greenwald: manning forced nudity = media tipping point

Glenn Greenwald, including links and emphasis:

The forced nudity imposed on Bradley Manning followed by the forced resignation of P.J. Crowley has clearly created a media tipping point in this story. In addition to the scathing New York Times Editorial from Monday (Manning's treatment "conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects"), editorial condemnation has now come from The Los Angeles Times ("punishment, not protection, is the purpose of these degrading measures") and The Guardian ("There was at least the ghost of an excuse for bullying foreign combatants but no US need for mistreating one of their own"). Perhaps most notably, even the military-revering, establishment-defending Washington Post Editorial Page today emphatically condemns these conditions as "uncomfortably close to the kind of intimidating and humiliating tactics disavowed after the abuses at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons that eroded the country’s standing in the world."

The abusive treatment of Manning is indeed now reverberating internationally. Der Spiegel has a long article on the conditions of Manning's detention, noting that "even US politicians believe they're illegal" and highlighting the point I've repeatedly made:

Before he was inaugurated, Obama talked about the importance of whistleblowers, or sources who expose abuses within their organizations. Such "acts of courage and patriotism" ought to be "encouraged, rather than stifled," his website read at the time.

Once in office, Obama underwent a radical shift. His government is currently taking legal action against a number of whistleblowers. The government apparently wants to use the Manning case as a deterrent.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has an excellent article today describing how Physicians for Human Rights is now formally raising objections to the role of brig psychiatrists in enabling Manning's inhumane treatment (just as they once raised objections to the role played by health professionals at Guantanamo).

Plus: Tom Tomorrow: The president consults with General Flustercluck.

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editor of national review speaks up for bradley manning

Raw Story reports that Robert VerBruggen, editor of the ultraconservative National Review, is speaking out against the US Army's torture and abusive treatment of Bradley Manning.

I assume everyone already knows that P. J. Crowley, the US State Department spokesperson who called the treatment of Manning "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid," was forced to resign. Much to his credit, Crowley did not backpedal or detract his statement. VerBruggen also comments on Crowley's statement.

Bradley Manning has found yet another unexpected defender.

An editor at the conservative National Review magazine is speaking out on behalf of Manning, the Army private accused of leaking U.S. State Department cables to WikiLeaks.

Robert VerBruggen declared Tuesday that there was "no excuse" for subjecting Manning, who has not been convicted of a crime, to harsh conditions.

Manning attorney David Coombs revealed earlier this month that for at least two nights in row, the Army private had been "stripped naked" for as long as seven hours at a time.

Manning has been held at the Quantico brig since July under a maximum security regimen, which leaves him in his cell for 23 hours a day, because authorities say his escape would pose a risk to national security.

"He has yet to be convicted of a crime -- and, regardless, prisons should avoid inflicting arbitrary and pointless miseries on their charges," VerBruggen wrote.

"On at least two and possibly three occasions, prison officials have used their discretion to subject Manning to harsher procedures than would normally be used under the brig’s policies. Manning’s treatment may well be legal, as the general counsels of the Departments of Defense and of the Navy found — the policies in question are just guidelines — but that doesn’t make it right," he added.

. . .

"The fact that the State Department's P.J. Crowley spoke out against Manning's treatment, however ill-considered the outburst was, should encourage Americans to demand a better explanation," VerBruggen noted.

"Manning is an American citizen in an American detention facility, and he has not yet been convicted. There is no excuse for subjecting him to harsh conditions, so long as he poses no threat to himself or others. The American people deserve an explanation as to why Manning remains in maximum custody and on prevention-of-injury watch," he concluded.

So the National Review is more humane and just than Obama.

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wikileaks' forgotten man: documentary on bradley manning: watch on tv or online

On CBC this weekend, and online anytime, please watch "WikiLeaks' Forgotten Man", a short documentary about Bradley Manning.

WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange has been cast as a heroic champion of free speech and public enemy number one to the most powerful government in the world. But his ongoing expose of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of a young American soldier - Private Bradley Manning. It was Manning who allegedly stole the classified video and documents released to the world by WikiLeaks in 2010.

WikiLeaks' Forgotten Man says the U.S. Army private masterminded the biggest intelligence breach in history from a humble military desk in Iraq - and it tells the story of the man who betrayed him, former hacker Adrian Lamo. In an extraordinary interview Lamo reveals how he came to know Bradley Manning, claiming the soldier openly confessed to his role in the WikiLeaks scandal through online chats that are presented in the film.

Manning is quoted saying "I'm a high profile source...and I've developed a relationship with Assange". He says he released the cables because "I was actively involved in something I was completely against". But one of Lamo's old friends, former hacker Kevin Mitnick, is suspicious of Lamo's evidence and his motives, "I call into question the authenticity of the chat logs, because I know his personality".

While Julian Assange awaits the results of British efforts to extradite him to Sweden for sex charges, Manning now languishes in solitary confinement in a US military prison, facing a possible life sentence. But he's considered a hero to people like Daniel Ellsberg, the whistle-blower who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971. He says "Bradley Manning has shown a willingness to give his life and his freedom for his country. And you can't be more patriotic than that."

