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Deserters Are Heroes

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 14 December 2004
9 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International USA


by Harley Sorensen

Today let us take the sad, sordid case of one George W. Bush. Our president. Love him or hate him, it was he and he alone who decided that our mighty armies should travel to Iraq and kill tens of thousands of people, most of whom were guilty of nothing more than being there.

Like egomaniacal rulers forever, dating back to the cave, Mr. Bush demonized the people he wanted to kill. They have "weapons of mass destruction," he asserted. Yeah, like we don’t. Like India doesn’t. Like Israel doesn’t. Like Pakistan doesn’t. Like China doesn’t. Like Russia doesn’t. Why don’t we invade them? Or ourselves?

It turned out the Iraqis didn’t have those terrible weapons. But, the Iraqis are evil, Mr. Bush asserted. Well, at least their leader was, so, by extension, they all were. And, by gosh and by golly, they might have harbored terrorists at one time or another.

Quickly now, name a country that harbored the Sept. 11 terrorists! Ah, that was too easy. You got it right away. The answer: the United States of America. That’s who sheltered the 19 terrorists before their attacks on Manhattan and Washington. That’s where those terrorists worked and played, ate and slept, plotted and rehearsed right up to that tragic day. The U.S. of A.

But, willing to overlook all that, and with a leader as esteemed and honest and clear-eyed as Mr. Bush, thousands of young men and women, eager to serve their country and save us from the Iraqi monsters, rushed to the recruiting offices to join up.

It’s an old, old story, dating back to the first war out of the cave. Young people, eager to do what’s right, end up being pawns moved around the board by older men with secret ambitions.

The young people fight heroically and die heroically, and their broken bodies are shipped back home where their next of kin try to make sense of it all and can do so only by turning to their faith in God and their faith in the good intentions of their ambitious leader, Mr. Bush.

But not all young people are eager to die for Mr. Bush. Military recruiters are having difficulty finding enough cannon fodder to fill their quotas. More significantly, men and women already in uniform are rebelling. They’re refusing to fight for Mr. Bush and his secret ambitions. They’re deserting by the thousands. According to "60 Minutes" last week (quoting the Pentagon), more than 5,500 servicemen have deserted since the beginning of Mr. Bush’s war.

That’s an amazing number. And it offers hope that perhaps not all our young people are locked into caveman mentality. At least 5,500 of them have advanced to the level of thinking demonstrated at Nuremberg, Germany, in 1945.

Nuremberg is where the Nazi war criminals of World War II were tried. Their common defense was that they were just following orders. The court refused that defense, suggesting that soldiers never have an obligation to follow illegal orders.

Aware of that thinking, at least 5,500 of our troops have decided to desert rather than take part in senseless killing.

In the eyes of many, Mr. Bush’s war against the people of Iraq is absolutely illegal. When one country attacks another, destroys it, and kills its people, without overt provocation, that constitutes an illegal war.

The Geneva Conventions, of which the United States is a signatory, is absolutely clear on that.

Now, if you’ve been overly influenced by Mr. Bush’s clever propaganda, you might declare these deserters "traitors." But if you haven’t been taken in by the Bush machine, you might call them heroes in the finest tradition of the United States. They are putting their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor at stake to serve the cause of Right rather than the ambitions of the current president.

If you still think Mr. Bush’s war isn’t corrupt, then you didn’t see a different "60 Minutes" report, this one on Dec. 5. In that report, it was revealed that our government is ordering retired servicemen and servicewomen to return to duty, years and years after the end of their terms of enlistment.

Mr. Bush, eager to keep his campaign promise of "no draft," has taken draconian measures to fill out our military ranks. One of the recalled veterans interviewed on "60 Minutes" was a 55-year-old woman, Margaret Murray, who last served during the Vietnam War. Another was a man, Rick Howell, 47, who was permanently injured in an accident during his 16 years in the Army. He can hardly walk, and he says he can’t carry more than 30 or 40 pounds. He retired from the Army, or so he thought, in 1997. Now, seven years later, the Army is demanding he return.

Perhaps, in our barely civilized world, someone should inform Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of this travesty. He thinks our troops should learn to cope with less than the best equipment. But he seems to think differently on the subject of manpower. Perhaps someone should tell him, that, when the president orders up an illegal war, "You go to [that] war with the army you have, not the army you might want."

Harley Sorensen is a longtime journalist. His column appears Mondays. E-mail him at harleysorensen@yahoo.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/sorensen/

Forum posts

  • Today, let’s take the sad, sordid story of a columnist named Harley Sorensen who skipped his journalism classes while a student at Berkeley to become a seminal fluid receptacle for the Communist faculty and administration on campus. When liberally beaten on the head with undeniable facts, he still chose to be an ignoramus and was in good company among the student body at UC Berkeley.

