military resistance 8k17 honcho hill[1]

8/8/2019 Military Resistance 8K17 Honcho Hill[1]

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Military Resistance: [email protected] 11.17.10 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 8K17

HOW MANY MORE FOR OBAMAS WARS?

U.S. soldiers wounded during a roadside bomb attack are evacuated aboard a helicopterby a medevac team, 101st Airborne Division, from a Tactical Control Point in Kandaharprovince, Afghanistan September 27, 2010. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

In One Moment InAfghanistan, HeroismAnd Heartbreak:

Honcho Hill Would Be

Afghanistans Hamburger HillThese People, He Said, MeaningThe Afghans, Wont Leave This

Valley:
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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They Have Been Here Far Before ICould Fathom An Afghanistan

Last April, After Three More Years OfKilling And Dying In That Valley, The

Americans Decided To Leave The PlaceTo The Locals

EVE OF BATTLE Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, center, before the fight in which Sgt. JoshuaBrennan, far left, and Spec. Hugo Mendoza, far right, would die. Photo: LynseyAddaio/VII

[Thanks to Alan Stolzer, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

November 13, 2010 By ELIZABETH RUBIN, The New York Times

Three years and three weeks ago. Dusk was falling fast on the Korengal Valley.

We were crouched on a shrub-laden plateau some 8,000 feet up in the mountains. Thesoldiers were exhausted and cold. Wed been sleeping in ditches for five nights.

Insurgents were everywhere.

We could hear those insurgents on the radios saying things like: They are all the way onthe end at the top sitting there.

Pfc. Michael Cunningham, a deadpan Texan, said, That is so us.


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Actually, it was much of Battle Company of the 173d Airborne Brigade, which wasspread across the mountains First Platoon around Honcho Hill, watching over SecondPlatoon in a village below called Landigal.

And the Taliban were itching to hit us again.

None of this had been part of the plan for Rock Avalanche, Battle Companys six-daymission to tame the valley before the onset of winter. But then again, that is what war is,the mocking of plans.

The reaction in those moments of mockery is why we have Medals of Honor. But no oneknew that Rock Avalanche would be one of the defining events in the Afghan war. ThatHoncho Hill would be Afghanistans Hamburger Hill.

Two days earlier, the Taliban had ambushed Battle Company in the forests and spurs ofthe Abas Ghar ridge. At stunningly close range, they had shot and killed Sgt. LarryRougle, one of Battle Companys best, toughest and coolest.

They had wounded Sgt. Kevin Rice and Spec. Carl Vandenberge, two of BattleCompanys biggest.

And they had stolen night vision goggles and machine guns. Thats why, on this night,Dan Kearney, the 27-year-old captain, had sent Second Platoon into Landigal todemand their stuff back from the villagers, who played dumb.

For a day or two everyone had been in shock and mourning and out for blood.

Now the fear was palpable. If they can get Rougle, they can get any of us, said Sgt.John Clinard.

I was with Captain Kearney and his command group on the plateau and soon we werehelicoptered, in five minutes, to the Korengal Outpost.

But First and Second Platoons had to trek back through ambush country, under a fullmoon.

As our Black Hawk left us off, rockets and machine-gun fire echoed off the valleys walls.

First Platoon on Honcho Hill was getting hit. I heard Lt. Brad Winn on the radio,shouting. His boys needed help. Five were down. Captain Kearney radioed commandsto his other platoon. Drop everything, cross that river, help your brothers.

Snippets of information hung in the air. Urgent wounded Josh Brennan. Six exitwounds. Needs a ventilator. Kearney cursed and threw down his radio. Eckrode leg.Valles leg.

Who is the K.I.A? I think its Mendoza. Spec. Hugo Mendoza was a medic from ElPaso and Arizona, Sgt. Joshua Brennan a quiet Gary Cooper type from Wisconsin. Weare in contact again. Enemy K.I.A. in custody. Over.


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Kearney radioed back: Keep bringing it on them, and Slasher is coming.

Someone radioed they could see a man making off with Brennans rucksack and his M4.In came Slasher, the AC-130, and the rucksack guy was dead.

Captain Kearney took a breath and told First Sgt. La Monta Caldwell: Brennans

probably going to die. I would go and hold his hand and pray with him. Which is whatCaldwell did.

As airpower took over, thunder and lightning lit up the sky while the two platoons fordedthe river and climbed up to the Korengal Outpost.

