January, 2003 Friends,
As soldiers, you have sworn to protect Canada and Canadians, even at the
risk of your own lives. Few occupations require such dedicated commitment
and potential sacrifice, and we cannot help but feel in our hearts a touch
of the fear and anxiety which must be facing you and your families.
But Canada and Canadians are not under threat from the people of Iraq,
against whom a massive escalation of war is likely to be launched soon.
Most of the world is amazed that the U.S. is hellbent on war, desperately
seeking a pretext, any pretext, no matter what the cost, no matter if there
is no substantial reason offered. (Although the media only covers a small
percentage of it, we're sure you are aware of the massive demonstrations
against war across North America and Europe.)
To this moment, there has been not one shred of evidence of an Iraqi link
to Osama bin Laden, not one shred of evidence that Iraq is planning a war
of aggression against its neighbours, not one shred of evidence that Iraq
has the current capacity to launch weapons of mass destruction.
This is not to defend in any way the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein,
but we need to ask ourselves why there is such a focus on Iraq when Canada,
the U.S., and U.K. support dozens of similarly brutal regimes around the
globe, all of which commit gross abuses of human rights. A cursory glance
at the website of a reputable organization such as Amnesty International
confirms this.
You likely have your own suspicions about this intentional war, which
clearly seems more about gaining Western control over Iraq's huge oil
reserves than unfounded allegations about weapons of mass destruction.
Indeed, just look at the casual response to North Korea's nuclear weapons
program, one far more advanced than anything Iraq possesses.
But you are probably not allowed to voice these concerns, because your duty
is to follow orders.
It is in this context that we want to speak with you as fellow Canadians
genuinely concerned about your safety as well as the welfare of the people
who have the most to lose in this planned war: the people of Iraq, already
suffering from the massive bombardment of 1991, from the deadly radioactive
legacy of over 300 tonnes of depleted uranium dropped on that country, and
the devastating sanctions which have claimed over a million lives.
Indeed, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War estimates immediate casualties of a war
against Iraq could number in excess of half a million people. This does not
include the massive refugee crisis, famine, and environmental disaster that
is likely to befall the region as well. Indeed, the United Nations
estimates 10 million Iraqis could be put at risk of disease and hunger
following an invasion, and failure to provide immediate assistance in such
a situation would prove lethal.
It is in such troubled times that we are all faced with difficult choices.
As soldiers, some of you have told us that yours is not to question but
simply to serve, to serve those who send you overseas to fight.
But we believe at this crucial time that as soldiers, you DO have a choice:
a choice to act morally, legally, safely, to avert the even greater
humanitarian disaster that awaits the Iraqi people.
Quite simply, we are encouraging you to lay down your weapons and refuse to
fight.
Under international and Canadian law, this is not only your right, it is
also your obligation under the below-mentioned Nuremberg Principles.
And as law-abiding citizens, we have a responsibility and a commitment to
support you in coming to and dealing with your decision not to fight.
If thousands of men and women like yourselves refused to fight, it would
make current and future war plans difficult, if not impossible, to carry out.
We also write because you, like the veterans of the 1991 war against Iraq,
will likely return home and receive little or no support or compensation
whatsoever from the War Dept. in dealing with deadly Gulf War Syndrome
(radioactive poisoning from exposure to depleted uranium) and Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (suffered by one-third of Gulf War vets)
The white men who send you to war (John McCallum, Bill Graham, and John
Chretien, among others) will not be sharing with you some key information.
You have a right to know the following:
A. Like all wars, the escalation of the ongoing war against the Iraqi
people is illegal. It violates some of the most basic precepts of
international laws and treaties to which Canada is a party, including: *the
Treaty Providing for the Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National
Policy (aka Kellogg-Briand Pact, agreed to in 1928) * the Declaration of
St. Petersburg (Declaration Renouncing the Use in Time of War of Explosive
Projectiles Under 400 Grammes of Weight) * Resolution on the Non-Use of
Force in International Relations and Permanent Prohibition on the Use of
Nuclear Weapons * the Charter of the United Nations ("all members shall
refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
* Hague Convention on Land Warfare * Protocol for the Prohibition of the
Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of
Bacteriological Methods of Warfare * Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide * Convention Relative to the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War (The Geneva Convention) * Convention on
the Prohibition of Military or any Other Hostile Use of Environmental
Modification Techniques * the Nuremberg Principles, which define as a crime
against peace "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of
aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or
assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for
accomplishment of any of the foregoing." * the Canadian War Crimes Act.
B. Few Canadians likely know better than you that like in all wars,
soldiers risk returning, if they do return, horribly injured, traumatized,
sick, with a wide range of debilitating illnesses. They are greeted with
cold stone silence from the men who sent them to fight. If you were to find
yourself in this situation, who would help you to demand full compensation,
medical treatment, therapy, whatever is necessary for you to recover? We in
the anti-war movement would like to say: call on us.
C. Violence simply does not work. If it did, wars would have ended
centuries ago. In the unlikely event that you do face serious armed
resistance from the Iraqi forces, it is quite possible that some of the
weapons or weapons components being aimed at you were made right here in
Canada, which continues to profit from a $5 billion per year war industry.
D. Under the Nuremberg Principles, you have an obligation NOT to follow the
orders of leaders who are preparing crimes against peace and crimes against
humanity. We are all bound by what U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert K. Jackson
declared in 1948: [T]he very essence of the [Nuremberg] Charter is that
individuals have intentional duties which transcend the national
obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state." At the Tokyo War
Crimes trial, it was further declared "[A]nyone with knowledge of illegal
activity and an opportunity to do something about it is a potential
criminal under international law unless the person takes affirmative
measures to prevent commission of the crimes."
So we call on you: refuse orders to be sent to this or any other war. Stay
at home with your friends and families, work with us to turn your armouries
into housing for the homeless, work with us to transform the War Dept. into
the Dept. of Human Needs, help us teach the world that you can't keep the
peace with a gun, help veterans of past wars receive full compensation and
proper treatment for their illnesses, join us to demand that we fill the
world with food and shelter, not with guns and bombs, join us to reclaim
our country as a place that serves need, not greed, a place where
environmental respect and human dignity are placed before a system which
profits from war and human misery.
If you are in the armed forces and want to speak with us about any of these
issues or concerns that you may have about the impending war, feel free to
contact us at PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, On M6C 1C0,
or e-mail us at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Peace Homes not Bombs
HST. writes on Saturday January 18 2003 @ 07:22AM PST: [ reply | parent ]
Fear and Loathing in Afghanistan.
We were somewhere around Kandahar, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit
light headed, maybe you should fly...." And suddenly there was a terrible
roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like antiaircraft
fire, all swooping and screeching and diving around the plane, and a voice
was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals? Canadians?"
(attorney says: "What are you yelling about?") "Never mind, its your turn
to fly." No point in mentioning those canooks, I thought, the poor bastard
will see them soon enough. We had two go-pills, some anti depressants, and
a bag of Xanax for when we got back. Not that we needed all this for the
trip, but once you get locked in a serious patrol mission, the tendency is
to push it as far as you can. The only thing that worried me was the
dexies, there is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and
depraved than a man in a fully-loaded F-16 crazed on military speed. Except
maybe the politician who sent him.
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/01/17/3349921
