| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
14 Nov 2006 07:20:59 PM |
| Object: |
One Soldier Against the Empire |
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43779/
One Soldier Against the Empire
By Elizabeth de la Vega, Tomdispatch.com. Posted November 4, 2006.
Move over, G.I. Joe and Han Solo -- Sgt. Ricky Clousing gives a whole
new meaning to 'profile in courage.'
I look forward to the day when Mattel makes a Sgt. Ricky Clousing action
figure.
As the mother of sons born eight years apart, I spent nearly half my
adult life surrounded by -- and stepping on -- action figures. They were
everywhere: a phalanx of tiny knights in shining armor on the
windowsill; Batman and Robin frozen in an ice tray; and GI Joe guys in
camouflage among the hosta. One Christmas, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo
even ended up in the manger scene along with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
two cows, three sheep, and several Ewoks. My kids spent hours and hours
in a fantasy world populated by villains and heroes of every description
except one; there were no peace heroes.
I met a peace hero at Camp Democracy in Washington, D.C. not too long
ago: Sgt. Ricky Clousing. He will not remember me, but I will not forget
him. On a brilliant, blessedly unhumid day, Ricky sat on a makeshift
platform within shouting distance of the Lincoln Memorial and told a
story that was simultaneously agonizing and inspiring to hear.
On September 11, 2001, Ricky was working in an orphanage and "building
some roads and stuff" in Thailand. When his stint as a volunteer ended,
he made his way to Germany where he met American soldiers returning from
Afghanistan. Caught up in the wave of post-9/11 patriotism, he decided
he would join the Army rather than return to college in his native
Seattle. That way he could serve his country and have money for his
education when he got out. Two years later, having completed basic
training and intensive language instruction at the Monterey Defense
Language Institute, Sgt. Ricky Clousing found himself in Baghdad, an
interrogator with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina.
As a tactical interrogator assigned to question detainees at the scene
of infantry raids, Ricky did not witness the abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib. What he did witness, however, was hardly less horrifying:
American soldiers indoctrinated to view Iraqis as less than human, as
"ragheads" or worse; American soldiers out on the streets of the Iraqi
capital ramming the cars of Iraqi civilians for sport; American soldiers
laughing as they slaughtered the livestock of local farmers; and
American soldiers shooting an Iraqi teenager who had simply made a wrong
turn.
Ricky was on patrol when he saw a boy, "probably 18 years old, a small
maybe high-school age kid" turn down a road his unit was attempting to
secure. The teenager, Ricky said, was quite visibly terrified at the
sight of "a whole bunch of Americans with big weapons" staring him in
the face. He started turning the car around, but didn't get very far.
This is how Ricky described what happened next:
"One of the soldiers in the turret of the humvee behind me just opened
up fire on the machine gun on the vehicle. As the vehicle was turning
away, all I heard above my head was "pop, pop, pop, pop." This was my
first deployment, my first combat experience was that moment right then,
and just the sound of machine guns going off over my head. He popped
about five or six rounds in the side of the vehicle. Myself and two of
the other guys ran over to the vehicle, smashed the window, and pulled
the guy out to provide first aid on him... I was looking down at this
kid who had just been shot in the stomach for no reason really -- he was
trying to leave...I was still just standing there in shock, looking down
at this kid, and he looked right up at me. And his mouth was foaming.
His stomach was falling out in his hands... I was looking down at this
kid, this young boy who was just trying to drive around town and took a
wrong turn and tried to go the other direction, was shot at and killed,
and I'm looking down at him now. And we made eye contact for about five
seconds, and he just looked at me with the most empty, terrified look in
his face that will never leave me in my whole life I'm sure."
That Iraqi boy died on the way to the hospital. I think the boy in Ricky
Clousing died that day as well, but what an extraordinary man he has
since become. Deciding he would be haunted forever if he kept silent
about such an egregious violation of the rules of engagement, Sgt.
Clousing notified the unit's Platoon Sergeant, who did not "take kindly"
to his advice.
