Iraq vet Chris Capps

Like tens of thousands of other troops, Army Communications Specialist Chris Capps recently went AWOL. After returning from a full tour of duty in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006, Chris left the 440th Signal Battalion in Darmstadt, Germany this March in order to refuse immediate deployment to Afghanistan. The New Jersey native surrendered to military authorities at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on May 8 and was discharged from the Army on May 11. Chris now lives with his wife in Germany. This is his story.

Courage to Resist. June 20, 2007

My name is Chris Capps. I joined the Army Reserves in 2004 looking to earn money for college and basically to become independent. I was living with my parents in New Jersey.

Lt. Cmdr. Matt Diaz

On May 18, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Diaz was sentenced to six months in a Navel brig and removal from the Navy for courageously upholding the constitution of the United States. Apparently this is a very serious crime in America today. Lt. Cmdr. Diaz is actually counting himself lucky, as the 41-year-old officer with 19-years of service to the U.S. Navy faced a possible 14 years in prison.

Diaz was a military attorney assigned to investigate abuses of prisoners at Guantánamo, the legal black hole dungeon that operates outside of domestic and international law according to the Bush administration. Taking this assignment seriously not only some-what predictably ended his military career; it might have landed himself in prison until the year 2021.

Former USMC Sgt Kokesh. Washington DC 3/19/07

May 31, 2007 Update

Adam Kokesh and Liam Madden are active members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Both are former Marine sergeants who served in Iraq and were later honorably discharged. Due to their outspoken opposition to the war, the Marine Corps is now formally threatening to revoke their discharges and retroactively change them to “other than honorable.” This is a new, unprecedented step the military feels is necessary in order to suppress a growing anti-war voice from within the military itself. We cannot allow this suppression of free speech to occur!

Kansas City, Missouri rally to support Adam Kokesh during his hearing! Veterans: Please wear a piece of your military uniform as a show of solidarity. Monday, June 4th at Noon in front of the Marine Corps Mobilization Command Building, 15303 Andrews Road, Kansas City, MO 64147 (map). For more info: kokesh.blogspot.com

Vet walking for Iraq dead, Sacramento 6/3/07

By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist

Sacramento, California (Updated June 7, 2007)—"We’ve had a lot of people out here. I feel like this has been really successful at reaching out to the community and getting them involved, and more aware of what’s going in Iraq—and why it’s so important for us to end this war," explained the Iraq veteran after a week of walking around the California capitol building. Community members joined him this morning for the final lap marking each of the U.S. troops, and a representative number of Iraqis, killed by the U.S. invasion and occupation.

"We’ve not only had veterans join us walking, but some active duty military as well. A couple of the active duty guys [who joined us] were saying that they think this war now is ridiculous. They don’t understand why they keep being sent to Iraq over and over again. They want to end this war as much as we do."

• Iraq vet marching California capitol (initial June 1 Courage to Resist report and photos)
• Updates from Veterans for Peace Sacramento Chapter 87
• Tower Guard Vigil: Support Iraq vet Evan Knappenberger’s efforts to end stop-loss and IRR (Bellingham, Washington)

Agustin Aguayo (rear center) welcomed in Stockton, California 5/11/07. Photo Jeff Paterson

Agustin joined by other Iraq War vets and resisters on whirlwind speaking tour

“Before I left for Iraq I searched deep within me, I concluded that if I go over there I can’t take a life. I ultimately say I’ll go, but I’m definitely a conscientious objector. I’m not willing to cross that line, no matter what I can’t take a life.” Two years later, after his application for discharge was a conscientious objector was denied by the Pentagon, Army Spc. Agustin Aguayo went AWOL in order to resist redeploying to Iraq.

Iraq War resisters Agustin Aguayo, Robert Zabala, Pablo Paredes & Camilo Mejia, Watsonville CA 5/14/07. Photo Jeff Paterson

Last Thursday, Courage to Resist supporters joined his wife Helga at the Sacramento airport to welcome Agustin home from a U.S. military prison in Germany where he was held for eight months as a prison of conscience for his unjust conviction for desertion.

Since then, Agustin has shared his story of resistance at community gatherings in Sacramento, Carmel, and San Francisco. Highlights of Agustin’s first week as an anti-war activist also included presentations to day labors, farm workers, and their families in Stockton, and high school and college students in Watsonville.

View the Courage to Resist photo gallery of Agustin's Northern California tour.

U.S. Army bans MySpace!

www.myspace.com/couragetoresist

Courage to Resist. May 17, 2007

In the name of limited bandwidth and national security, the Army has banned MySpace, YouTube, and nine other social networking websites. Not only does this come only days after Courage to Resist launched our own MySpace outreach effort, it comes the day after the Army itself opened a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing the “good news that goes unreported” in Iraq! No word yet that www.couragetoresist.org has been banned.

Yvette and Tim Coil

On March 12, Tim and Yvette Coil peacefully objected to military recruiting in the Stow Monroe Falls public library in Stow, Ohio. The library director later called the police and Tim Coil was arrested.

"My husband, Tim Coil, and I, Yvette Coil, went to the Stow Monroe Falls library in Stow, Ohio. Soon after two uniformed military recruiters arrived and proceeded to recruit a young man. Frustrated with this happening in the public library, I told a library employee that I was going to set cards on the window of the room in which the recruiters were recruiting stating my opinion of the military and this war. She said that as long as there was no confrontation she didn't mind. On 3x5 cards I wrote, "There is no honor in fighting for a lying President," and "Dont do it! Recruiters lie!" and set them outside the window..."