Ellsberg writes in support of Manning in The Guardian.

This shameful abuse of Bradley Manning
by Daniel Ellsberg

The WikiLeaks suspect's mistreatment amounts to torture. Either President Obama knows this or he should make it his business

President Obama tells us that he's asked the Pentagon whether the conditions of confinement of Bradley Manning, the soldier charged with leaking state secrets, "are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are."

If Obama believes that, he'll believe anything. I would hope he would know better than to ask the perpetrators whether they've been behaving appropriately. I can just hear President Nixon saying to a press conference the same thing: "I was assured by the the White House Plumbers that their burglary of the office of Daniel Ellsberg's doctor in Los Angeles was appropriate and met basic standards."

When that criminal behaviour ordered from the Oval Office came out, Nixon faced impeachment and had to resign. Well, times have changed. But if President Obama really doesn't yet know the actual conditions of Manning's detention – if he really believes, as he's said, that "some of this [nudity, isolation, harassment, sleep-deprivation] has to do with Private Manning's wellbeing", despite the contrary judgments of the prison psychologist – then he's being lied to, and he needs to get a grip on his administration.

If he does know, and agrees that it's appropriate or even legal, that doesn't speak well for his memory of the courses he taught on constitutional law.

The president refused to comment on PJ Crowley's statement that the treatment of Manning is "ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid". Those words are true enough as far as they go – which is probably about as far as a state department spokesperson can allow himself to go in condemning actions of the defence department. But at least two other words are called for: abusive and illegal.

Crowley was responding to a question about the "torturing" of an American citizen, and, creditably, he didn't rebut that description. Prolonged isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity – that's right out of the manual of the CIA for "enhanced interrogation". We've seen it applied in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. It's what the CIA calls "no-touch torture", and its purpose there, as in this case, is very clear: to demoralise someone to the point of offering a desired confession. That's what they are after, I suspect, with Manning. They don't care if the confession is true or false, so long as it implicates WikiLeaks in a way that will help them prosecute Julian Assange. [More here.]

"WikiLeaks' Forgotten Man" is available online here.

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bradley manning in his own words: truth-teller speaks out about his prison ordeal

This is the first we've heard directly from heroic war resister Bradley Manning, in his own words, since his prison ordeal began. Please share widely.

Stripped naked every night, Bradley Manning tells of prison ordeal

US soldier held on suspicion of leaking state secrets speaks out for first time about experience

'Stripping me of all of my clothing is without justification'

Bradley Manning, the US soldier being held in solitary confinement on suspicion of having released state secrets to WikiLeaks, has spoken out for the first time about what he claims is his punitive and unlawful treatment in military prison.

In an 11-page legal letter released by his lawyer, David Coombs, Manning sets out in his own words how he has been "left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions of max [security] custody" ever since he was brought from Kuwait to the military brig of Quantico marine base in Virginia in July last year. He describes how he was put on suicide watch in January, how he is currently being stripped naked every night, and how he is in general terms being subjected to what he calls "unlawful pre-trial punishment".

It is the first time Manning has spoken publicly about his treatment, having previously only been heard through the intermediaries of his lawyer and a friend. Details that have emerged up to now have inspired the UN to launch an inquiry into whether the conditions amount to torture, and have led to protests to the US government from Amnesty International.

The most graphic passage of the letter is Manning's description of how he was placed on suicide watch for three days from 18 January. "I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness."

Manning writes that he believes the suicide watch was imposed not because he was a danger to himself but as retribution for a protest about his treatment held outside Quantico the day before. Immediately before the suicide watch started, he said guards verbally harassed him, taunting him with conflicting orders.

When he was told he was being put on suicide watch, he writes, "I became upset. Out of frustration, I clenched my hair with my fingers and yelled: 'Why are you doing this to me? Why am I being punished? I have done nothing wrong.'"

He also describes the experience of being stripped naked at night and made to stand for parade in the nude, a condition that continues to this day. "The guard told me to stand at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes … The [brig supervisor] and the other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked."

Full story here.

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bradley manning torture continues: occupation of iraq continues too: support all war resisters

I don't know if you've all been following updates on accused WikiLeaks / Collateral Murder hero Bradley Manning. Things have gotten much worse.

On Wednesday, March 2, the US Army hit Manning with 22 additional charges, including the very serious, and very spurious, "aiding the enemy".

The following day, March 3, Manning's lawyer reported that Manning was stripped of all his clothes and forced to remain naked in his cell.

On Sunday, Glenn Greenwald reported that these humiliations will now occur daily, and put this travesty in context.

To follow-up on yesterday's observations about the prolonged forced nudity to which Bradley Manning has been subjected the last two days: brig officials now confirm to The New York Times that Manning will be forced to be nude every night from now on for the indefinite future -- not only when he sleeps, but also when he stands outside his cell for morning inspection along with the other brig detainees. They claim that it is being done "as a 'precautionary measure' to prevent him from injuring himself."

