"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
- Thomas Paine, from The Crisis, December 23rd, 1776
With those words Thomas Paine rallied those soldiers in the revolutionary army who were ready to go home at the end of their enlistments in the winter of '76 just as things were getting tough. But it was the "winter soldiers" who carried the day and won the glorious triumph of our independence from Great Britain. Vietnam Veterans Against the War revived this tradition with their Winter Soldier in January and February of 1971.
Now, IVAW will carry on that tradition of winter soldiering with our own event, "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan." We are planning to host our Winter Soldier in DC right before the 5th anniversary of the invasion (March 19th) on the weekend of March 15th and 16th.
I will be testifying to the abuse of detainees and having participated in the use of sleep deprivation and other inhumane treatment as well as the desecration of Iraqi bodies. These are not things that I like to talk about and involve various memories that were repressed at different times. I recently discussed handling of detainees and my role in that before an Amnesty International group in Connecticut of which my cousin is a member. It was awkward, but powerful according to everyone in the audience I spoke to.
Below is an email written by a friend of mine who is having a much more active role than myself in the planning of Winter Soldier, and I will let his words speak for themselves:
Dear Friends,
As you may or may not know, Iraq Veterans Against the War is currently organizing an exciting campaign called Winter Soldier: Iraq andAfghanistan. This March, over one hundred members of IVAW will gather in Washington DC to testify to the war crimes that they observed or participated in while deployed overseas. The goal of this testimony is to condemn military policies and challenge the liberation narrative being fed to the American public, not to implicate individual soldiers.
Personally, I will be testifying to the illegal use of Afghan corpses for medical "practice," which I witnessed while serving as a medic in Afghanistan.
Please take a moment to visit the Winter Soldier website and be among the first to sign our statement of support:http://www.ivaw.org/wintersoldier Once you've signed the statement, please forward this e-mail on to others.
If you have any questions about other ways that you can support this historic campaign, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best,
- Perry
Perry O'Brien
Testimonial Team Leader
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan
perry.obrien@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Winter Soldier Is Coming!
Posted by Revolutionary Patriot at 2:33 AM
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7 comments:
First, I am pleased that IVAW has rejuvenated the "Winter Soldier" campaign: uniting the timeline(1776,1971,2008) allows for the living soldier to remind "We the people" that "War is Hell"...
Second, I am really proud of you and your comrades for truly leading: offering yourselves as living testimony to "the horror" a human being can be brought to when conditioned. It takes a strong man to show all of himself, good and bad, to a world whom only sees the "beauty" but cannot, unless self exposed see a "beast" lurking inside(us)...
As always you have my support
Thank you for your continued work and for having the courage to speak the truth of your experience. The first step to changing anything in this world is of course to acknowledge the truth of the matter.
As a whole, mainstream media sure doesn't cover hardly any real information about the war, so the sharing of all eyewitness reports is greatly needed. What bothers me the most isn't just how we got into Iraq, but the continued 'coverup' of the truth of the war- what the soldiers/veterans go through and what is happening to the Iraqi people.
As always, you have my support as well.
Susan
You are so strong, never 4get that. I am so sorry that u had 2 witness such horrible acts. I have seen terrible things from the war in Iraq & Afghanistan, courtesy of Youtube & the Islamic State in Iraq. The videos are deleted again and again, but I will never 4get~ If it were not 4 the 'Insurgents' postings, the U.S. would never 'see' the real war. Peace-
Adam, I have put up a Truth in Recruiting post - it has nothing to do with this post in your blog - but I figured you might want to check it out anyway. You know, since the IVAW does all taht truth in recruiting stuff....
http://youtube.com/sidis314
For the real war in Iraq~
"The goal of this testimony is to condemn military policies and challenge the liberation narrative being fed to the American public, not to implicate individual soldiers."
wouldn't this make you a hypocrite for wanting to hold accountable the government policies you disagree with in general, war crimes you've witnessed and/or committed, but shirk responsibility for your own actions which you did voluntarily. why is it now, when there is something to be gained, that you speak out?
where were your principles then? if you really feel badly, you would accept your deserved punishment. this is cowardice.
Deborah vD
I would like to add to my previous comment, another perspective to consider the effectiveness of 'Winter Soldier' from.
Aside from doing what is right, from a more practical standpoint I think if all participants did accept responsibility for their actions, that it would give greater legitimacy to the protest. By not wanting to take responsibility, it takes away credibility, and paints you as hypocrites.
Anyone could conceivably make outrageous claims if they knew they wouldn’t have to own up to them. Your claims become believable when you are willing to accept your punishment for them.
Deborah vD
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