld even in the courtroom.  So many of us in the movement have been feeling disheartened; but to know that this has happened in our community, and is happening in communities just like ours around the nation, reminds us that there is hope.  Victories such as these revive our hope in humanity and in our ability to affect the world.

Ellen Murphy with her attorney Joe Pemberton and supporters.

Ellen Murphy’s Statement

Thank you to the court and to the jury for its time and deliberation.  I am deeply gratified by those who reportedly held out for so long for acquittal.  I want to thank the media for sending one official member of the press to cover the trial: a 12 year-old reporter from the Montessori Monsoon.  I thank my attorney, Joe Pemberton, and his law firm for his profound support and most excellent defense.  And for the incredible support from so many wonderful people, in so many wonderful ways, I am deeply grateful.  I gratefully acknowledge and honor the presence here in this courtroom of all the veterans and of a Gold Star mother.  

I am saddened at all the different costs of this trial; that Rep. Larsen worked so hard to remove himself from this case, but did nothing to advance the cause of justice or assist this Court; and that the case was not dismissed by the City.  But there were costs on a far greater scale that were incurred during the days we were in court.  

On Wednesday alone, over 300 Iraqi civilians were added to the countless already dead, when they perished in The Surge.  On that Thursday, our Justice Department, which officially promotes torture, said that there are some cases that SHOULD be thrown out—every single Guantanamo lawsuit, as the suicides and hunger strikes grow.  

That our juries still function is heartening, with Habeas Corpus gone, and the justice system reeling from within, its highest officials presently prevaricating to Congress and taking the 5th.  

And finally, during my trial, 17 more US soldiers were dead in Iraq.  

I close by asserting that on October 13, 2006, I was in Representative Larsen’s office in a spirit of love and hope, to continue waiting for an appointment, not to force him, but to have the opportunity to work WITH him in some genuine way, even if given 5 minutes, for him to be able to feel the meaning and acknowledge the legitimacy and urgency of our concerns about an Occupation-- the disastrous proportions of which are almost completely beyond measure.  

The closing times of that office seemed arbitrary, and at no time did I believe that crimes were committed by me or by anyone else.  

We are all responsible for what much of the world considers to be crimes against humanity done in our name.  When we as a society say that the few who resist openly are guilty, we might be tempted to absolve ourselves.  But true absolution will not come with business as usual, or by silencing the mourners and seekers of redress, but with massive renunciation of this war and the exploitive, ecologically suicidal corporate foreign policy which initiated it and sustains it---a policy which amounts, at the very least, to moral treason.  

Doris Kent’s Statement

My name is Doris Kent. I have been a resident of Bellingham Washington since 1996. I feel it is important to make this statement to the court prior to Ms. Murphy's sentencing today. I need you to know how the impact of her 'guilty' verdict has impacted me and others who believe citizens' voices in time of national travesty, must not only be heard, but actively solicited.

Ellen Murphy, from the day I met her, gave me ope. Hope that I did not have to bear the burden of insisting our country pay attention to what is happening in our nation's war on Iraq. Hope that American citizens will rise up and insist that our elected officials not send our brave men and women in uniform into war without just cause. Our nation has done this. Now my son, Cpl Jonathan Santos is dead.

Ellen Murphy spoke because I could not. She is insisting someone in our elected government listen to the pain our nation is in and to have the courage to take the strong steps required to take our military service members out of this war in Iraq - for our nation and for the nation of Iraq.

Ellen gave me hope. Now that the jury has found her guilty of trespassing without ever knowing what all the facts were in her case, I look to the court for hope. Hope that you see through this political maneuvering to thwart the 'needed' citizen voices. Congressman Rick Larsen needs to be ashamed for bringing these charges and even more shame for not dropping them before they got to this point.

I believe a just sentence for Ms. Ellen Murphy be: $1.00. Her mental, emotional and physical suffering is enough to last her a lifetime. For this peaceful person, that is too much.

With hope for our nation and true justice,

Doris Kent

People for a Peaceable Planet, WPJC’s friends down in Skagit County , run a weekly radio show called Speak Up Speak Out that covers a variety of social justice issues.

Check it out

Here is a wonderful editorial from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the importance of Nonviolence as a policy tool written by Bellingham ’s Nick Mele. Nick is a retired diplomat and former WPJC board member: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/388069_firstperson17.html

Evan Knappenberger wrote an editorial for the Seattle Post-Intelligence. Evan is an Iraq veteran living in Bellingham : http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/384008_firstperson20.html

IRAQ VETERAN ART PROJECT

Local Iraq Veteran Rick Lawson and WPJC Intern Valery Tolle have started the War Experience Project: A Uniform Exhibit. Check-out the Bellingham Herald article: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/682157.html. Visit their website www.WarEP.com to find out how you can participate as a local artist.  

NPR INTERVIEW WITH LOCAL IRAQ VET ASH WOOLSON

Local Iraq Veteran Ash Woolson was featured on KUOW, National Public Radio’s Seattle station on July 29th. In this interview he shares how his protesting radically changed after a thousand mile Peace Walk through Japan: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=15456. Way to go, Ash! Thanks for your leadership.

An Open Letter to President Obama

February 24, 2009

From Bill Distler, Vietnam Veteran

Bellingham, WA

Dear President Obama,

While you are reviewing U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, we ask that you include a perspective that has been lacking in the national conversation since Sept. 11, 2001. You have received much advice, whether sought or unsought, from political and military experts. We ask that you give even greater consideration to seeking out spiritual guidance.

There is no shortage of people seeking to advise you on how to win a war. But there is a critical shortage of people around you who might ask a more important question: How can we make peace?

Since Sept.11 our national conversation has been lacking a spiritual perspective. When Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his great "Beyond Vietnam" speech at Riverside Church, the event was organized by Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. Perhaps the religious community has not been as organized during these last few years as it should have been, and perhaps no one can take Dr. King's place, but we can still take advantage of the wisdom he revealed in that speech.

There is no shortage of deep spiritual thinkers in our country today, but there is a shortage of leaders willing to seek their guidance. We are asking you to be that leader.

If we really want peace in Afghanistan, we should start with an offer of a cease-fire. That is the most immediate concern, to stop the killing of the innocent. Then comes the hard part, negotiating for justice.

Everyone has a viewpoint in Afghanistan, but instead of encouraging a dialogue to seek common ground, we have focused on a military solution to the problem of injustice. The Taliban's idea of justice may be light years away from ours, but we are not going to solve the problem of male injustice to women in Afghanistan by killing all the men. And if we did, there are another 10 million men on the Pakistani side of the border with the same anti-woman attitude. In fact, it is a planet-wide problem that cannot be fixed by war. We might try using our resources to empower women instead of killing men.

We are at a historic moment very much like the moment when President Johnson was escalating the Vietnam War and Dr. King asked him to stop and think. President Johnson missed his opportunity to be one of our greatest presidents because he let the military/political dimension overrule the spiritual dimension.

George Bush called himself a war president. He was misguided. We voted for you, President Obama, because we believed that you would seek the path of peace. We believe you can make us proud again.

War is the worst way to solve problems. Peace is the best way. We believe our country can become a leader in peacemaking. You can start to lead us along that path.

With best wishes to you and your family, and for peace for everybody, no exceptions.