the ground truth

(photo from the sorry everybody site, a picture gallery of americans offering apologies to the world for george bush's re-election.)

A part of me died in the Iraqi desert.
by Michael Blake

He looked at me and he realized that I had been to the other side; I had seen shit that he could never comprehend; and I had done shit that he would never, in a million years, have the courage to do. A part of me died in Iraq, it will forever be buried with the men we lost and the people we killed...

from the iraq veterans against the war

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last night, at a screening of the ground truth, i heard many similar stories from veterans about their accounts of war in iraq and their difficult transitions back into the civilian world. the soldiers of the ground truth have been physically injured on duty in iraq or are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder upon their return. they shared horrifiying experiences of the killing of innocent men, women, and children, the lack of adequate mental and physical health support from the government upon their return, and the fact that these soldiers still do not know what their reason for being in iraq was...they had no said mission except to survive.

one of the stories, was from camilo mejia, a 28 year old sgt who was sentenced to one year in prison for refusing to return to fight in iraq. after spending 6 months in combat in iraq, and returning for 2 weeks to the us, he concluded that the war was illegal and immoral, and that he would not return. in an interview with 60 minutes while in hiding, mejia had this to say about why he was in iraq:

“That’s the problem. I don’t have an answer, I don’t have a good answer. I cannot say I did it to help the Iraqi people. I cannot say that it was to make America and the world safer. I cannot say that it was for democracy,” Mejia says. “I cannot say that it was to prevent terrorism. I cannot find a single good reason for having been there and having shot at people and having been shot at.”

it's essential to be informed and continue to spread the truth so that this can be brought to an end...find more information and how you can take action locally here:

host a screening of the ground truth

a.n.s.w.e.r. la act now to stop war and end racism. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has initiated a call for locally coordinated protests on Saturday, October 28th, just days before the pitiful charade known as the 2006 mid-term elections. The people will force the issue of the Iraq war onto the U.S. political stage by taking to streets in demonstrations in cities and towns throughout the United States. Tens of thousands of people will take to the streets in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Miami, Washington D.C. and in other large and small cities and towns throughout the United States.

code pink women for peace

one million reasons to end the war in iraq

and here are some facts about the war in iraq (as of june 2006):

- the war in iraq is now in its fourth year.

- over 2,500 u.s. deaths and over 18,000 u.s. wounded have been recorded since the war began.

- over 95% of the above-mentioned deaths and injuries happened after "major combat" was declared over by president bush in his "mission accomplished" speech of may 1, 2003.

- from the 2003 to the 2005 calendar years, 210 active/deployed u.w. army soldiers have committed suicide. the number has risen in each successive year, and the 2005 toll is the highest since 1993.

- 1 in 3 homeless americans are military veterans.

- the war in iraq is costing the us nearly $200 million a day and nearly $6 billion per month.

- according to the national priorities project, the $150 billion spent on iraq reconstruction could have paid for the following in the us:

sending 20,385,749 children to attend a year of head start
health care for 92,526,600 children for one year
hiring 2,667,325 additional public school teachers for one year
providing 7,461,354 students four-year scholarships at public universities
building 1,385,841 additional housing units
fully funding global anti-hunger efforts for 6 years
fully funding worldwide aids programs for 15 years
ensuring that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for 51 years

-from the ground truth

thanks to michelle bass and simone for hosting the event