Has anyone before successfully committed suicide using a pair of briefs -- especially when under constant video and in-person monitoring? There's no underwear that can be issued that is useless for killing oneself? And if this is truly such a threat, why isn't he on "suicide watch" (the NYT article confirms he's not)? And why is this restriction confined to the night; can't he also off himself using his briefs during the day?

Let's review Manning's detention over the last nine straight months: 23-hour/day solitary confinement; barred even from exercising in his cell; one hour total outside his cell per day where he's allowed to walk around in circles in a room alone while shackled, and is returned to his cell the minute he stops walking; forced to respond to guards' inquiries literally every 5 minutes, all day, everyday; and awakened at night each time he is curled up in the corner of his bed or otherwise outside the guards' full view. Is there anyone who doubts that these measures -- and especially this prolonged forced nudity -- are punitive and designed to further erode his mental health, physical health and will? As The Guardian reported last year, forced nudity is almost certainly a breach of the Geneva Conventions; the Conventions do not technically apply to Manning, as he is not a prisoner of war, but they certainly establish the minimal protections to which all detainees -- let alone citizens convicted of nothing -- are entitled.

The treatment of Manning is now so repulsive that it even lies beyond what at least some of the most devoted Obama admirers are willing to defend. For instance, UCLA Professor Mark Kleiman -- who last year hailed Barack Obama as, and I quote, "the greatest moral leader of our lifetime" -- wrote last night:

The United States Army is so concerned about Bradley Manning’s health that it is subjecting him to a regime designed to drive him insane. . . . This is a total disgrace. It shouldn't be happening in this country. You can't be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.

The entire Manning controversy has received substantial media attention. It's being carried out by the military of which Barack Obama is the Commander-in-Chief. Yes, the Greatest Moral Leader of Our Lifetime and Nobel Peace Prize winner is well aware of what's being done and obviously has been for quite some time. [See original for more, plus links.]

It's vitally important that we all help keep this story alive. Visit Bradley Manning Support Network to see what you can do to help.

This also seems like a good time to post an item that's been weighing on my mind for months now. Greenwald ran an excellent interview with Nir Rosen, author of Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World. It's a very tough, very important read.

Every family that I've met in Iraq, or Iraqi refugees as well, has been touched by kidnapping and murder and rape and displacements. You have half a million Iraqis today living inside Iraq who are homeless, squatting in illegal settlements, living in shacks made out of tin cans and cardboard — I saw a house made out of used air conditioners piled up on top of each other — living in massive pits of sewage, stinking of shit, flies all over the place. And, of course, let's not forget you had hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, murdered, disappeared, tortured to death with power drills, with beheadings, their bodies found weeks later in garbage dumps. Hundreds and hundreds of villages in Iraq totally destroyed ... torture is routine and systematic now. If you get arrested, you get tortured. Corruption is rampant; it's one of the most corrupt countries on Earth. Services are terrible, almost no electricity, dirty water, terrible malnutrition, kids not going to school. It's just a destroyed, brutalized and beaten place where the worst kind of people have taken over.

This is what Bradley Manning is accused of revealing, and why he is being persecuted and tortured. This is what US Iraq War resisters in Canada refused to be part of, and why Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney want them deported. This is why our fight for war resisters matters.

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airport sexual assault, cadets for christ and the bleating heart of the usa

The only thing that scares me more than the fascist shift are all the sheeple who willingly march to the bleat.

In December, Claire Hirschkind, a 56-year-old rape survivor who has a type of pacemaker implant, was arrested and banned from an airport for refusing to submit to having her breasts handled by a stranger. Emphasis mine.

Hirschkind said because of the device in her body, she was led to a female TSA employee and three Austin police officers. She says she was told she was going to be patted down.

"I turned to the police officer and said, 'I have given no due cause to give up my constitutional rights. You can wand me,'" and they said, 'No, you have to do this,'" she said.

Hirschkind agreed to the pat down, but on one condition.

"I told them, 'No, I'm not going to have my breasts felt,' and she said, 'Yes, you are,'" said Hirschkind.

When Hirschkind refused, she says that "the police actually pushed me to the floor, (and) handcuffed me. I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security."

An ABIA spokesman says it is TSA policy that anyone activating a security alarm has two options. One is to opt out and not fly, and the other option is to subject themselves to an enhanced pat down. Hirschkind refused both and was arrested.

Other travelers KVUE talked to say they empathize with Hirschkind, but the law is the law.

"I understand her side of it, and their side as well, but it is for our protection so I have no problems with it," said Gwen Washington, who lives in Killeen.

"It's unfortunate that that happened and she didn't get to fly home, but it makes me feel a little safer," said Emily Protine.

Claire Hirschkind being sexually assaulted is "for our own protection" and "makes me feel a little safer". I keep reading and re-reading these words, marveling at how thoroughly brainwashed USians are, how perfectly their government has instilled fear in their hearts, how weak, compliant and complicit in their own oppression they have become.

Speaking of sheep, have you heard about this? A Christian cult called Cadets For Christ is operating within the United States Air Force. Cadets for Christ is part of the "shepherding" movement, which teaches that females are sheep, males are shepherds, and you do the math. Go read Ed Brayton, with links to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and HuffPo.

