Also in Politics & Social Justice

Mission Rejected

U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq

by Peter Laufer

Foreword by Norman Solomon

Reviews

Book Review

Some 6,000 members of the armed forces, according to the Pentagon, have refused to remain at their posts since the Iraq war began in 2003. A few high profile cases such as that of Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada, sailor Pablo Paredes, Army Specialist Jeremy Hinzman, and Army Sergeant Camilo Mejía have brought to the public's attention a growing movement against the war within the ranks of the military itself.

While this military-based movement falls numerically short of such opposition during the Vietnam War (approximately 170,000 draftees refused to fight by registering as conscientious objectors), today's numbers are still significant within the context of a so-called volunteer army. Indeed, many war resisters have been denied conscientious objector status and subsequently punished for their refusal to participate in what they consider an immoral or illegal war.

Journalist Peter Laufer, in his latest book Mission Rejected, records the testimonies of a handful of those war resisters within the military. This book documents their reasons for opposing the Iraq war and the courage they embodied in standing up for their beliefs.

Joshua Key is one such resister who, after 8 months in Iraq and witnessing atrocities committed on Iraqi civilians, fled to Canada and filed for refugee status. Like most new recruits, Key's recruiter promised that his job was both lucrative and safe, and that he would be placed in a "nondeployable station" because he had three children. Key chose to join the Army after several years of struggling to find decent work at decent wages to support his family. As for most recruits, military service seemed to be the only viable choice.

Key was trained as a combat engineer and immediately sent to Iraq in March of 2003. He says that he participated in over 100 home raids that netted no evidence of terrorist activities, stood at traffic control checkpoints at which innocent civilians were frequently killed by trigger-happy and untrained soldiers, and witnessed what appeared to him to be a mass killing and beheading of Iraqi civilians in Ramadi.

Key also recalls that soldiers in his unit were never given enough water, food, or sleep. Promises of more sleep were even used by officers to get private soldiers to do their bidding, Key testifies. On a two-week furlough after 8 months in Iraq, Key decided not to return.

Despite popular support for Key's situation in Canada (Key's family was given a rent-free apartment by a sympathizer), his refugee status in Canada was denied this past November and his case (along with several other American war resisters) is pending appeal before Canada's high court. Key says that he will not return to the U.S. until George W. Bush is forced to serve prison time for starting this illegal war. "On the day he goes to prison, I'll go sit in prison with him," Key says.

Then there's Ryan Johnson. Just before being deployed to Iraq, Johnson went AWOL. Like Key, a recruiter had deceived him about his service in the military. Trying to find a good-paying job and at the same time serve his country, Johnson believed his recruiter’s lie that since he was the only child of a family with a deceased father, like the Saving Private Ryan story, he'd never be ordered to Iraq.

When soldiers in his California based unit returned form the war and described in detail numerous atrocities they had either witnessed or participated in – killing unarmed civilians, running over children with trucks, shooting at vehicles that cross checkpoints – Johnson decided that he simply wouldn't do it.

After several months of living underground in California, during which time the Army made only weak efforts to find him, Johnson decided to move to Canada with his wife and seek asylum. Johnson works with the Canadian-based War Resisters Support Campaign to provide financial and legal aid to soldiers forced to leave the U.S. under similar conditions.

Laufer also tells the story of Daniel, an ex-Marine who served two tours in Iraq. Upon learning that his unit was being ordered back to Iraq for a third tour, Daniel sought counseling for mental health issue. He was refused. He asked his company first sergeant to apply to be a conscientious objector; he was refused the chance. Several of the Marines in his unit failed to return from leave before being redeployed to Iraq. Daniel chose to fail a drug test and was discharged with an "other-than-honorable" discharge.

Now he the Veterans’ Administration is refusing him medical care. Though he is being assisted by the California-based Resource Center for Non-violence in his effort to regain his medical benefits, which he earned during two tours of duty in Iraq, his chances are slight. His counselor at the RCNV says that if Daniel had kept proof that he had sought and was refused help such as counseling, he would have a stronger case in regaining his benefits.

These are just a few of the voices Laufer is able document in this important book. Laufer's stirring account of opposition to Bush's war in Iraq by members of the military and their families deserves wide readership. When we hear right-wing pro-war pundits and even the President himself mouthing "support for the troops" in order to try to stifle opposition and stay the course in a failed war based on lies, and who also refused to serve when they were called upon, we should think twice.

It is clear that the November 2006 election was a referendum on ending the war. We owe it to Daniel, Ryan Johnson, Joshua Key and the thousands of others who have been forced to make similar decisions to stay out of an illegal and immoral war. We owe peace to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and Iraqi people killed and wounded.