Clousing continued to object to American war crimes for the rest of his
time in Iraq, though no one ever took kindly to his objections. When he
returned to the U.S., he talked to his commanding officers, to the
chaplain, to mental health workers and anyone else who would listen to
his problems with the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He was told he
could get out of the Army -- if he said he was gay. But he couldn't say
that because he's not gay. He was told to claim he had post-traumatic
stress disorder, but he couldn't do that because he didn't think he had
PTSD. He was told to file as a conscientious objector; but he couldn't
do that because he wasn't against all war. He was told he could avoid
going back to Iraq by taking an assignment in the United States. He
couldn't do that either because -- and this is exactly what Ricky
Clousing told us on that sunny afternoon in Washington:
"I felt that my involvement in the army, whether it be directly or
indirectly, whether in Iraq or training guys to go to Iraq, I was still
that piece of machine in the system that was still allowing this war to
take place and still supporting that. My actions, whether or not they
were on the front line or back safely at home, were still part of the
body of the machine that's occupying [Iraq]. So I ultimately felt that
the only thing I could do was to leave, so I packed my stuff last June
and I went AWOL."
On August 11, 2006, the day he turned himself in, Sgt. Clousing made a
simple statement:
"We have found ourselves in a pivotal era where we have traded humanity
for patriotism. Where we have traded our civil liberties for a sense of
security. I stand here before you sharing the same idea as Henry David
Thoreau: as a soldier, as an American, and as a human being, we mustn't
lend ourselves to that same evil which we condemn."
Ricky Clousing -- now serving a three-month sentence in a military brig
at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina -- is not the only peace hero. Others
are making themselves known in growing numbers and you can read about
them at the Courage to Resist website. Although we have no way of
assessing the numbers from here, I have no doubt that there are also
soldiers trying to do the right thing in Iraq.
But when I read about a President who doesn't know the meaning of
"outrages upon human dignity" because he so clearly does not consider
the very people he claims to have liberated human; when I read about a
vice president who does not even have the courage to admit to the
meaning of the words he uses ("dunk in the water," "last throes"); when
I read about a defense secretary who tells reporters to back off if the
questions get too tough, then I think about Ricky Clousing.
Twenty-four years old, Clousing told the world in simple declarative
sentences why he had to give up his college money, receive a
dishonorable discharge, and go to jail to take a stand against the
invasion and occupation of Iraq. He'd make a very cool action figure.
Come to think of it, Sgt. Ricky Clousing -- tattooed arms, Laguna Beach
t-shirt, and all -- would make an awesome shepherd in that manger scene.
Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are just going to have to move over.
Elizabeth de la Vega is a former federal prosecutor. Her pieces have
appeared in The Nation, the L.A. Times, Salon, and Mother Jones.
/end
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "Douglas Berry" |
|
| Title: Re: One Soldier Against the Empire |
14 Nov 2006 09:06:49 PM |
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On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:20:59 -0800 stoney <stoney@the.net> said the
following in alt.atheism and I was immediately reminded of 1,000
Chinchillas singing Handel's "Messiah" for some reason...
On September 11, 2001, Ricky was working in an orphanage and "building
some roads and stuff" in Thailand. When his stint as a volunteer ended,
he made his way to Germany where he met American soldiers returning from
Afghanistan. Caught up in the wave of post-9/11 patriotism, he decided
he would join the Army rather than return to college in his native
Seattle. That way he could serve his country and have money for his
education when he got out. Two years later, having completed basic
training and intensive language instruction at the Monterey Defense
Language Institute, Sgt. Ricky Clousing found himself in Baghdad, an
interrogator with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina.
As a tactical interrogator assigned to question detainees at the scene
of infantry raids, Ricky did not witness the abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib. What he did witness, however, was hardly less horrifying:
American soldiers indoctrinated to view Iraqis as less than human, as
"ragheads" or worse; American soldiers out on the streets of the Iraqi
capital ramming the cars of Iraqi civilians for sport; American soldiers
laughing as they slaughtered the livestock of local farmers; and
American soldiers shooting an Iraqi teenager who had simply made a wrong
turn.