I was a bit suspicious when I read the family name of the people who have gone public about their daughter's brainwashing: they are Peter and Jean Baas. But this has been documented for at least a year. It is not a hoax.

Thanks to James for sending. I couldn't resist the juxtaposition of these various ruminants.

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the end of dadt: unit cohesion does not appear to be compromised

So Don't Ask Don't Tell is supposedly history.

Naturally, I support the right of queer Americans to serve in the US military, because I believe in the equality of all people, and the right of all people to self-determination.

But I find it difficult to celebrate this as a victory.

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stop the deployment of traumatized troops: support ivaw's operation recovery

Iraq Veterans Against the War has launched its first-ever strategic campaign: Operation Recovery. From IVAW:

The Issue

Thousands of troops are being sent to war despite suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Many of us within IVAW have faced or are currently facing deployment as we try to recover from the severe trauma we have already experienced.

While we recognize that we must stop the deployment of all soldiers in order to end the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, we see the deployment of soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and Military Sexual Trauma as particularly cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. Military commanders across all branches are pushing service members far past human limits for the sake of 'combat readiness.' We cannot allow those commanders to continue to ignore the welfare of their troops who are, after all, human beings.

There is a problem, a basic right is being denied, and we will organize to get it back.

This issue affects all of us. Everyone needs to recognize that the improper standards of care in the military and VA are harming our brothers and sisters, our nation, and only furthers the cycle of dehumanization and destruction of these wars.

Service Members have the Right to Heal

Because the military is desperate for warm bodies in the field, and the VA doesn't have the resources to serve all those in need, too often service members are conveniently denied care or access to quality mental health screenings. We say, service members with PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to high quality health care. They have the right to seek care and pursue treatments in the best interest of their health and well-being.

Please go to IVAW's Operation Recovery website to learn more.

How does the US military deal with the trauma they create? Ask Ethan McCord. Here's an excerpt from an excellent piece called "Invisible Wounds: Mental Health and the Military," by Mark Thompson, writing in Time magazine.

US Army specialist Ethan McCord was one of the first on the scene when a group of suspected insurgents was blown up on a Baghdad street in 2007, hit by 30-mm bursts from an Apache Helicopter. "The top of one guy's head was completely off," he recalls. "Another guy was ripped open from groin to neck. A third had lost a leg... Their insides were out and exposed. I'd never seen anything like this before." Then McCord heard a child crying from a black minivan caught in the barrage. Inside, he found a frightened and wounded girl, perhaps 4. Next to her was a boy of 7 or so, soaked in blood. Their father, McCord says, "was slumped over on his side, like he was trying to protect the children, but he was just destroyed. McCord couldn't look away from the kids. "I started seeing images of my own two children back home in Kansas." . . . .

That night, he told his staff sergeant he needed help. "Get the sand out of your vagina," McCord says his sergeant responded. "He told me I was being a homo and needed to suck it up."

If you're reading this in New York City, IVAW is looking for volunteers to be trained for the GI Rights Hotline. The Hotline is often the only place service members can go for correct, unbiased information on their rights within the military.

There will be a training session on October 23 and 24, both days from 10 am to 4 pm. The training will include information on military law, service members' rights, and conscientious objection. Bill Galvin, an expert soldier-advocacy counselor from the Center on Conscience and War, will speak about military law, discharges, conscientious objection, and discrimination.

Volunteering for the GI Rights Hotline is a unique opportunity to dig in and really support the troops - and support peace. For more information or to attend, use the contact information below.

WHAT: GI Rights Hotline Volunteer Training

WHEN: October 23 and 24, 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: IVAW National Office, 630 9th Avenue, Suite 807, New York

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP: 646.723.0989

IVAW is asking for a $10 donation to help cover their costs. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.

* * * *

Many thanks to NN for sending me the info on the training session.

Please support Operation Recovery in any way you can.

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"refusing orders, crossing borders": a report on the war resisters event in fort erie

On Saturday, October 16, a panel of 11 Iraq War resisters spoke about their experiences in the US military and what caused each of them to desert and come to Canada.

Peace activists from Toronto, western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio gathered to hear these stories of courage and resistance, of people who found the strength to stand up and say "No!" to the most powerful military in human history. The event was held at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Fort Erie, Ontario, co-sponsored by the Buffalo, New York, chapter of Veterans for Peace, and the War Resisters Support Campaign.

After brief welcomes from Reverend Mark Gladding, pastor of the Ft. Erie church, and Reverend Rob Hurkmans, of the Anglican Church in Port Colborne, Ontario, the war resisters told pieces of their stories in a panel discussion.

* * * *

Justin Colby was trained as a medic and he spoke of the military's complete disregard for human life in Iraq. His unit would work on both US soldiers and injured Iraqis – but he was ordered not to use anesthesia on Iraqis suffering from severe trauma. Less experienced medics were ordered to practice their skills on Iraqi patients. If one of them died during surgery, Justin said, no one thought it was any big deal.