They were drenched. Their eyes bulging and bloodshot. Their faces stained black.

Nearly everyone in First Platoon had a bullet hole in his vest or helmet.

Sgt. Chris Shelton dropped the belongings of an insurgent named Mohammad Tali. Sgt.Salvatore Giunta had shot and killed him as he was dragging off Brennan. His face

looked like a Halloween mask, Shelton said. No brains. I got them all over my hands. Ihave to wash them. The only reason they didnt take more casualties, he said, wasGiunta and Gallardo.

Hunched over, elbow on his knee, head resting on his palm, Captain Kearney begancalling the families of the dead.

The next morning I found Sgt. Erick Gallardo outside and Sergeant Giunta on guardduty. At just 23, Gallardo was the eldest in his squad and felt like the father. Best thingis for us to be a family, take care of each other, he said.

Its five months in and we have five K.I.A.s, couple platoons worth of Purple Hearts. Not

one person in my squad got out without a bullet round. It doesnt feel good at all.

And they told what had happened.

The platoon had waited until dark when the Apaches were overhead before heading out,single file, Brennan in the lead. (Brennan was always in the lead, without protest. Evenafter hed been shot in the calf two months earlier when their patrol was ambushed. Heddo anything for his friends.)

Not 300 meters on, they fell into the ambush. Gallardo remembered running forward toget control of the fight, R.P.G.s landing in front of him, bullets hitting the dirt, and thenone finally whacked him.

When I fell, Giunta thought I was hit. He tried to pull me back to cover and got shot andhit in the chest.

But body armor saved both of them. Gallardo got Giunta and two other men and said,On 3 we are going to get Brennan and Eckrode. They threw grenades, dropped down,prepped the second round, and Gallardo shouted, Throw them as far as you can.


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ACTION REPORTS

Call For Assistance:With Outreach To Members Of The U.S.

Navy At San Diego

From: Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance OrganizationTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSubject: Outreach To US Sailors San DiegoDate: Nov 15, 2010 5:29 PM

Im on the lookout for an Outreach partner here in San Diego.

If there are any Military Resistance readers in the San Diego area who would beinterested in joining me in Military Outreach please get in touch with a view tomeet up for a coffee to discuss the possibilities.

Please put Outreach San Diego in the subject line.

A prompt reply assured.

Mark [email protected]

[On July 4th 1968, Mark Shapiro was among a group of seven U.S. war-resisting

troops who turned up on the lawn of the US Embassy in Stockholm to stage a sit-down protest against the war in Vietnam. T]

POLITICIANS CANT BE COUNTED ON TO HALTTHE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE

WARS

The single largest failure of the anti-war movement at this pointis the lack of outreach to the troops. Tim Goodrich, IraqVeterans Against The War
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Florida Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira of Davie, Fla., 27, was one of three soldiers killed Nov. 13,2010 by a bombing in southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Fort Campbell)

Missouri Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Cpl. Jacob R. Carver of Freeman, Mo. was one of three soldiers killed Nov. 13, 2010 bya bombing in southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Fort Campbell)


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North Carolina Soldier Killed InAfghanistan

Army Spc. Jacob C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C. was one of three soldiers killed Nov. 13,2010 by a bombing in southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Fort Campbell)

Foreign Occupation ServicememberKilled Somewhere Or Other In

Afghanistan:Nationality Not Announced

November 16 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistantoday.

Fairborn Native Soldier Killed InAfghanistan


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November 16, 2010 By Mark Gokavi, Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN Family and school officials have confirmed that a Fairborn native andArmy soldier originally stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., has died in Afghanistan.

Spc. Jesse Adam Snow, a 2003 Fairborn High School graduate, reportedly was killed in

Afghanistan but the U.S. Department of Defense has not officially released the time,place and circumstances of his death.

He was quiet, but he always worked hard for me and he always tried to do the rightthing, said Major Tony Rulli with Fairborn High Schools ROTC program. He said helearned of Snows death Monday. I could see Jesse serving his country.

Rulli, who also taught most of Snows five other siblings, said he met Jesse when hewas a 9-year-old Little League baseball infielder. He was a good, solid kid, a socialanimal who had some close friends, Rulli said. Everybody loved Jesse.

Rulli said Jesse Snow is the son of Senior Master Sgt. John Snow, who served at

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and that the family has several military members. Iwould say its a patriotic family, Rulli said.