Sorry, but I'm calling *****. The first troops returned from
Afghanistan in early 2002. Assuming that he immediately entered the
service, he would have about a year of training before being assigned
to a MI unit as a 97-Lima --Translator/Interpreter. This is a job
only found in Reserve and National Guard units. He wouldn't have been
assigned to the 82nd (and no mention of jump school, either.)
There is no way in hell that he made Sergeant in that time. The
minimum is four years active service. Also, the 82nd Airborne has
never been deployed in Baghdad.
The rest of his story is equally full of holes.
Oh, prisoners are not interrogated at the place they are captured. We
remove prisoners to a secure location both for control and to
safeguard them.
--
Douglas Berry Do the OBVIOUS thing to send e-mail
Atheist #2147, Atheist Vet #5
Jason Gastrich is praying for me on 8 January 2011
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the
source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a
stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as
good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein
.
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| User: "Lord Calvert" |
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| Title: Re: One Soldier Against the Empire |
22 Nov 2006 10:38:57 PM |
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Douglas Berry wrote:
There is no way in hell that he made Sergeant in that time. The
minimum is four years active service.
I made sergeant in an MI MOS (the now defunct 97G before my not
entirely welcome conversion to 98G) in less than four years. I did it
in three years and eight months. A lot depends on where the points are
falling and how many people in grade there are at the beginning of any
given month and I caught a break where the points dropped to 450 for a
month. Now, I admit that this was in 1985 and a lot of thing have
changed rather radically since then but certainly in MOSes where the
qualifications are pretty high just to get in in the first place and
have a high washout rate during training, the promotions to the middle
enlisted grades usually come quite quickly.
Oh, prisoners are not interrogated at the place they are captured. We
remove prisoners to a secure location both for control and to
safeguard them.
Absolutely so.
Rich Goranson
Amherst, NY, USA
aa#MCMXCIX, a-vet#1
EAC Department of Cruel and Unusual Choreography
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| User: "stoney" |
|
| Title: Re: One Soldier Against the Empire |
22 Nov 2006 10:09:41 PM |
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On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 03:06:49 GMT, Douglas Berry
<penguin_boy@mindOBVIOUSspring.com> wrote in alt.atheism
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:20:59 -0800 stoney <stoney@the.net> said the
following in alt.atheism and I was immediately reminded of 1,000
Chinchillas singing Handel's "Messiah" for some reason...
On September 11, 2001, Ricky was working in an orphanage and "building
some roads and stuff" in Thailand. When his stint as a volunteer ended,
he made his way to Germany where he met American soldiers returning from
Afghanistan. Caught up in the wave of post-9/11 patriotism, he decided
he would join the Army rather than return to college in his native
Seattle. That way he could serve his country and have money for his
education when he got out. Two years later, having completed basic
training and intensive language instruction at the Monterey Defense
Language Institute, Sgt. Ricky Clousing found himself in Baghdad, an
interrogator with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina.
As a tactical interrogator assigned to question detainees at the scene
of infantry raids, Ricky did not witness the abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib. What he did witness, however, was hardly less horrifying:
American soldiers indoctrinated to view Iraqis as less than human, as
"ragheads" or worse; American soldiers out on the streets of the Iraqi
capital ramming the cars of Iraqi civilians for sport; American soldiers
laughing as they slaughtered the livestock of local farmers; and
American soldiers shooting an Iraqi teenager who had simply made a wrong
turn.
Sorry, but I'm calling *****.
No worries, Doug.
The first troops returned from
Afghanistan in early 2002. Assuming that he immediately entered the
service, he would have about a year of training before being assigned
to a MI unit as a 97-Lima --Translator/Interpreter. This is a job
only found in Reserve and National Guard units. He wouldn't have been
assigned to the 82nd (and no mention of jump school, either.)
There is no way in hell that he made Sergeant in that time. The
minimum is four years active service. Also, the 82nd Airborne has
never been deployed in Baghdad.
The rest of his story is equally full of holes.
Oh, prisoners are not interrogated at the place they are captured. We
remove prisoners to a secure location both for control and to
safeguard them.
That it's ***** isn't a surprise. I simply post articles I think
people might find of interest.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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