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From the Troops by Todd Arena and Jonathan Hustad March 25, 2003
>
> <http://www.zmag.org> <http://www.zmag.org>
> IRAQ <http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Iraq/IraqCrisis.htm>
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> To whom it should concern,
>
> We do not believe that supporting the war is analogous to supporting soldiers.
> Support for the war, contrary to intuition, is support for disenfranchisement;
> robbing us of our basic economic and moral agency through endangerment of our
> person. This is an inevitability of institutional conflict; some citizen is
> going to have to make the sacrifice to go and do the actual fighting. However,
> the fact that many soldiers embrace this choice does not justify the
> institutional conflict itself. As US soldiers, we recognize that our decision
> to fulfill our duty is a necessary sacrifice for the cause of federal
> republican government. We also recognize that what we really fight, and
> possibly die for, is a goal not in the hands of the human giving his life, but
> in the vote of the people determining his or her fate.
>
> A soldier is a human tool. A soldier in the US Army is a seminal vessel of
> corporate and political desire forcing the course of an entire era of human
> development and directive. We were US citizens prior to our enlistment oath,
> since then we have become something greater and lesser, citizen-soldiers. We
> have given up a portion of rights and freedoms in an oath to serve an
> institution whose sole official purpose is the protection of all rights and
> freedoms given to any citizen. Whatever an individual soldier's personal
> motivation behind making their oath, the justification for their decision is
> the well founded rationale of public service. The citizen-soldier is a
> volunteer, and it is a position that serves by being a surrogate of the public
> will. Despite the obedience to the Commander in Chief, despite our direct
> accountability to Congress, the will of the public is sovereign over all
> aspects of military activity.
>
> The only justification that allows for the existence of the US Army, as a
> standing policing force equally active in both peace and wartime, comes from a
> matter of governance. No other precedence in American history, not real or
> imagined enemies, not current or possible threats, not academic or political
> ideals; none of these stands above the level of excuse for confusion or abuse
> of power, save the singular saving grace of public accountability. The Army's
> existence is only acceptable as a vehicle of public interest, as an
> institution in direct service to the people of the United States. The implied
> complaint here is embodied in the following question; whose will is being done
> in the current use of the US military infrastructure? Can the public even be
> understood as sovereign when we find ourselves lost over even basic facts
> about the "War"; namely what our true motivation in the matter is, who are
> really our desired targets, and how we expect to benefit from any of our
> current actions?
>
> The most fundamental complaint is not that this war is happening, because
> despite unilateral economic motivations and searing blind aggression, Saddam
> is truly an abusive totalitarian dictator. The real problem is that no one
> cares about the former assertions, and everyone moves sedately and directly to
> the latter exception. The point is that it does not matter to anyone that the
> war as a whole is unjust, self-destructive, and abusive simply because one of
> its auxiliary conclusions is beneficial. If we don't evaluate the place in
> history we are at and simply let the powers that currently set the agenda to
> continue to direct the public mindset further and further from debate and
> towards complacent acceptance, then we risk losing sight of the fact that the
> actions and precedents our nation takes now are overturning a century of
> international focus and assistance. While the fates and welfare of all
> humanity becomes more and more intertwined, our current leaders wish to make
> us more exploitative, reactionary,
>
> We ask you to stand up and act now. Responsibility for our common welfare is
> not limited to the professional politicians. They may represent us, but they
> also rely on us. As citizen and, more importantly, consumers the course of
> national and international policy is ultimately determined by our shared will.
> Shake off your apathy and exercise your rights and duties as Americans to
> ensure a better future. Speak out, any way you know how and any way you can.
> Do this before your lives are irrevocably changed, as have ours already,
> because you will feel the consequences of today's decisions all too acutely
> tomorrow.
>
> Todd Arena, Jonathan Hustad
>
> Members of the US Army Reserve
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