Snows brother, John W. Snow, released this statement: Jesse Adam Snow is abeloved son, brother, and uncle. He is by far the most caring and selfless man I know.He wanted nothing more than to do what was right for his country. Jesse said he hadwitnessed evil. He stressed the importance of our role in Afghanistan. He accepted whatcould possibly be his fate in the hope of making the world a safer place to live. Ourthoughts and prayers go out to his fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne and all other USMilitary forces. There will forever be a painful void in our lives. We only hope that hisnoble sacrifice will never be forgotten and not have been in vain.

John W. Snow said Monday night that found out about his brothers death late Sundaynight, which was Johns 30th birthday. John W. Snow said the family will fly to meet hisbrothers body during the escort home.

Snow had listed he was a member of Infantry 1-327 IN 101st Airborne Division AirAssault based in Fort Campbell. He was also working with the NATO InternationalSecurity Assistance Force.

According to NATO, the ISAFs mission is: In accordance with all the relevant SecurityCouncil Resolutions, ISAFs main role is to assist the Afghan government in theestablishment of a secure and stable environment. To this end, ISAF forces areconducting security and stability operations throughout the country together with the

Afghan National Security Forces and are directly involved in the development of theAfghan National Army through mentoring, training and equipping.

Some family members who received the news at about 11 p.m. Sunday, said they hadbeen up all night and are currently making funeral arrangements.

As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense had not officially released thetime, place and circumstances of Jesse Snows death. Funeral arrangements arepending.


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A U.S. Military Officer Exhorted

Them To Let Afghan Police OrAmerican Soldiers Know If The

Taliban Came To TownNodding In Agreement Amid The

Group Were Three Men Who

Looked, Dressed And Talked LikeThe Other Villagers. They Were

TalibanStupid German General Says Taliban

Will Not Have Anywhere To HideNowhere To Hide? Echoed A Tribal

Elder From Panjwayi. In Fact There AreMany, Many Places To Hide. EverywhereIn The District, They Move As They Like

Who is a Talib? he asked. A man who takes up a gun and fights us. But we areall Afghans, speaking the same language, in the same turbans and getup. Wecant arrest everybody.

[Thanks to Michael Letwin, New York City Labor Against The War & Military Resistance,who sent this in.]

October 5, 2010 By Laura King, Los Angeles Times [Excerpts]

Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan

On a recent bell-clear autumn afternoon a few miles outside Afghanistans second-largest city, villagers listened courteously as a U.S. military officer, speaking through an


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interpreter whose grasp of the local language seemed shaky, exhorted them to letAfghan police or American soldiers know if the Taliban came to town.

Nodding in agreement amid the group were three men in beards, turbans and sandalswho looked, dressed and talked like the other villagers.

They were Taliban.

They were standing right there with us, and everyone was too scared to say anything,a farmer named Farid, who grows pomegranates in the Arghandab district, northwest ofKandahar, said as he described the encounter last month.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials characterize the ongoing confrontationas the inexorable tightening of a noose around the Taliban, an enemy depicted asincreasingly beleaguered and on the run.

But for Kandaharis, both urban dwellers and villagers from the surroundingfarmlands, the narrative is somewhat different.

Taliban militants, they say, retain near-total freedom of movement inside andoutside Kandahar, as long as they stash weapons in a widely scattered network ofcaches rather than carrying them around.

Night letters, the insurgents dreaded warning missives often aimed at civil servantsand prominent tribal elders, still arrive with clocklike regularity. Most disappointingly,local people say, the improved government services touted as equal in importance to themilitary drive have largely failed to materialize.

Security is better, but its still a wartime situation, said Kandahars mayor, GhulamHamidi, interviewed in the governors compound, a sprawling fortress in the city center

where many senior officials live and work because it is too dangerous for them outsidethe barricaded walls.

We cant fill government positions because people are afraid to come and accept thesejobs. Everyone is a target.

In conversations with Kandaharis, the perceived impermanence of the Westernpresence is a constant theme coupled with the Talibans ability to fade away and thenreappear.

Even in areas declared secured by the foreign forces, the insurgents simply bide theirtime, and then filter back much as they did in Marja in neighboring Helmand province,

which remains a dangerous place more than seven months after a U.S. Marine-ledoffensive.

One much-touted recent military operation took place in Mahlajat, a farmingdistrict on Kandahars southwestern fringes. Afghan forces, heavily supported byWestern troops, staged a five-day operation in late August that they said largelycleared the district of Taliban fighters.


