EASTER MESSAGE TO THE PEACE AND JUSTICE MOVEMENTS FROM
IRAQ WAR VETERAN, CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR,
AND WAR RESISTER BLAKE LEMOINE
WITH BACKGROUND TO HIS STORY BY ELSA RASSBACH*
AMERICAN VOICES ABROAD MILITARY PROJECT
Berlin, Easter Weekend, 2005
For immediate release: The Pentagon admits that, between the start of the war on Iraq and the end of 2004, more than 5500 U.S. soldiers deserted the army. More and more are deserting every day. Some of the deserters have been arrested and jailed in U.S. military prisons. But most are living underground in the U.S. and in other countries. During the Vietnam War, Sweden and Canada offered asylum to deserting U.S. soldiers. Today no country does. In fact, on Thursday, March 24, Jeremy Hinsman, a U.S. deserter, was denied asylum in an important a court case in Canada. He plans to appeal this decision in higher courts in Canada.
But some of the most courageous soldiers do not desert. They resist inside the Army. I bring a message to the German peace movement from one of these brave resisting soldiers, who is stationed here in Germany. His name is Blake Lemoine. He is twenty three years old and comes from Louisiana. He lives near Darmstadt with his twenty-one year old wife Alayna. Tomorrow he faces a Special Court Martial in Darmstadt. If he is found guilty of disobeying orders, he could be jailed in a U.S. military prison for up to a year, lose all pay and benefits with which to support his wife, and get a bad conduct discharge.
Before I read this message to you from Blake, I would like to give you some background about what he is doing and why it is so important to all of us who work for peace. Blake entered the Army soon after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. He wanted to defend his country, and like most soldiers who join the U.S. military, he also needed the pay and benefits. But after he joined, the U.S. turned the so-called “War Against Terrorism” into the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This he had not agreed to.
Blake served for one year in Iraq and received the Army Commendation for a tour of dangerous duty. He was a gunner accompanying mail trucks through areas controlled by the Iraqi Resistance. In Iraq Blake became disgusted with what he calls the “cruelty” of the U.S. military toward Iraqi civilians. Beyond the many civilian deaths, Blake saw many incidents of day-to-day humiliations that the Iraqis are forced to endure under U.S. occupation. He cites many small examples, such as this one: U.S. soldiers were forbidden to give any of their supply of bottled water to thirsty Iraqis doing labor on the military bases in 115 Fahrenheit heat, and the Iraqis were also not allowed to bring enough water for
themselves. Also, U.S. soldiers regularly pointed their weapons at unarmed Iraqi civilians to deliberately and unnecessarily frighten them.
When his year in Iraq was up, Blake was redeployed to Darmstadt, Germany. Although his wife had been living on the Army base in Darmstadt while Blake was in Iraq, the Army required Blake to extend his three-year contract by another eight months if he wanted to keep his wife with him in Germany. Had he not agreed to this, he would have been out by now. He did so, and is presently due to be released from the Army on October 13, 2005.
After he came back from Iraq, Blake learned that the U.S. had still not been able to find any weapons of mass destruction there. This made the cruelty of the U.S. military to the Iraqi people seem all the more senseless to him. Blake further believes that the occupation of Iraq makes no military sense. He says that, historically, no attempt to quell a guerrilla war with conventional military means has ever been successful. Even though he is due to be released a few months from now, Blake feels strongly that he would be a “hypocrite” if he did not to speak out. He has decided to take a strong stand against the U.S. military, despite the risks to him personally. He says he is fighting for freedom.
Thus, on January 10, 2005, Blake wrote to his commanders, right on up to President Bush, that he could no longer cooperate. This is part of what he wrote:
“To My Chain of Command:
While deployed (in Iraq), I encountered hatred, anger, wrath and racism. Very seldom did I find these emotions wearing Iraqi skin. It was the soldiers who I fought along side who portrayed these horrors of the human soul…Some might say that when I signed the Army contract, I agreed to kill for the United States. However, when I signed that contract it was literally impossible for me to know the means with which our war was being waged. Now that I am aware of the hatred and wrath directed against the Arabic peoples, at least by the U.S. soldiers, I can do nothing but withdraw my gun from service to the U.S. military’s causes. Also I must state that, unfortunately, I cannot give the Army any assistance in any way from this day forward…”
From January 10 to the present, Blake has continued to show up every day for his job on the Darmstadt Army base, where he is currently assigned to the supply room. But though he is physically there, he is peacefully not cooperating. Yet the Army still refuses to grant his request to leave military service.
