[wvns] US Marine Quits

My Story
By Army National Guard Spc. Eleonai "Eli" Israel
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18279.htm

"Courage To Resist" --- - Two months ago, I took a stand that changed
my life forever. As a Soldier, a JVB Protective Service Agent, and a
Sniper with the Army who had been in Iraq for a year (running over 250
combat missions), I refused to continue to be a part of the
occupation. I regret nothing. This is my story. Currently, as I write
this I am sitting in Kuwait, on "stand-by" to return to the States
sometime hopefully this week. After getting out of the brig last week,
I'm now scheduled to be discharged from the Army within the month. I'm
looking forward to joining forces with anti-Iraq-War movements, such
as Courage to Resist and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

What led me to this place in my life?

Joining up, the first time

I joined the U.S. Marine Corps in the spring of 1999, the month of my
18th birthday.

I grew up in the custody of the state of Kentucky with little contact
with my biological parents since I was 13. I had no family support
system and ended up on the streets, doing what street kids do.

By 16, I had eased into hard drugs. I had not been to school since the
first part of 9th grade, and I was short on about everything but
street smarts, an untapped sense of ambition, and a tough guy attitude.

When I walked into the recruiting station I learned that in order to
join the Corps, I would need either a high school diploma or a GED
with a waiver—unless I also had certain college credits. When I told
them that I was 16 and had only completed 8th grade, they quickly
dismissed me, not expecting to see me again.

They were wrong.

Not only did I earn my GED, I also did a semester at the local
college. A year and a half later the month I turned 18, March 1999, I
walked back into the same recruiting station, spoke to the same
recruiter, showed him my GED and my college transcripts and felt my
first real sense of pride.

Thirteen weeks after arriving at Parris Island, I was changed forever.
I graduated as the leader of a platoon squad with a meritorious
promotion, and was now well on my way to a shining career as a Marine.

Then came September 11, 2001.

Re-enlisting for my country

Like many after September 11th I wanted to serve, again. I felt I owed
something more to my country after my years of training. I trusted my
president and my leadership to tell me the truth. I also trusted my
own integrity. I knew that I would never willingly do anything that I
knew to be immoral or wrong.

I re-enlisted in 2004—this time in the Army National Guard.

At the time I believed that those serving in the 'global war on
terror' were doing so because they believed in what they were
doing—not because they were under compulsion by a contract or retained
by stop-loss. After having seen the situation on the ground, I now
believe I was wrong. In 2006, I shipped out to Iraq.

In Iraq I was as a JVB Agent—the JVB (Joint Visitors Bureau) served as
the protective service for "three star generals and above" and their
"civilian equivalents". This included the Vice President, the
Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, their
equivalents in a number of our "allied nations", and others. I trained
for my job as part of this "special unit" prior to deployment, and I
spent the majority of my tour in the company of the most powerful
people connected to the "global war on terror".

Even as a JVB agent, my primary job was still infantry. On days when
we didn't have any JVB missions, we would be called on for "search and
cordon" operations and other infantry assignments. So, although I
worked at the JVB, I was still on the roster of a sniper platoon
tasked with various missions "outside the wire"—either as "sniper
overwatch" or house raids.

I reasoned that my actions during these missions were justified in the
name of "self-defense." However, I came to realize my perception was
wrong. I was in a country that I had no right to be in, violating the
lives of people, and doing so without regard to the same standards of
dignity and respect that we as Americans hold our own homes and our
own lives to.

Destroying lives

I have taken and/or destroyed the lives of people who were defending
their families from being the "collateral damage" of the day. Iraqi
boys are joining groups like "Al Qaeda" for the same reason street
kids in the U.S. join the "Cribs" and the "Bloods". It's about self
protection, a sense of dignity, and making a stand.

The young man whose father and cousin we "accidentally" killed, and
whose mother and siblings cry every time the tank rolls through the
neighborhood, doesn't care who Osama Bin Laden is. The "militants" we
attacked were usually no different than an armed neighborhood watch
group who didn't trust their government. We didn't trust the
government either, and we put them in power!

Our own sacrifices, as tragic as they are (and they are tragic), are
dwarfed in comparison to the carnage that has been brought on the
Iraqi people.