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Its not safer, said Hamidullah Rafiq, a Mahlajat farmer who used to grow opiumpoppies but switched to wheat after a government seed giveaway.

He is thinking of switching back, because the insurgents, he said, become angry whenfarmers who changed crops could no longer pay as much toward a Taliban-imposed tax.

The Taliban are still in the district in big numbers, he said, shaking his head.

They come to the door and take food and shelter and whatever else they want from us.We are poor people. What are we supposed to do?

Moreover, one Kandahar districts relative safety sometimes comes at the expense of aneighboring ones. When military pressure is applied in one place, the insurgents mostoften decamp to another, or take shelter in the city itself a growing phenomenon,nervous urbanites say.

The Western military is trying to address that squirting effect with what it describes asmultipronged offensives, such as one kicked off late last month in Kandahars Zhari and

Panjwayi districts. Code-named Dragon Strike, it is meant to deprive the insurgents ofseveral sanctuaries simultaneously.

At the onset of that operation, a NATO spokesman, German Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz,said insurgents will not have anywhere to hide an assertion met withincredulity by villagers from the targeted areas.

Nowhere to hide? echoed a tribal elder from Panjwayi named Haji Abdullah, whosefamily has farmed there for five generations. I am sorry, but in fact there are many,many places to hide. Everywhere in the district, they move as they like.

The Western military says one of its primary success stories in Kandahar has come in

the form of near-nightly raids targeting midlevel Taliban commanders.

But in a densely populated urban environment, local people are feeling the heat as well.

During the course of one such operation last week, the Western military reportedthat a man who had menaced coalition forces with an assault rifle had been shotand killed.

He turned out to be an off-duty police officer who lived next door, said Col. FazalAhmad Shirzad, the police security chief.

I would say that in these raids, the intelligence is correct about 60% of the time, he

said. And wrong about 40% of the time.

Shirzad said as long as the Kandahar operation continues, NATO forces and evenAfghan police and soldiers will continue to be bedeviled by the difficulty ofdistinguishing friend from foe.

Who is a Talib? he asked. A man who takes up a gun and fights us. But we areall Afghans, speaking the same language, in the same turbans and getup. Wecant arrest everybody.


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REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:ALL HOME NOW

Navy corpsman with India company 5th Marines, First Marine Division, patrols Nov. 5,2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

A U.S. Marine from the Eighth Marines calls for more ammunition during a battle againstTaliban insurgents in Musa Qala district in southern Afghanistans Helmand provinceNovember 7, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr OReilly


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U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, First Marine Division, under fire Nov. 7,2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, First Marine Division , return fire during apatrol, Nov. 7, 2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)


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U.S. Marines from the First Battalion, Eighth Marines Bravo Company return fire duringbattle against Taliban insurgents in Musa Qala district in southern AfghanistansHelmand province November 7, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr OReilly

MILITARY NEWS

THIS IS HOW OBAMA BRINGS THEM HOME:ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE


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The casket of Lance Cpl. Terry E. Honeycutt, at Arlington National Cemetery Nov. 15,2010. Honeycutt, 19, of Waldorf, Md., died Oct. 27 in Afghanistan, of wounds receivedwhile conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/AnnHeisenfelt)

Veterans Day Parade11.11.2010

Fifth Avenue, New York City


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Photos: Next Left Notes; Bud Korotzer

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh hadI the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream ofbiting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.


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For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Hope for change doesnt cut it when youre still losing buddies.-- J.D. Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War

I say that when troops cannot be counted on to follow orders because they seethe futility and immorality of them THAT is the real key to ending a war.-- Al Jaccoma, Veterans For Peace

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to

time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.-- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787

One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head.The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or aso-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizenof Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike HastieU.S. Army MedicVietnam 1970-71

December 13, 2004

The Social-Democrats ideal should not be the trade union secretary, but thetribune of the people who is able to react to every manifestation of tyranny andoppression no matter where it appears no matter what stratum or class of thepeople it affects; who is able to generalize all these manifestations and produce asingle picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation; who is able to takeadvantage of every event, however small, in order to set forth before all hissocialist convictions and his democratic demands, in order to clarify for all andeveryone the world-historic significance of the struggle for the emancipation ofthe proletariat.

