Say Anything Blog

The IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) have asked anti-war groups not to hold a mass D.C. demonstration on the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. Instead, they plan to testify between March 13-16 about the atrocities they committed or witnessed while serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  More than 45 current and former soldiers will testify to the indiscriminate killing and injuring of civilians, the use of chemical weapons, torture, denial of medical care, and mutilation of the dead.

The goal of the hearings is to show that systematic government policies are to blame for the myriad atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The hearings, Winter Soldier Investigation: Iraq and Afghanistan, is similar to the 1971 Vietnam-era investigation. However, Jose Vasquez, the president of the New York chapter of the IVAW says that this is a different world and different war. The list of questions from the 1971 hearing needed updating.

To avoid the lack of attention by the media in the 1971 hearings, the IVAW has called on artists, journalists, filmmakers and other media makers to help spread testimony from the hearings. “Our target audience is GIs,” said Vasquez, who explained that by fomenting resistance within the military and within military families, IVAW is in a unique position to undermine the continuation of U.S. war policies.

http://www.indypendent.org/2008/02/07/return-of-the-winter-soldier-iraq-vets-prepare-atrocity-testimony/
The Indypendent » Return of the Winter Soldier: Iraq Vets Prepare Atrocity Testimony