Voice of Revolution

Testimony Condemns Government Crimes
IVAW Hearings Defend Humanity and Advance the Fight to End the Wars Now!

The Iraq Veterans Against the War organized four days of testimony by anti-war veterans that stood out for its determined defense of humanity and rejection of the criminal U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both veterans and active duty soldiers brought to the fore the criminal nature of the occupations. They provided testimony on the daily killings and beatings of civilians, raiding and destruction of homes, shelling of neighborhoods, bombing of ancient buildings and museums alongside vital civilian infrastructure, the brutal and inhuman conditions forced on prisoners, the racism and dehumanizing of the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan and of the soldiers themselves.
Soldier after soldier testified to their own experience in being trained to see the Iraqi people as non-human and to themselves becoming inhuman -- killing, beating and torturing innocent people. With great emotion many apologized to the Iraqi people and condemned the criminal character of the occupation imposed from the top, from the White House on down the military chain of command. Anyone listening for even an hour walked away with a deep sense of anger with the government and with the necessity to stop U.S. wars as part of defending humanity.

Voice of Revolution salutes the IVAW hearings as an important contribution to strengthening the anti-war movement. The testimony forcefully stood against the chauvinism of the U.S. rulers that says only they, the rulers, have any value. With great conviction, the veterans stood for the defense of the rights of the Iraqis, Afghanistanis and all humanity.

The IVAW hearings, named “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations” utilized veteran testimony, as well as civilian testimony by Iraqis and Afghanistanis, including those by video. Several panels were organized over the course of the four days, March 13-16, including those on “Rules of Engagement,” “Racism and War,” “Gender and Sexuality in the Military,” the “Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan” as well as at home, “Crisis in Veterans Healthcare,” “Corporate Pillaging” and “Aims of the Global War on Terror.” All of the panels were both informative and inspiring, bringing out both the courage of the Iraqi people and their resistance,and that of the soldiers resisting and rejecting their role as occupiers.

Some of the veterans who spoke came from military families. One explained that his father was a Vietnam veteran, now completely disabled from Agent Orange exposure. He spoke about the rotten conditions Iraqis working on U.S. bases face, where they work for $1 a day, in extremely hot and dirty conditions. The Iraqis were forced to daily pass through humiliating checkpoints, where they were routinely detained and sometimes killed for no reason.

Other people spoke to regularly raiding homes where “terrorists” were supposedly hiding. Women and children were forcibly removed, young girls often raped, men detained, all the Iraqis were mistreated. Then nothing would be found and the soldiers would be told they were at the wrong address and were sent to repeat the crimes at other homes. As one panelist brought out, hearing participants all knew the correct address for the world’s number one terrorist: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Several soldiers testified about the torture against people at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. They condemned the government for branding everyone as “detainees” instead of prisoners. The government uses “detainee” as a way of justifying abandoning the laws concerning prisoners of war. The veterans brought out that all the prisoners are physically restrained and have sandbags put over their heads. They spoke about the constant torture of people guilty of no crime and that this torture was the everyday practice at the concentration camps. Examples were given of prisoners forced to stand for longs hours while one soldier slammed chairs or sledge hammers into the walls next to them while another soldier yelled at them, hour after hour.

One veteran, speaking to the lists drawn up by the military -- saying long hours of sleep deprivation, being forced to stand surrounded by loud noises, were not torture and waterboarding was -- asked, “How can any human being even make such a list?” He went on to say that holding people in small cells for years, refusing to allow them to see or communicate with family, refusing to charge or try them, that was torture. Another, from Abu Ghraib prison, brought out that his commanding officer regularly said, “You cannot spell abuse without Abu.” Still others spoke to the horrendous medical conditions prisoners endure and the refusal of doctors to even see them.

The panel on racism emphasized that everyone who goes to Iraq or Afghanistan is imbued with the racism and chauvinism of the government. Vietnam veterans brought out that the military promoted use of derogatory terms to dehumanize the Vietnamese and the practice is being repeated in Iraq. The top military generals, including General Tommy Franks, for example, regularly referred to the Iraqis as “hodgis.” Panelists explained that this was an effort to turn a term of respect among Muslims against the people. A hodgi, for Muslims, is someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, considered one of the most sacred acts by Muslims. Use of this term by the U.S. military to then describe all Iraqis is degrading, humiliating and dehumanizing. Soldiers spoke to the great difficulty they had in not succumbing to the pressure to see all Iraqis as fair game to kill and brutalize, and the racism of widespread use of the term “hodgi” to justify this inhumanity. The hearings played a role in openly denouncing these actions and standing with the people of Iraq in their struggle for liberation and sovereignty.

The panel on women and the military spoke to the difficulties women face in contending with the dehumanizing of the military training itself, which is then turned against the Iraqis. Testimony of women raped by commanding officers and then jailed for speaking out was given. Another example was of a woman from the Coast Guard who was raped and then discharged for refusing to drop charges against those responsible for the rape and for covering it up. Women are playing an important role in IVAW and encouraging their fellow soldiers, whether still active or as veterans, to join in standing against the war.

A number of veterans, particularly sergeants, spoke about the dehumanizing character of their training, to humiliate and degrade the soldiers under their command so that all in turn dehumanize the Iraqis and people of Afghanistan – or anyone branded as the enemy. They also spoke about being constantly bombarded with “intelligence” that all Iraqis were out to kill them and therefore they must act against all Iraqis under all circumstances. Examples of turning back pregnant women, refusing aid to wounded civilians, including children and the elderly, and numerous other crimes at checkpoints and patrols were spoken to. The veterans brought out that their fight to reject this racism and stand for rights is what is restoring their humanity, as individuals and as a collective.

One of the veterans most vigorously applauded emphasized that the Iraqis are not enemies, but our fellow workers and friends. The American people have nothing to gain from the occupation. Soldiers have nothing to gain by submitting to the demand of government to kill and die for the rich. Without soldiers willing to use the weapons, and fight the wars, the rich have nothing. The peoples share the same enemy, the U.S. imperialists, who care only about expanding their wealth and power. For Americans, the enemy, and the struggle, is here at home. He called on all soldiers to refuse to fight and on everyone to stand in defense of the peoples worldwide and fight together for another world. Representing the spirit of the event, the entire hall stood and applauded, many with fists in the air.
The hearings concluded with IVAW emphasizing that the hearings are a beginning of yet more vigorous organizing and struggle on their part to win their three demands: complete and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops now; full healthcare for All veterans, reparations to the Iraqi people to rebuild their country as they see fit. As one of the veterans put it, we are still soldiers in battle, we are just not soldiers for them!