-- V. I. Lenin; What Is To Be Done

The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing theArmy from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced thegovernment to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt


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It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

Masters And Servants Of War:I Grew Up Believing In The Nobility OfMilitary Service. But Today, I MainlyFeel Angry At Those Who Profit By

Others Sacrifice:Its Up To Us Civilians, Whenever

Possible, To Reach Out To Our SonsAnd Daughters In Uniform

American first world war cemetery, Seringes et Nesles, France. Photograph: BrianHarris/Rex Features

From: Clancy SigalTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSent: November 14, 2010Subject: Masters and servants of war: Clancy Sigal

14 November 2010 By Clancy Sigal, Guardian News and Media Limited

But theres a one thing I knowThough Im younger than you


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That even Jesus would neverForgive what you do

Bob Dylan, Masters of War

Although warlike by nature, I was raised, as was Barack Obama, by an antiwar motherwho preached (but sometimes did not practice) pacifism.

Perhaps I inherited a dominant rage gene from my absent father, who served jail time asa war protestor even though he, too, had a violent personality. A child of contradiction, Isaw nothing wrong in hating the idea of war while, at the same time, obsessivelydressing up to play boy soldier.

The interwar years, a slight breathing space between the Flanders trenches and thebeaches of Guadalcanal and Normandy, conditioned me to an ongoing war fever. Youhad to be a zombie not to be infected by newsreels and radio reports of the Japanesemassacre of Nanjing, Mussolinis air raids on Ethiopia, our banana wars in CentralAmerica and the Spanish civil war.

My latent pacifism was no match for the gladiator drumbeats of blood. School teachersmade us boys memorise Horaces Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori its great todie for your country. I couldnt wait to be called to my war against Hitler and Hirohito.

Not even army duty as an infantry replacement cured me though Id been told, inghoulish detail, of wars reality by barracks buddies who were combat veterans of the 4thInfantry, which had landed at Utah Beach.

Back on furlough, in my Chicago neighbourhood, pals who had been thereoverwhelmingly agreed that being under fire was a nauseatingly terrifying experience.

My friend Bobby had his hand blown away on D-Day-plus-Two, and to this day

Marvin has not recovered from the Ardennes tree-bursts of German shrapnel. Windowsall over Chicagos west side had gold star flags put there by mothers who had lost sonsin battle.

But it wasnt until I emigrated to England that I felt the full emotional impact of the malignpower behind those words we over-use on Veterans Day and Remembrance Sunday:fallen hero.

Hitchiking beyond the Wash or riding on the (then) fabulously cheap British Rail, in eachand every town square I always found a stunning first world war monument listing name,rank and unit, followed by shorter lists of the dead from 1939-45.

Standing in the rain, gazing at the honour rolls of the Accrington Lads, Leeds Chumsand Grimsby Pals whole towns full of young men wiped out a Great War generation,many still rotting in Passchendaele shellholes I imagined blood rather than waterdripping off the granite rifles and helmets and winged angels of the obelisks.

Hearts as well as bodies go dead. A generation of women had lost their sons,husbands, fathers and boyfriends in the muddy trenches and, with them, their ownhopes. I kept meeting women regiments of them who never even got a chance to bewives. Butcher Field Marshal Haig ended those womens lives, too, in his line-abreast


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final pushes against the German Machineengewehr at Ypres and the Somme thatkilled nearly 1 million men in a single battle.

Hanging around the northern coal mining villages, I also met men, in their late fifties andsixties who had been there. Outside Eastwood, Nottinghamshire DH Lawrencesbirthplace an elderly miner once picked me up and gave me a lift in his three-wheeler.

He had been in the 45th Foot Sherwood Foresters in 1916.

Oh aye, hardly anyone from my lot got back. I was gassed. The mustard. Went backdown to pit imagine, with my lungs. You know they killed us all, even ones like me,who made it out, felt dead.

There are American towns, too, like Bedford, Virginia and Brook Park, Ohio, where, inone war or another, lost most of their young men, sometimes in a single engagement.The physical and moral courage of these killed soldiers is astounding.

To walk into a storm of enemy bullets or patrol a minefield, knowing the odds are againstyou suspecting your generals are stupid or half-mad sticking it out because of unit

cohesion (brotherly love) having the guts to get up out of a sheltering foxhole undertree-bursts in yet another blundering attack like the Ardennes.

Its enough to make you a pacifist, which Im not.

On Veterans Day in the US (formerly Armistice Day), and on Remembrance Sunday inBritain, my respect for the soldiers pride and stoicism turns to rage at the (old-fashionedphrase) merchants of death who themselves never march to war, but see to it that theyoung and poor do.