  • The truly are. George W. Bush the worlds dumbest dictator leads it’s country into extremism and
    war crime. He is the demon! America has already used nuclear bombs in Japan and plans to use
    it in Iran.
    The problem here is the western comunity, which kept also silence during the period the Nazis
    came into power. Bush is not Hitler, Hitler could express himself in it’s own language. Bush
    is so dumb, but his mindset is perfectly reflected in Hitlers "Mein Kampf".
    Also Hitler thought he was God’s tool. Both of this dictators were and are crazy.

  • The 5,500 make me proud to be an American again.

  • we need to start a new propaganda in our cars,houses,t-shirts etc...
    that all our kids should not get registered into the disaster of our army, that is under a nazi controled regime!!!!!!!
    susie

  • Yeah, yeah,
    The deserter is a hero. What about the friend who won’t lend you a twenty when you really need it and you know he has a spare? The definition of a hero is someone who gives of themselves for something bigger than themselves without the expectation of reciprocation. Sometimes a twenty is the line between life and death.

    I have seen some heroes, some real heroes! I served twenty years in the USN on minesweepers (a particularly non-agressive mission craft) with two tours in the Persian Gulf (PG). We cleaned the seas of a considerable amount of mines, which could have sunk any craft, but we are still considered baby-killers by you types.

    I, personally, consider any deserter a coward (or will the "c" word get me censored by you Nazi’s, what about the "N" word) no matter the cause, philosophy, or sudden interest in the study of ancient Canadian cave drawings. It boils down to the contract, as most things do in this most litigious of societies. Bare bones. They signed a contract to join an organization dedicated to the protection of their country AND it’s interests. The perks were not many. Among them were 30 days vacation a year, free medical/dental while active, the GI Bill (one of the most forward thinking acts of legislation in any country, in any century). So after doing four, six, nine years. The United States of America, be it the Congress or the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, says, Hey shipmate, we have a situation that needs to be cleared up. You Cowards, with your healthy, good toothin mouths say, Nope, not in my contract with God, Allah, Buddah, conscience.

    You know, when I received my orders to the PG, my first thought was how the hell do I get out of this. I called the detailer trying to change duty stations, status, anything. No go. Never did I ever, ever shirk my duty when called upon. Of course I tried to get out of going, that’s human nature, but I went through the legal channels and was rebuffed. You want to know why? That is what I was trained to do! GOD bless the Chief who showed me the straight and true path. I can hold my head up high today because I did my duty at great physical risk to me and my shipmates. The things I had to destroy and people I had to kill (I don’t know if any people died, I just know I lit up a couple of patrol boats at the OOD’s orders), are etched indelibly on my mind. It puts into perspective so many things in my life. Stuck in a traffic jam? Big deal. Baby’s crying? At least he’s alive. You Cowards will never have that litmus test of life. All your life you will be asking yourself if you had it. Obviously you did not, since you are crowing about the fact that you are a Coward.

    War wasn’t the only thing that occupied our time. There were schools in foreign countries that needed maintenance and refurbishment (too bad you couldn’t put your pacifist leanings towards improving the lives of children. Other than your own, you selfish Coward.). We rebuilt whole towns after hurricanes, fires, coupes.

    Well, maybe I am bragging. It does give me a good feeling to have done something for someone else without expecting anything in return. They always had a picnic or some sort of party afterwards, but we often manned the buffet line and made everyone as comfortable as possible. I have friends on four continents, thirteen countries, and we probably spoke ten words to each other. Deeds speak so much more loudly than words. You failed. You have no friends except your souless compadres. I almost feel sorry for you. But I don’t.

    Matt

    qzorx@aol.com

    P.S. I know that you are Cowards. But this is the internet. I will accept all replies from you worthless scum unless there are attachments. I feel that this site will not even let my views be viewed, because they are a bunch of hypocritical cowards themselves, but in the event they have the intestinal fortitude to post this message whole, bring it on!

    • Its good that you ended your service proudly, and felt that you achieved something for mankind..re building schools etc. Its fulfilling to justify ones past. But... within the big picture the US military has been authenticated in killing, since the end of WW2, the minimum of 10 000 000 people, and the maximum 17 500 000 people. This, and having military bases within 85 sovereign nations, is not very popular with the rest of the world, especially when coupled with the theft of those nations natural resources.

  • In my oppinion deserters are not heroes. They are people that have the ability to think reasonably and they have the courage to say "no" to something completely insane, like that war.
    But I am positive for one thing. Noone who fought or/and died in Iraq (as well as in many other wars) can be called a heroe.
    These 5,500 persons make me not hate america so much any more. I believe they did the right thing.