"Success" in Iraq is not a matter of the number of coalition deaths
"declining". Success would be an end of the catastrophe we have
inflicted on a entire society, and restoration of dignity and sovereignty

Iraqis continue to die at a rate 10 to 20 times that of the coalition
forces. In Baghdad alone, five years and $950 billion later, the
population suffers power and water outages that last for weeks at a
time. Meanwhile, we often impose martial law so that no one can leave.
The day I saw myself in the hateful eyes of a young Iraqi boy who
stared at me was the day I realized I could no longer justify my role
in the occupation.

I envy the soldier who is able to see the injustice of this war from
afar, and has the courage and conviction to take the stand against it.
There will be those who criticize soldiers for being willing to weigh
moral convictions against political ambition. What matters is making
the stand. Whether you chose not to join the military in the first
place, or you realized after joining that it fell short of the
requisite levels of integrity, the moment you realize the truth is the
moment to take a stand. My moment came with only three weeks of combat
missions remaining during my one year in Iraq. Moral conviction has no
timing.

Taking a stand

I informed my chain of command of my beliefs. I could tell from that
first conversation that things were not going to go well. I told them
that I believed our presence in Iraq was unlawful. I explained that I
no longer believed in a policy of war and that I would file as a
conscientious objector. Simply put, I could no longer in good
conscience participate in a combat role against the Iraqi people.

Seconds after the words left my mouth, my life changed. Inside I had
more peace than I had felt in over a year. I knew immediately that I
had done the right thing. However, I was aggressively disarmed,
confined, and shut off from contacting anyone, including family or an
attorney.

I was illegally confined to a cot in an operations room, placed under
24 hour guard, and escorted to the bathroom before I was formally
charged with refusal to follow an order two weeks later. I remained
confined until I pled guilty (with little choice) less than a week
after that. I was immediately sent to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait to serve
30 days in a military prison. I was just released from the brig the
other day and I'm now in the process of being "kicked out" with an
"Other Than Honorable" discharge. I regret nothing.

After I told my command my beliefs, and once they realized they
couldn't intimidate me and that I was serious, they decided that it
was going to become an "information war".

I had many anti-war friends from MySpace and other online networks
that got wind that I was being mistreated and it circulated around the
world, literally overnight. Before I knew it, I was dragged into the
First Sergeant's office and they began yelling and screaming about how
their names were "all over the internet". They didn't try to deny what
was being said about them—that I was being treated unfairly and that
they refused to acknowledge my claim as a conscientious objector—they
were simply mad about the exposure.

Military strikes back

The next day I was told that I had been "flagged" as an OPSEC
(operational security) "concern". No reason given. They were hostile
and consumed with the task of making "an example" out of me, and they
were looking for ways to ruin my reputation and credibility.

They spent days typing up pages of fabricated "counseling statements"
to retroactively discredit my military record. The fact that there
were no prior record of statements made these accusations obviously
fake, and they knew it. They "needed more".

They demanded repeatedly all of my Internet user names and pass
words—MySpace, personal email, everything. All under the threat that
"more charges" would be brought against me if I refused.

They wanted to read my emails, all my blogs, everything, in an attempt
to find something. Anything they could use to make it look like I had
been giving out classified information. They wanted to charge me and
ruin my credibility as much as possible, and they desperately needed
to be able to justify my illegal confinement.

Two weeks later, when they finally realized that they were not going
to be able to charge me with "divulging intel", they finally charged
me with a series of "not following orders". Not only did these include
my refusal to continue combat missions, but ridiculous stuff like "not
standing at parade rest" and "being late for work". You get the picture.

My command eventually offered to "chapter me out" if I would
immediately plead guilty to everything and accept a summary court
martial. My options were clear. I could play ball, spend 30 days in a
brig, and get my life back. Or I could let them put me back on a fully
confined restriction for the next two months, while they took every
opportunity to make an example of me—to show everyone in the
battalion, "this is what happens if you oppose the war."

I'll let them think they won, for now.

Freedom

The truth will come out, and there is nothing they can do to hide it.
The occupation is a disaster. I'm convinced that every day it
continues that it makes America, and the Iraqis less safe.

Objecting to the war and standing up to the military was without
question, one of the best decisions I have ever made. I made a stand
that was the right one, and I have my freedom back as a bonus. Maybe
ten years from now those of us resisting from within the military
today will be seen as some of the first few to speak the truth and to
follow up with action. Even now I have many to remind me that I'm not
alone in my thinking, even a majority of Americans who know that all
the pieces of this conflict simply don't add up.

Seek the truth. Make the stand.

Please visit "Courage to Resist" website http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/

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

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