A few blocks from where I live, homeless, dazed Vietnam, Iraq and nowAfghanistan vets sleep under the 405 Freeway, a stones throw from a vast VA

military cemetery the irony lost on no one.

Except perhaps on Diane Feinstein, one of my two California senators, whosehusband, Richard Blum, owns a controlling interest in two war-related companies,thriving in Iraq and Afghanistan, that directly profit from the invasions Feinsteinvoted for.

But theres work to be done past the rage. Over 100 veterans kill themselves everyweek, the highest proportion being Iraq and Afghanistan combat GIs, aged 18-29. Thissuicide surge denied by the Pentagon and Veterans Administration, but exposedagain and again in the mainstream media is the most poignant face of a deeperscandal, the war on terror that is destroying a generation of our best children.

The harm that this long war, lasting 50 to 80 years now embraced as officialPentagon doctrine does to our young people, physically and mentally, should berecognised as a deadly infectious disease.

Its up to us civilians, whenever possible, to reach out to our sons and daughters inuniform.


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They are in mortal danger not only from Taliban bombs, but from our indifference to the1% of the US population (a new low) on active or reserve duty. This cultural dividebetween us and them is a silent killer, more deadly than any military drone.

Mesopotamia (July 1917)The Slothfulness That Wasted And TheArrogance That Slew, Shall We Leave It

Unabated In Its Place?

[Written in 1917 upon the occasion of the efforts of the British Imperial government toconquer what is now known as Iraq.]

By Rudyard Kipling

They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young,The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?

They shall not return to us, the strong men coldly slainIn sight of help denied from day to day:But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain,Are they too strong and wise to put away?

Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide -

Never while the bars of sunset hold.But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?

Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?When the storm is ended shall we findHow softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to powerBy the favour and contrivance of their kind?

Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,Even while they make a show of fear,Do they call upon their debtors, and take counsel with their friends,

To confirm and re-establish each career?

Their lives cannot repay us - their death could not undo -The shame that they have laid upon our race.But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,Shall we leave it unabated in its place?


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Sounds Of WarFrom: Dennis SerdelTo: Military ResistanceSent: November 01, 2009Subject: Sounds Of WarWritten by Dennis Serdel, Military Resistance 2009

Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade,purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War,United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

********************************************************

Sounds Of War

Its another grinder daychalk scraping on a chalkboardas the war goes on and oncombat boots slamming sandpaperSoldiers goose bumping mountainsall gnashing clashingtrying to kill an enemylike filing on steeljets fighting ragewith rockets tumbling as anout of control tankinto a village crowd leaving

mother father who cant run awayfaster leaving an orphaned childfrom their homes cracklingwith fire in a level pointingupward off balancedas surviving villagers scratchHumvees glass as Soldierswatch twisting their tension necksgrinding and snapping alongpebbles and sand draggingdown a dusty road shots firedwith the double thump

of the body and the backpackagainst a small crackas the vertebrae clicks onetime like last time water beinggurgled washing down pillshopes of surviving wonderingabout this different placein surround sound theatre


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called Afghanistan provingringing a bell afterthe first round in Iraqthis corrupt country toodoesnt vote with crumblingfolding purple paper

as fear fires across the landand foreheadthat those thatwould have voted would bewhacked by a machinegunrat-a-tat-ed then snipersaiming as buzzards flylooking for fresh Americanfood their favorite asthe Taliban and War Lordsjust one-vote the Countryall by themselves

the needle pokes inthe mountains then chopperback count down from 100on the death meterthe slice of the incisionexcoriating the nightroars gasping gurglingscreaming yelling holleringwhimpering wailing bellowinggnawing teeth grindingthe explosions walk acrossthe target a bomber filled

with land mine opensits cargo as fighter jetseject missileschoppers mini-gun burpsthousands at a time

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish andwell send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in

the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut offfrom access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, insidethe armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top orwrite to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550


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DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

[Thanks to Linda O., who sent this in.]

CLASS WAR REPORTS


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Multi-Billionaire Compares Proposal

To Raise Taxes On Hedge Funds ToWhen Hitler Invaded PolandAsking Hedge-Funders To Pay Taxes

At The Same Rate As Everyone ElseAmounts To The Persecution Of The

Minority

October 6, 2010 by Jim Hightower, Creators Syndicate [Excerpts]

Look out, theyre angry. Foaming-at-the-mouth angry.