Marc Train at the 'March on the Pentagon' 3/17/07. Photo: Jeff Paterson / Courage to Resist

"Just because we volunteered, doesn't mean we volunteered to throw our lives away for nothing. You can only push human beings so far," says Marc Train, a 19-year old soldier from America's heartland. "Soldiers are going to Iraq multiple times. The reasons we're there are obviously lies. We're reaching a breaking point, and I believe you're going see a lot more resistance inside the military."

By Sarah Olson, Truthout. April 19, 2007

Train's a private in the US Army, stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia. But the last time anyone saw him on base was March 16, just before he headed to DC to protest the war he is expected to fight.

Ricky Clousing at 8/12/2006 press conference in Seattle. Photo: Jeff Paterson / Courage to Resist

April 18, 2007

Sgt. Ricky Clousing did three months in an Army brig for refusing to return to Iraq. He speaks with independent journalist Sarah Olson about his experiences in Iraq that led him to find the courage to resist an illegal and unjust occupation war. 20 min. MP3 audio (13.7 MB)

“He was bleeding. I’m looking down at his eyes, and he looked up at me. It was an intense moment. I feel like this communication, questions he might have been feeling or asking. Like, “why did he get shot?” “Why does it hurt so much?” “Why are we there?” “What’s going on?” “Why is this happening to him?” I was asking these questions… I was on the same team of people that just took this person’s life so casually and unnecessarily...”

“I knew that I could finish my time and realistically end up going back to Iraq at least once. Or I could go AWOL… I thought. "wow," I actually do have a choice.”

US Army soldier Brandon Hughey applying for refugee status in Canada. Photo: Lewis / AP

By Reuben Apple, Eye Weekly (Toronto, Canada). April 5, 2007

Americans, insurgents, militiamen and others fighting in Iraq have killed 30,000 Iraqis, if you believe US President George W. Bush, or over 600,000, according to researchers at John Hopkins University. There is near-unanimous agreement that the United States did not invade Iraq in self-defence, and the United Nations did not say America could attack. The new Iraqi oil law and Abu Ghraib are examples of systematic plunder and torture.

Related news about US troops in Canada resisting the Iraq War: Denver Post's "Fight or flight" (4/15/07) and Newsweek's "The number of soldiers deserting the U.S. Army is rising" (3/27/07).

"As a counselor on the GI Rights Hotline, I know that, for every GI in the news refusing to fight, there are thousands more GIs quietly saying, "No!" to this war."

By Susan Galleymore, Courage to Resist. Published in Left Curve Journal Spring 2007.

One of the best kept secrets of our time is the ferocious GI resistance to the war in Vietnam. It covered the gamut from individual, passive, and unorganized to overtly active, collective, and organized. It sprouted in military barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs, and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite West Point, spread through Vietnam's battlefields and, according to a Vietnam-era military officer, by 1971 it had infested the entire armed services. Until the recent screening of the documentary, Sir, No Sir!, the American public knew little about the resistance to that war.

Today, there is budding GI resistance to this war, the Global War on Terror (GWOT). So far, resistance has not blossomed into the near-epidemic of that time but the ground is fertile and thanks to Sir, No Sir! GIs are learning their history and emulating their forebears.

Civilian federal judge sides with Marine objector

By Aaron Glantz, posted on AntiWar.net. April 6, 2007

University of California Santa Cruz student Robert Zabala joined the Marine Corps thinking it would be a "place where he could find security" after the death of his grandmother in 2003.

But when he began boot camp in June 2003, Zabala said he had an ethical awakening that would not allow him to kill other people. He was particularly appalled by the boot camp's attempts to desensitize the recruits to violence.

Darrell Anderson was deployed to Iraq with the Army's 1st Armoured Division in the spring of 2004. Darrell served most of his time in Baghdad where he was wounded by a roadside bomb after serving for 7 months. Facing the possibility of a second deployment to Iraq, Darrells conscience kept him from returning to the military. After witnessing the abuse and killing of Iraqi civilians and being ordered to fire on an automobile containing Iraqi civilians, Anderson concluded that the war is wrong. He fled to Canada rather than face the possibility of returning to Iraq. On October 6, 2006 Darrell returned to the United States and turned himself in at Ft. Knox in KY. Before turning himself in he held a press conference in which he stated, "I believed it was my human right to choose not to kill innocent people" Darrell was released from the Army three days later and is now organizing support for other miliatry resisters as member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

March 27 Update: Darrell's fight is not yet over. He still suffers from PTSD and other health issues related to his service in Iraq. He needs and deserves VA benefits that his "other than honorable" prevent him from obtaining. Darrell still has $4,000 in oustanding legal fees that he needs to pay before he can fight for his discharge upgrade to get VA benefits. Please help this Iraq combat veteran and courageous resister get the support and care he deserves.

Please send donations to "Darrell Anderson Legal Fees Fund", P.O. Box 54675, Lexington KY 40555-4675. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kyle Snyder speaking at a Courage to Resist rally, SF, 12/9/06 . Photo: Jeff Paterson

U.S. Army requested the illegal apprehension

By Gerry Condon, February 28, 2007.

On Friday, February 23, U.S. war resister Kyle Snyder was arrested in British Columbia for unspecified immigration violations. Police in Nelson, BC barged into Snyder’s home, handcuffed him, and hauled him off to jail. The police had no warrant. Snyder, who was wearing only a robe and boxer shorts at the time, was not allowed to put on clothes or shoes. He was not read his rights or allowed to call his lawyer. Nelson police told him he would be deported to the U.S., where he is wanted for unauthorized absence from the U.S. Army.