Chris Vassey said his unit was told that accessing health services made the unit look bad – so no one would be allowed to get health services, even if they were sick. Their commanders falsified information on combat-related mental health issues – making it look like there were none – in addition to ridiculing and punishing anyone who tried to get help. Chris has learned a trade in Canada: he is currently helping build a hospital. "After all the things I destroyed over there, maybe now I can build a place where people will heal."

Dean Walcott wasn't a good student in high school: "Going to university or college would have been a complete waste of time and money." The military gave him structure and a strong work ethic. He knew going to war one day might be a possibility, but he expected there would be solid reason for making that sacrifice. He grew to understand the only reason he was serving in the Iraq War was because "the president said so" – and that was not good enough. Not after he saw the mangled, charred bodies at the hospital in Germany where families would be flown in to see their mortally wounded child or spouse one last time. Walcott was also assigned to recruiting young people for the military. For him, that was the last straw before he boarded a greyhound for Toronto.

Chuck Wiley, a 17-year veteran and the oldest person on the panel, was stationed on an aircraft carrier. He learned that many of the bombing runs his planes flew had nothing to do with fighting insurgents or assisting ground troops: they were clearing the path for oil pipeline construction. Wiley was only a few years away from a generous Navy pension, but he knew he could no longer be a part of "Halliburton's Navy" (as someone in his unit called it). When asked about his decision to desert, Chuck said, "It wasn't a decision so much as my life taking a different course. It didn't ask myself, what should I do? I had to leave. I couldn't unlearn what I knew."

Joshua Key, whose experiences are detailed in the book A Deserter's Tale, spoke about trying to convince his cousin not to enlist. The cousin deployed to Iraq and when he was home on leave, told Josh that he wished he could have done what Josh did. Josh's cousin redeployed to Afghanistan. A few weeks later, he had both legs and one arm blown off in an explosion.

Before Ryan Johnson was ordered to deploy, he heard stories on base from soldiers who had already deployed. He saw the terrible shape they were in, the effects of PTSD. He started having nightmares – not that he would be killed in Iraq, but that he would survive, and have to live in that condition. Ryan went AWOL right before deployment. He's been in Canada four times as long as he was in the US military.

To the question of why they joined the military, the war resisters' answers repeated two themes: economics and patriotism. Phil McDowell joined a few weeks after September 11, 2001, believing his country was in danger and wanting to help. Josh Key was working as a welder for $7.25 an hour with no health insurance, and had a family to support. Kimberly Rivera had hit the pay ceiling at Wal-Mart, so the company brought in a cheaper replacement. Military recruiters were a permanent fixture at Kim's Texas high school, and she grew up believing that the US were the "good guys", working to make the world a safer and more democratic place.

Dale Landry finds a more open, accepting attitude in Canada, less judgement, less pressure to conform. "In Canada, I can be a socialist. In Canada, I can be an atheist," and no one cares. Dale appreciates living in a country that doesn't care whether or not the Prime Minister goes to church. "In one country people are screaming about whether the President is a Muslim. In this country, I don't know what church, if any, Michael Ignatieff belongs to – and I'm so glad I don't know."

Chuck Wiley picked up on that theme to remind us why multiculturalism matters. "It's a lot harder to say, let's go kill all these Muslims, and get people to follow you, if the family next door is Muslim and there's a Muslim community around the corner. That's why I value Canada's multiculturalism so much – that's why we need it."

Asked whether they are estranged from family members because of their decision to desert – because of the family members' disapproval - nine of the 11 resisters raised their hand. Many of the resisters have lost family members while in Canada and were unable to go home to attend the funeral. They've sacrificed a lot – but each of them said they will never regret their decision to leave the killing.

* * * *

After lunch, Ashlea Brockway spoke about her husband, Jeremy Brockway, who suffers from severe depression and PTSD from his experiences in Iraq.

The audience watched excerpts from a video interview, because Jeremy's condition makes it impossible for him to appear in public. He spends most of his time alone in one room in their apartment, afraid he will have a flashback and hurt his wife or their two children. Jeremy has tried to commit suicide twice.

On the video, Jeremy speaks in a soft voice and never looks directly at the camera. His head and upper body never move, his blank expression never changes. Wringing his hands together, he pauses between sentences, between memories.

He recalled that a few days after blowing up what he was told was an empty building, he saw Iraqi parents dragging the burned corpses of their children from the rubble. An Iraqi policeman, his friend, bled to death on the street because command said it was cheaper to pay the man's family a token life insurance rather than risk any damage to a helicopter.

After the video, Ashlea Brockway addressed the audience. She's an incredibly articulate speaker, always relating their own heartbreaking experience to the larger picture: veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress symptoms, how the military has abandoned them. "The soldiers have already given of themselves. They can't take that back. But because they are not in good standing with the military, the military doesn't meet their side of the bargain – the veteran can no longer get health care or services. But the problems they are having are a direct result of the service they gave. If they could have gotten treatment and services while they were in the service, they wouldn't have gone AWOL."