And theyre lashing out, saying they wont take it anymore. As one of their leadersangrily cried, Its a war. Indeed theyre on the move to take their country back.

Forget the tea party rowdies, this is the champagne party!

More precisely, its the Dom Perignon-$1,000-a-bottle-champagne-party, propelled by get this billionaires rage.

Yes, some of the richest, most pampered people on the planet people who literallywallow in luxury every day, with never a concern about losing a job, a home or healthcare, or getting their kids into college these people are wailing in self-pity.

They are Wall Street hedge-fund operators, which essentially means they are high-flyingfinancial flimflammers.

What has stoked them into an elitist fury is a Barack Obama proposal to close off aridiculous tax loophole that has let them pay only 15 percent of their lavish income intaxes, rather than the 35 percent rate that us commoners pay.

One of the richest of the ragers, Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group, sees

Obamas proposal as an outrageous intrusion into the suites of the elite, comparing it towhen Hitler invaded Poland.

This over-the-top-tantrum comes from a multibillionaire a guy who spent $3 million in2007 just to throw himself a birthday party! Come on, Steve, youre filthy rich. Stophyperventilating, and pay your taxes!

Pathetically, the real root of this sad Hedge Fund Rebellion is a feeling by thesepowerful, super-privileged megalomaniacs that they are being picked on.


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One even whined that asking hedge-funders to pay taxes at the same rate as everyoneelse amounts to the persecution of the minority.

Good grief, man, get a grip! Next thing you know, these doofuses will hire Glenn Beck tohost a weepy telethon to Save the Billionaires Tax Loophole.

But its not enough that the wealthy elite want to exempt their excessive, ill-gottenincome from any fair contribution to the public good they also want to slash ourincomes.

Many of Americas top-paid CEOs are the very ones whore ruthlessly axingAmericas middle-class jobs, and they are reaping gains from our pains.

A new survey finds that corporate chieftains who inflict economic pain on thecompanys workers receive more financial gain for themselves.

The Institute for Policy Studies examined the layoff-payoff records of Americas 500

largest corporations during the past couple of years. IPS researchers report that the 50CEOs who fired the most rank-and-file employees averaged 42 percent higher pay thantheir peers, averaging an extra $3.5 million each.

One of the champions in this contest of convoluted corporate compensation was MarkHurd. As chief executive of computer giant Hewlett-Packard, Hurd dumped 6,400workers in 2009 a year in which he pocketed a paycheck of $24.2 million. Earlier thisyear, Hurd was forced to resign from HP after an internal investigation found that hefalsified some expense reports. No need to weep for Mark, though he wascomfortably compensated for this bad turn of fortune, receiving a severance packagereportedly worth $40 million.

Being bad, you see, can be awfully good for a CEOs bottom line. For example, IPSdocumented one category of badness-to-goodness that is especially infuriating.

Five of the 50 leading pink-slip-issuers last year were also bailout barons. Amongthem was Kenneth Chenault, honcho of American Express, which got $3.4 billionfrom us taxpayers in 2008 to save it from financial ruin.

In gratitude, Chenault subsequently offed 4,000 employees, then helped himself toa paycheck of nearly $17 million, including a $5 million cash bonus.

Troops Invited:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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NEED SOME TRUTH?CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the governmentin Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do morethan tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside thearmed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-classpeople inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be aweapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces.

If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a networkof active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

And join with Iraq Veterans Against the War to end the occupations and bring alltroops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)

Military Resistance Looks Even Better Printed OutMilitary Resistance/GI Special are archived at websitehttp://www.militaryproject.org .The following have chosen to post issues; there may be others:http://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/;[email protected]; http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/
http://www.traveling-soldier.org/http://www.ivaw.org/http://www.militaryproject.org/http://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/mailto:[email protected]://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/mailto:[email protected]://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/http://www.militaryproject.org/http://www.ivaw.org/http://www.traveling-soldier.org/


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Military Resistance distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always beenspecifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advanceunderstanding of the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. We believe this constitutes a fair use of anysuch copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed withoutcharge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the includedinformation for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. Military Resistance has noaffiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is Military Resistance endorsed or sponsored bythe originators. This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research,

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If printed out, a copy of this newsletter is your personal property and cannotlegally be confiscated from you. Possession of unauthorized material may notbe prohibited. DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.1.2.

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