What we owe the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have served and are serving is simple. When we ask them to make such a sacrifice they must know that it is for a just cause, that it isn't based on a lie and fueled by oil profits and corporate interests, and that we will care for them when they return. Under Bush and in this war, we have been made unable say that.

Feminist Review

Mission Rejected explores the lives and motivations behind soldiers who have refused to serve in Iraq—either by finding a way out before their tours began or by returning home, devastated by what they saw in the desert and finding ways not to return when called. The first half of the book deals with soldiers who have actually gone AWOL (Absent Without Leave) fleeing to Canada while the second half of the book portrays soldiers who have found other ways of being released from their commitment to fighting, such as filing for Conscientious Objector (CO) status. Laufer takes on a broad interpretation of what it means to reject the war in Iraq and includes stories of would-be soldiers, who never even got as far as basic training before opting out of military service. The common theme among the soldiers who actually did serve is that once they were in Iraq, they saw the futility of the war and felt as if they were just there killing innocent civilians for no reason at all. One of the most disturbing elements of the soldiers’ accounts is how similar they are. The soldiers were sent to Iraq where they saw their fellow "freedom fighters" killing innocent civilians without compunction. They saw right away that there were no "weapons of mass destruction," or even many weapons at all. They saw that the US-led coalition was there raping and pillaging a very poor country that has virtually no means to defend itself. They saw the futility, the rage and the hopelessness in the Iraqi people we were supposedly "liberating," so they exercised their right of will and conscience and got out. Laufer paints a picture of men and women who are heroes in the truest sense, because they dared to think for themselves and opted out of a situation that compromised every value they had learned as citizens of this country, and as human beings.

Review

Book News
August 2006

In putting together this volume, Vietnam War resister Laufer provides a platform for his spiritual descendents, American soldiers who have refused to participate in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. In addition to interviewing soldiers who have gone into exile and risked jail rather than participate in an illegal war, Laufer places their actions in the context of US recruitment practices, describes their supporters in the antiwar movement, and considers the role of war resisters in the larger societal debate over Iraq.

Telling Tales

Peter Laufer chronicles transitions, courage in opposition to war

Metroactive
By Patricia Lynn Henley
July 12, 2006

Author, broadcast journalist and documentary filmmaker Peter Laufer, 56, believes deeply in what he does. "I think it's a privilege to be a witnessing participant of history, and to be able to bring an interpretation of events to an interested public is a dream job," he says while commuting from his Sonoma County home to his Marin County office. "I've never wanted to do anything else."

Laufer's latest book is Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq ($14; Chelsea Green), profiling members of the American military who have risked their careers and their freedom because they are morally unwilling to fight in Iraq. He appears on July 17 and 21 in Sonoma County.

"These are horrific stories that illustrate the bankruptcy of U.S. policy in Iraq. They also make clear the heroism of those soldiers who are rejecting the mission. They are on the front lines of the battle for our nation's integrity, for our nation's moral and ethical soul," Laufer says.

In Mission Rejected, he details how this nation's volunteer army is an economically based draft built on the lies recruiters use to lure in poor and often naÔve young men and women with few other options in their lives. The book uses their individual stories and voices to illustrate the way a war built on deception twists and tears at frontline military personnel. One man, a soldier named Ryan Johnson, told Laufer that he enlisted when he was 20 because there were no jobs available in his small California home town.

"I thought we were rebuilding in Iraq. I thought we were doing good things. But we're blowing up mosques. We're blowing up museums, peoples' homes, all the culture," says Johnson, who eventually ended up going AWOL in 2005. Now he's living with his wife in Toronto and waiting for the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board to hear his case.

Other individuals' memories recorded in Mission Rejected include such disparate scenes as an inadvertent--and deadly--assault on a wedding celebration and a group of GIs kicking decapitated heads around like soccer balls.

"By reading the stories of these soldiers and what they saw and what they did, it begins to be possible to understand how events have escalated out of control the way they have in Iraq," Laufer says.

The book is a natural evolution of Laufer's career and of his beliefs. Asked if he is an activist, Laufer replies, "I think any one of us who doesn't consider himself or herself an activist should examine themselves carefully. We all ought to be activists perpetually. Otherwise we are just bumps on the proverbial log."

Laufer has wanted to be a writer since working on his grammar school newspaper in Sausalito; he began his radio career while attending Mill Valley's Tamalpais High. He was an antiwar activist during the Vietnam era, and went on to become an NBC News correspondent. Laufer has amassed a long list of credits and awards. He presented the first nationwide live radio discussion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and spotlighted the problems of malnutrition, illiteracy and ongoing problems faced by Vietnam, as well as countless other challenging topics.

