Michael Pugliese quoted:
>"Scott Camil, formerly a gung-ho Marine, now looking Christ-like with long
hair and beard and chiseled Semitic features, was one of the most dramatic
witnesses at Winter Soldier. Camil testified about slitting old men's
throats and the abominable sexual torture and murder of a female Viet Cong
suspect. He stated that he had always believed in the rightness of his
actions, and in his nation's urgent need for him to perform these terrible
tasks. ... Winter Soldier for Camil and so many others was just this chance
to
connect again with their fellow men, and with the America they had once
loved enough to risk their lives for."
In the where-are-they-now department...Scott just wrote an article for the
mag I co-edit:
Supporting the troops
Scott Camil
I want to say that everyone I know supports the troops, we just disagree on
what that means.
How do you support the troops? When I joined the Marine Corps and when our
friends and loved ones joined the military, there was a belief that those in
charge would act lawfully and responsibly.
Those that waved the flags, beat the drums and fanned the flames of war while
sending us to the Meat Grinder in Vietnam did not really support us, they
fucked us. Supporting the troops means being responsible with their safety
and honest with the citizens; this is not the case now as it was not the case
in Nam.
Using the troops responsibly means using all means of diplomacy to solve the
problems and using the troops as a last resort. It means that you obey in
ternational law and that you use and risk the lives of the troops only
when all other means of conflict resolution are exhausted. In this case, we
are violating the U.N. Charter by invading the sovereign nation of Iraq.
This makes the war unlawful.
We are at war because the President doesnt have patience. Again, that is
not how you support the troops. I find that to hide a greedy, oil soaked
policy behind the flag and the troops defiles both the flag and the troops.
While the government screams the mantra, Support our Troops, they cut VA
benefits so they can give tax breaks to the rich what hypocrisy.
Starting a war, sending our troops to fight and die while yelling we support
the troops makes as much sense as starting fires, sending firefighters to
risk their lives fighting the fires while yelling we support our
firefighters.
Iraq has not attacked any other country since the end of Gulf War 1. The
inspections have been very slow. Impatience is not a responsible reason to
go to war or to expend the lives of our troops and it is definitely not how I
would define supporting our loved ones in the military.
Do I, or others against this war, support Saddam? Absolutely not. Even if
most of what they say about him is true, that still does not justify a
vigilante foreign policy where we get to be the judge, jury and executioner.
In this country, the fighting between Democrats and Republican is well known.
Many people consider the selection of Bush in 2000 by the Supreme Court to
be undemocratic. But when we were attacked on 9/11, we put our differences
aside and came together against an enemy that was the aggressor and attacked
us on our own soil. The overwhelming majority of the world put aside their
differences with us and stood by us because they saw us as innocent victims.
Why would we expect the Iraqi people to be any different or the rest of the
world not to side with those they consider as innocent victims, the Iraqi
people? They are being invaded by a foreign country that does not have the
support of the UN. They have done nothing against our country. They also
know that for 12 years our economic sanctions have been responsible for the
deaths of over 500,000 of their children. Knowing this, why do we expect to
be greeted by smiling Iraqis?
In 1991, 6000 Iraqi soldiers who tried to surrender were kept in their
trenches by tanks while bulldozers buried them alive. At the time, Defense
Secretary Dick Cheney sent a report to congress with an elaborate legal
justification. Answering questions raised concerning this incident as it
relates to the Geneva Conventions prohibition of denial of
quarter refusing to accept an enemys offer to surrender, the report said,
There is a gap in the law of war in defining precisely when surrender takes
effect or how it may be accomplished. An attempted surrender in the mist of a
hard fought battle is neither easily communicated nor received. The issue is
one of reasonableness. Because of these uncertainties and the need to
minimize loss of US lives, military necessity required that the assault... be
conducted with maximum speed and violence.
If you were an Iraqi soldier, knowing what happened in 1991, how anxious
would you be to surrender to American troops?
We scream about Iraq violating international law because they showed and
questioned American POWs on TV. Look at how we treat the prisoners in
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba
which would you rather be?
In Vietnam, we had the fire power and the technology. We did not understand
the culture, and in the end, the only way we could have prevailed would have
been to kill everyone in the North and South that did not agree with us.
There was no way that they could fight us on our terms and have a chance
against us, so they improvised and fought a guerrilla war.
In 1991, the Iraqis got their butts kicked trying to fight conventionally
(actually, trying to run from our fire power). If they have any smarts at
all, they know they cant win conventionally so they are fighting on their
own terms. That puts the US troops in the position of trying to destroy the
will of the Iraqis to resist by knocking out their leadership and convincing
the people that we are really the good guys (winning their hearts and minds).
I remember when we used to say, Grab them by the balls and their hearts and
minds will follow. I know that this concept will not work.
Being ashamed and appalled that our government is violating international law
and the Constitution is not wrong or anti American.
As citizens in a democracy protected by the Constitution, We The People are
the highest authority. The President, the Congress and the Supreme Court are
all public servants. We are the employers and they are the employees. The
legitimacy of their power is derived from our acquiescence. Without our
acquiescence, they have no legitimate authority. It is our duty to hold them
responsible and to punish them when they go awry. In a Democracy, legitimate
power has to come from the people. It is our duty to control our government.
...
Scott Camil served as a Marine Corps Sergeant in Vietnam. He is a member of
The Veterans Call to Conscience.
Gainesville (FL) Iguana, Vol. 17, #7, April 2003, p. 1
[lbo-talk] Re: Scott Camil (was: How to Treat Erstwhile Enemies...)
Gainesville (FL) Iguana, Vol. 17, #7, April 2003, p. 1