Jeremy Brockway tried repeatedly to get a medical discharge: his commanding officer shredded his papers in front of his face. He was ridiculed, bullied, harassed – persecuted – for trying to get a medical discharge. This was clearly meant to send a message to any other troops considering doing the same.

Ashlea said, "I heard the Minister [of Citizenship and Immigration] say that war resisters are clogging up the refugee system, slowing things down for 'real' refugees. But I don't believe he cares about real refugees. Parliament passed a motion that would have taken us out of the refugee system. He could have implemented that, and the refugee system would be free of our cases, but he chose to ignore it."

For more on Ashlea and Jeremy Brockway, please see this post, my report on Ashlea's talk in Port Colborne. I posted some local stories about the Brockways here.

This family needs our help. They need Canada. If Jeremy is sent back to the US, there is a very real possibility that he will not survive.

* * * *

After a short break, Michelle Robidoux addressed the audience, giving a brief history of the War Resisters Support Campaign, how we got here and where we are going now. She focused on Operational Bulletin 202, Jason Kenney's illegal and unjust singling out of war resisters for automatic rejection. Bulletin 202 is the formal, institutional extension of Jason Kenney's public comments calling war resisters "bogus" refugee claimants. (Reaction to Bulletin 202 from Amnesty International and a former chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board: here and here.)

Michelle reminded us that passing a private member's bill is a huge undertaking – most fail. This one sought a change in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, an enormous undertaking in itself. And still, it was defeated by only seven votes. The war resisters have the complete support of the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois and a strong majority of the Liberal MPs.

Now that the bill has failed, there is a possibility that war resisters will be deported – but not a probability. We are doing everything we can to keep US war resisters in Canada, and we're more determined than ever to fight this to the end.

* * * *

The day ended with a walk to the river, the United States only half a kilometer away on the other side. War resisters and their supporters stood together side by side, shoulder to shoulder, in solidarity, always.

Many thanks to redsock for helping me write this post.

The war resisters who participated in the event and their partners:

Video by Russell of Adopt Resistance.

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u.s. admits infecting guatemalan mental patients with gonorrhea and syphilis in secret medical experiments

[redsock guest post]

The US government has admitted it infected up to 700 men and women in Guatemala in the 1940s, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge in secret medical experiments.

Susan Reverby, a professor of women's studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, who has written extensively about the Tuskegee experiments, found the evidence while conducting further research. You can read some of Reverby's work, including this recent paper, here.

Amazingly, the NBC link above baldly admits that at the time, the US government

exerted a powerful influence in the Latin American country, largely in order to protect the interests of the American-based United Fruit Company. In 1954 the U.S. CIA helped overthrow Guatemala's democratically elected president because of land reforms that opposed the multinational corporation.

The list of incidents of the US government funding or conducting experiments on humans is quite long. No other country in human history has caused so much deliberate pain, misery, torture and death. Many of the studies were done by (or for) the US military and the subjects were often US citizens -- prisoners, regular citizens, and military personnel.

In the course of my 9/11 research, I have heard people claim that the US would never do anything (or allow anything to happen) to its own citizens. As though those in charge of the US would bother to make some distinction based on where people happened to be born. History says the truth is the exact opposite. Here is a super-small sample from this webpage (emphasis mine; I have also edited some entries for brevity):

From 1944-46, Dr. Alf Alving, a professor at the University of Chicago Medical School, purposely infected psychiatric patients at the Illinois State Hospital with malaria, so that he could test experimental malaria treatments. The study was conducted in conjunction with the US Army and the State Department.

In 1955, the CIA conducted a biological warfare experiment by releasing whooping cough bacteria from boats outside of Tampa Bay, causing an epidemic in the city, and killing at least 12 people.

In 1956-57, several US Army biological warfare experiments were conducted on the cities of Savannah, Georgia and Avon Park, Florida. Hundreds of residents contracted a wide array of illnesses, including fevers, respiratory problems, stillbirths, encephalitis, and typhoid. Army researchers pretended to be public health workers, so they could photograph and perform medical tests on the victims.

In 1966, the US Army released Bacillus globigii into the tunnels of the New York subway system as part of a field study called "A Study of the Vulnerability of Subway Passengers in New York City to Covert Attack with Biological Agents". A similar experiment was done in the Chicago subway system.

From 1946-53, at the Walter E. Fernald State School in Massachusetts, in an experiment sponsored by the US Atomic Energy Commission and the Quaker Oats corporation, 73 mentally disabled children were fed oatmeal containing radioactive calcium and other radioisotopes, in order to track "how nutrients were digested". The children were told that they were joining a "science club".

In the 1950s, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia performed experiments on burn victims, most of them poor and black, without their knowledge or consent, with funding from the Army and in collaboration with the AEC. Subjects were exposed to additional burning, experimental antibiotic treatment, and injections of radioactive isotopes 50 times the "acceptable" dose.

From 1948-54, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Hospital inserted radium rods into the noses of 582 Baltimore schoolchildren to determine the effects of radiation on hearing loss. Similar experiments were performed on over 7,000 US Army and Navy personnel during World War II.