Currently, Laufer anchors the radio program National Geographic World Talk, and is co-anchor of Washington Monthly on the Radio. He has published more than a dozen books, giving a close-up look at the difficult lives of immigrants, the rape of a mentally retarded schoolgirl by a gang of her classmates, the fall of Communism in Europe, the sufferings of Americans incarcerated in other countries and more.

"I'm driven by that which reflects our social structure and stories where I feel a spotlight on problems can help us find solutions," he says. "I'm really motivated and moved by stories of migration and lives in transition."

Which is what brought him to the difficult task of gathering the tales found in Mission Rejected.

"I think that it's the job of each of us to decide for ourselves how to most effectively work against the war. I'd like to think that I do that effectively with a pencil and a paper. Others may do it effectively with political organization. And certainly right now I am awed by the courage of those in the military who do it by jeopardizing their careers and their futures with the rejection of what they perceive to be illegal and immoral orders."

As an example, Mission Rejected profiles Joshua Key, a recruit following his conscience instead of his orders to return to Iraq. Married, Key enlisted when he had two children and a third on the way, in order to get a job with health insurance. The recruiter promised him a "nondeployable duty station" and training as a "bridge builder." After basic training, Key was shipped to Iraq, where he became convinced that the war was morally wrong.

"That's the problem with war--your president, your generals, they send you off to go fight these battles," he tells Laufer. "And all the way down to your commanding officers, they don't go out there with you. They send you out there to fight and do the crazy shit and the dirty stuff. You're the one who has to live with the nightmares from it."

After eight months of fighting, Key was given two weeks home leave before being assigned another tour of duty in Iraq. He went AWOL with his family, eventually ending up in Canada. He continues to suffer flashbacks and nightmares. Key misses his relatives back in the States and blames the Bush administration.

"You can lie to the world; you can't lie to a person who's seen it. They made me have to do things that a man should never have to do, for the purpose of their gain."

Mission Rejected provokes fascinating responses from readers, Laufer says.

"No one is without an opinion, and no one is unmoved by these stories, even if they disagree with the motives and the actions of these soldiers. One thing that I think really validates the project is that the almost universal response I get is, 'There are soldiers opposed to the war? I didn't know that.'"

Review

The Peace Papers
by Phil Weaver
Summer 2006Mission Rejected, is a collection of first-hand stories of soldiers that have refused the mission in Iraq and said “no more” to the war. What did they see that caused them to question this mission? How did they get out? How has the war affected them? Who are the people that have supported them?

Every combat military veteran has their stories, but Mission Rejected is more than old warriors telling stories of heroism in the local barbershop. It is the, often time, anguished stories of young men and women coming to terms with their conscience. These stories include their anger about the war in Iraq, struggles to get out of the military, facing their families and critics, and deal with emotional scars, including sometimes debilitating, P.T.S.D. (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

There are reasons that over 6000 U.S. soldiers have gone A.W.O.L. (Absent With Out Leave), as reported by the Pentagon, during the Iraq occupation. Many of us could guess what some of these reasons might be, but we don’t have to, thanks to the interviews by this books author, Peter Laufer.

At times these stories are unbearable to hear, like how one former soldier recounts seeing, “two soldiers kicking the heads [of decapitated Iraqis] around like a soccer ball”. It’s hard to hear, but images such as these are imprinted on our young people returning from the war. Sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, are returning to reclaim their places in our communities.

Why are we in Iraq? Is the sacrifice of these young lives worth it? As one soldier says, “ The insurgents are evil, but we’re evil too. The insurgent killing me, he’s being used just like I am…We’re both volunteers fighting each other. Once we volunteer, we can’t leave…We’re just pawns. We’re being used.”

Other interesting stories include those interviewed who are working to support those that have left the military or those that help youth question whether they know enough to enlist.

In Toronto, Canada, rusty wheels have been set back in motion to lend support and counsel to soldiers that have sought Canada as a way out of what many of them describe as an illegal war. In the U.S., the G.I Rights Hotline is counseling A.W.O.L. soldiers on legalities and how to maneuver the tricky slopes of the military’s “Uniform Code of Military Justice”. Veterans for Peace are supporting, with first-hand knowledge, the difficulty these recent veterans face in dealing with the memories and organizing their voices against the war.

Counter-military-recruiters are cautioning young people about their choices of military service, recruiters’ exaggerated promises (including: “with this job assignment, you won’t be deployed to Iraq”) and with veterans, the realities of what one faces and is asked to do during war.

Mission Rejected captures the human spirit struggling, through the stories of these soldiers of conscience, to examine the many costs of war and to those who survive it. Many continue on, still killing and dying in Iraq.