Between 1960 and 1971, the Department of Defense funded non-consensual whole body radiation experiments on poor, black cancer patients. Consents forms were forged and the men were exposed to 100 rads of radiation (the equivalent of about 7,500 x-rays).

From 1942-44, the US Chemical Warfare Service exposed thousands of US military personnel to mustard gas, in order to test the effectiveness of gas masks and protective clothing. The military refused to pay disability benefits to the victims of the experiments.

From 1950-53, the US Army sprayed toxic chemicals over six cities in the United States and Canada, including Winnipeg, in order to test dispersal patterns of chemical weapons.

In 1967, the US Army paid [doctors] to apply skin-blistering chemicals to the faces and backs of inmates at Holmesburg Prison, near Philadelphia, to "learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals". (In the 1960s, 33 pharmaceutical companies tested 153 experimental drugs at Holmesburg. When Dr. Albert Kligman, Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, first saw the inmates and the potential they held for his research, he said, "All I saw before me were acres of skin. It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time.")

In order to "perfect techniques for the abstraction of information from individuals, whether willing or not", Project Bluebird researchers dosed over 7,000 US military personnel with LSD, without their knowledge or consent. More than 1,000 of these soldiers later suffered from several psychiatric illnesses, including depression and epilepsy, as a result of the tests. Many of them tried to commit suicide.

From 1963-69, the US Army sprayed thousands of US military personnel aboard ships with various biological and chemical warfare agents. The personnel were not notified of the tests, and were not given any protective clothing. Chemicals tested on the US military personnel included the nerve gases VX and Sarin and toxic chemicals such as zinc cadmium sulfide and sulfur dioxide.

***

During the Nuremberg trials, several Nazi doctors and scientists claimed that the inspiration for their studies had come from studies that they had seen performed in the United States. In 1945, the US government recruited 1,600 Nazi scientists, many of whom had performed horrific human experimentation in Nazi concentration camps. The scientists were offered immunity from any war crimes in return for doing research for the United States government. Many of the Nazi scientists continued their human experimentation when they arrived in the US.

The wiki page notes that, as of 2007, not a single US government researcher has ever been prosecuted for human experimentation.

[L: Warning: comments contain some details of torture that took place in Guatemala; readers may find some comments triggering.]

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war resisters in port colborne: more perspectives plus video clips

Further to my recent post about the Brockways in Port Colborne, Ontario, Russell at Adopt Resistance has a great post about the event, plus links to video: here.

Russell says: "Hopefully some of those people driving around with the "Support the troops" ribbons on their cars will figure out how to help veterans like Jeremy."

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war resisters in port colborne: "for us, there is no easy way out"

Last night, a few carloads of members of the War Resisters Support Campaign traveled to Port Colborne to support Jeremy and Ashlea Brockway, a war-resister family who lives in that small town on Lake Erie. (I posted two local stories about the Brockways last week.) Our supporters from Buffalo were there - we've gone from never having met in person to seeing each other every month! - as well as a meeting-house full of local supporters. It was an emotionally intense evening. I imagine every person in that room was deeply affected by what they saw and heard.

Reverend Robert Hurkmans of St. James and St. Brendans Anglican Church welcomed us, then showed the Campaign's original movie, "Let Them Stay". I hadn't seen it in a long time, and it's as moving and inspiring as ever. Many of the people attending this event were hearing about the war resisters movement for the first time, and the movie is an excellent introduction.

After that, I was called upon to say a few words about the campaign. I was under the impression that the topic might be controversial - that the audience might not be fully supportive - so I tried to give a personal perspective. I talked about military resistance as the heart of the peace movement, and the moral courage it takes to put so much on the line to say no to war.

I mentioned I have just become a Canadian citizen (much applause, so sweet), and that my earliest memory of Canada is from during the Vietnam War. Canada was the place that accepted the brave young men who chose not to go to Vietnam. Canada was the place of peace, in contrast to the country of war that I lived in. I said I want to believe that somewhere that Canada still exists - I do believe that for the people of Canada, it does still exist - and I dream of making that Canada visible again.

I mentioned the motions that passed in Parliament, and the deportations, and Bill C-440. Hopefully it made sense and wasn't just a big blur.

Then we got to the heart of why we were there.

Jeremy Brockway cannot appear in public at this time. He suffers from very serious depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, and public speaking is out of the question. He did, however, sit down with Rev. Rob Hurkmans and a video camera. We watched a short video of their interview.

First we saw a photo of Jeremy Brockway in his marine uniform - a good-looking young man beaming with patriotism and pride. Then we saw him today. He is broken. By using that word, I don't imply that Jeremy - or anyone else who struggles with the same issues - is beyond repair. On the contrary, I know that healing is possible. But for Jeremy, right now, every day is a struggle to survive. He has lost interest in life. It's everything he can do to hang on.

Jeremy was forced to participate in some terrible things in Iraq, and he witnessed many more brutal war crimes and other horrors. When his anxiety started to surface, he was told it would pass. As his condition worsened, he was given drugs that put him in a zombie-like state. Naturally that didn't help. It can't. His application for medical leave was denied. His application for Conscientious Objector status was shredded in front of him. Jeremy was in a terrible emotional and mental condition.

And he was ordered to redeploy.

After the video of Jeremy, Ashlea Brockway took the podium. She was crying. She said, "I had all these things I was going to say, but after seeing Jeremy... I don't know if I can do this." But she did. Ashlea spoke eloquently and movingly, sometimes through her tears, about their family's struggle.

Jeremy was a United States Marine. The Marines' motto, Ashlea reminded us, is semper fidelis, Latin for Always Faithful. Jeremy took this very seriously. He had great loyalty and great faith in the Marines. And gradually he learned the loyalty was a one-way street.

Ashlea said she knows that Jeremy has not told her all of what he saw in Iraq, but what she does know is chilling and gruesome. Jeremy was sent to a roof to install an antenna - not because the antenna was needed, but because his command knew there was a sniper in the area and wanted to draw the sniper out. In other words, Jeremy was used as human bait.

Buildings blown up, the bodies of children found in the rubble. An Iraqi officer left to bleed to death because it's cheaper to pay the life insurance than send a helicopter. And on and on.

Ashlea told us how Jeremy was treated when his PTSD and depression began to surface - how he was mocked, and ridiculed, and abused. How he was kept quiet with drugs. How he wanted to die.

She said, "Some people think we took an easy way out by coming to Canada. But for us, there is no easy way out."

She said, "People say, go back and take your punishment, and get on with your life." I wish everyone labouring under that delusion could have been there last night. First, could Jeremy Brockway survive in prison? If he could survive, incarcerating a man with combat-induced PTSD is tantamount to torture. No, it is torture.

And if he did survive, then what? With a dishonourable discharge, a felony offense, on his record, Jeremy won't be able to find work or go to school. He won't be eligible for any veterans' benefits. How will the family survive?

Ashlea told us how Jeremy returned from Iraq a changed man, and the strain that has put on them and their marriage. (They were married for one month before Jeremy deployed.) Ashlea struggles to stand by Jeremy - because splitting up would solve nothing, none of their problems would go away, but they would have lost their main support person in the bargain. She mentioned that Jeremy's grandfather came back from the Korean War a changed man, and that the grandparents' marriage failed, and she believes that was why. With this, she widened the picture to include all former soldiers who struggle with PTSD.

Here Ashlea soared. She said, "Just because I stand here under the banner of the war resisters, doesn't mean I don't stand with all soldiers, everywhere. There are good men and women all over the US, and probably Canadians, too, who served their countries honourably, and now suffer in silence, because the stigma of post-traumatic stress is so great." Some of them, she said, don't even realize that what they have is called PTSD; they are just "different" and can't get on with their lives.

Ashlea said there is a unit in the Canadian veterans' system where therapists are specially trained to deal with combat-related mental health issues. But deserters and AWOL soldiers are ineligible for treatment. Even if they can pay for treatment out-of-pocket with their own money, they will not be seen.

"Jeremy has already sacrificed for his country," she said. "He has already served loyally. He can't ever take that back." And now that that sacrifice has been made, she said, the Marines have turned their backs on Jeremy.

This is so often forgotten about war resisters. Many of the resisters are veterans, men and women who followed orders and served honourably. But because the military denies them the right to follow their conscience, their status as veterans is denied, too.

Ashlea's desire to raise awareness of post-traumatic stress and all combat-induced mental health issues really moved me. She is taking the ultimate step of being a survivor: she is using her own experience to try to help others.

Ashlea said that people are always telling her how strong she is, and she knows that everyone in the room has problems and challenges in their lives, and we all need strength, too. So she wrote down some of the words and thoughts that give her strength, and printed that up, and brought copies for everyone.

I was deeply touched by Ashlea's desire to share the source of her strength. From her hand-out, I learned that she is a religious Christian. It doesn't matter to me that my own inspiration derives from a different source. I'm grateful that Ashlea's faith helps to sustain her, and moved that she wanted to share it with us.

After Ashlea's talk, Reverend Rob read a letter from the Member of Parliament for Colborne, Malcolm Allen, supporting Jeremy and Ashlea, reaffirming the NDP's support for war resisters, and calling on the government to Let Them Stay.

Campaigner Lee Zaslofsky reaffirmed the Campaign's support for the Brockways, and recapped the political situation on Bill C-440. A woman from the local legal-aid clinic told us she is helping Ashlea with her Humanitarian and Compassionate application, and had a petition for us to sign for that.

People signed petitions and postcards, and quietly donated money to help the Brockways, and thanked us for doing this work. I have to say, I was a little overwhelmed at the emotional intensity of the evening - and very glad to be there.

For Jeremy and Ashlea Brockway, there is no easy answer. A man struggling with such turmoil cannot flip a switch and return to his former self. But, Ashlea said, "If we could know that we could stay in Canada, if we didn't live with the fear of deportation and court martial and prison, if we knew that we could settle here and just live our lives, I hold out hope that then Jeremy could begin to release his pain, and begin to heal."

The first step: Support Bill C-440.

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