Some of us, having read this book, and having heard these personal stories, will recognize our role in addressing militarism and its blight on the human spirit. Others will shake their heads in agreement and with sadness, yet with their inaction, will continue to “stay the course”.

Author Gives Voice to Soldiers Who Rejected Iraq War

The Press Democrat
by Sara Peyton
May 14, 2006

Years ago, during the Vietnam War, there was an authentic, popular, anti-war movement. Many young men dodged the draft, fled to Canada, went AWOL or to prison. Others became conscientious objectors. They were supported by their boomer generation, with many demonstrating and marching, staging hunger strikes and student boycotts to protest the war. Although 30-odd years later we're once again engaged again in an unpopular war, the political climate has undergone a seismic shift. In today's passive culture, it would be a big stretch to say we have an effective anti-war movement. But even without the support of their generation, some young American soldiers have decided they can no longer support the war or fight in Iraq.

Sonoma Coast author and Vietnam War resister Peter Laufer's newest book gives voice to soldiers wrestling with the most profound moral dilemma of their young lives -- whether or not to quit the military service. In “Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq” (Chelsea Green Publishing; $14), American soldiers tell why they feel betrayed by the American government that sent them to Iraq.

“I started working on it a year ago,” says Laufer about his 13th book. “I've been appalled by the criminality and tragedy of the monstrosity of the invasion of Iraq. When the war first started I put together an anthology criticizing it. (`Shock and Awe: Responses to War'). And that made me want to do more."

The appropriate approach, Laufer decided, was to tell the stories of some of the “worst victims sent off to perpetuate this crime” -- soldiers sent to Iraq. Laufer, 56, may be uniquely suited to tell us why soldiers are resisting war today. He has spent his career as a journalist, radio and television broadcaster and writer chronicling what people in “challenging situations go through when trying to make appropriate moral and ethical decisions.”

“I consider my work advocacy or participatory journalism. I try to draw attention to not just what is wrong with our society but changes that can be made to make things better,” adds the California native who grew up in Sausalito.

In Mission Rejected, a half dozen or so soldiers recount their experiences in Iraq. Soldiers like Joshua Key. This former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma spent eight months of fighting in Iraq before returning home for a two-week leave. When the leave ended, he refused to report for duty and instead fled to Canada with his wife. Why? The disturbing months in Iraq convinced him the war was wrong.

Key told Laufer that while he was in Iraq in March 2003 -- shortly after the U.S. invasion -- he stumbled on a barbaric scene that gives him nightmares to this day. “We turned a real sharp right, and all I seen was decapitated bodies,” Key says. “I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this.” Key estimates he participated in about 100 home raids. Not one ever turned up caches of weapons. Desperate to get home, he threw himself in front of bullets in an effort to get wounded. “I think a lot of us did that.”

Soldier Clifton Hicks' deadly experiences in Iraq, “including an inadvertent assault on a wedding party” led him to become a conscientious objector. If the Army hadn't approved his application he told Laufer he'd prefer prison to returning to war. Hicks said it's a war fought by “us, the masses of uneducated fools killing each other” for rich people “too cowardly to do it themselves.”

“Some of the stories can really make you cry out for the horrors,” says Laufer, who has traveled extensively throughout the Mideast but has not been in Iraq. “The commonality of horror that these people experienced was shocking.”

For Laufer, the experience of writing Mission Rejected brought up powerful memories of the Vietnam War and the “lessons I thought we learned then and would never repeat. This was an intense book to write. It was sobering,” he says. “The optimistic part is that these guys and girls I interviewed said no to war. And they were politicized and realized they could take their lives in their own hands.”

When he's working on a book, Laufer, a father of two grown sons, prefers writing in “nondescript, minimally furnished motel rooms. There are few distractions, none of my own toys, friends or family, and no fridge to prowl in. It's a cell of focus.”

“It's terrific to be a writer in Sonoma County because there are readers in Sonoma County,” Laufer says. “We have a support system of independent bookstores and events.”

When he isn't writing, Laufer is likely working on one of his radio programs for Mother Jones or National Geographic or getting ready for his weekly co-anchoring stint on “Washington Monthly,” which airs on both commercial and noncommercial stations. “It's a heavy schedule, but I started in radio in high school and have done it throughout my career.”

Still, Laufer admits, at heart, he's an activist. “The greatest satisfaction I feel is when I can engage in social issues and perhaps have an opportunity to effect change in some manner.”

For more information about Peter Laufer and his work visit www.peterlaufer.com. Laufer will appear on a panel discussing immigration issues at the Sonoma County Book Festival on Sept. 16. For details about Mission Rejection, check the publisher's Web site, www.chelseagreen.com.

Sara Peyton is an Occidental free-lance writer.