On January 24, 2005, Blake submitted an official application for discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector. He knows this application will likely be denied by the military because he is not a pacifist, and he would fight in a just war, such as World War II. But he is against current U.S. military policy in Iraq, and he is against pre-emptive war. If Blake’s application for conscientious objector status is denied by the military, he plans to appeal in U.S. Federal Court – and all the way up to the U.S.
__________________________________
*NOTE: The quotes by Blake Lemoine are from documents provided by him to Elsa Rassbach for distribution to the Easter Peace Marches. She is solely responsible for the content of the remaining text.
Supreme Court, if necessary. If he is convicted at his Court Martial on Monday of failing to obey orders, he may have to make his appeals while residing in a U.S. military jail.
In protest against the Army’s refusal to release him, on January 27, 2005, Blake began a hunger strike. He is on hunger strike now, and he has lost about 15 kilos. Since February 1, 2005, Blake has also refused to receive any pay or benefits from the Army. He and his wife are living off of their savings. Here is part of what Blake wrote to his chain of command, right on up to President Bush, on January 27, announcing his hunger strike and his refusal to accept any more pay from the U.S. military:
“To My Chain of Command:
As has been publicly acknowledged by the Army itself, I am under a slave contract currently. This is evidenced by the fact that when I said, ‘I quit,’ the answer was, ‘You can’t.’ There is only one class of people throughout history that was kept, by force, from quitting their jobs. This class is the slave class. I was unaware that when I signed the Army contract, I was signing myself into slavery. At this point there is nothing I can do to remedy the situation. Put quite simply the U.S. Army has all the guns, while I have none. If I resist I will be beaten into submission by force…The Army wishes to maintain the charade that I am a contracted employee. This is a lie. Therefore, I have decided I will no longer be idle and receive undeserved benefits. From the date stated above I will no longer voluntarily receive any benefits from the U.S. Army. This is to include, but not be limited to: pay, shelter and food. May the chips fall where they may.”
This past Thursday, March 24, Blake held a press conference in Darmstadt. At the press conference, he bravely told reporters the truth: his religious beliefs do not allow him to cooperate with the U.S. military now because of the unjustified pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq. At the press conference, Blake was joined by his supporters: Military Counseling Network (of the German Mennonite Peace Committee) in Heidelberg; Stop the War Brigade, a GI – rights organization directed by Vietnam Veterans living in Germany; the German peace organizations Connection (which is part of the German Peace Society and Association of Conscientious Objectors) and the Campaign Against the Draft, Compulsory Service, and the Military; and the American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project, founded in February, 2005, with members in many cities in Germany, in France, Holland, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Lebanon.
The resisting U.S. soldiers in Germany are on the “front line” of the GI resistance movement, and they urgently need the concrete help of the German peace movement and peace movements throughout the world. 70,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed in Germany, with 89,000 dependents. These soldiers are sent to Iraq and Afghanistan while their dependents continue to live on the U.S. military bases in Germany. When their tour of duty is up, or when they are wounded, they are often returned to Germany to wait until the military sends them a second and even a third time into the war and occupation zones. The military has even made “Stop Loss” orders under which these soldiers can be forced to serve in the U.S. military for the rest of their lives, even if they originally signed on for only two or three years. Soldiers are fighting these orders through the U.S. courts.
So that these soldiers can achieve justice, Military Counseling Network and the American Voices Abroad Military Project have just begun a world-wide fundraising drive to help them cover their legal costs when they appeal decisions of the U.S. military court in U.S. Federal Court.
The U. S. soldiers and their families stationed in Germany also need information. They live in U.S. military bases isolated from the rest of Germany, and they even buy their groceries with dollars. They are not advised by the military of their legal rights. We hope the German peace movement will help us distribute 50,000 flyers to U.S. soldiers throughout Germany to inform them of the GI rights Web sites and hot lines where they can receive the information they need. We hope also that the German government and other governments of Europe will soon start granting asylum to U.S. soldiers.
Blake has every right to be guided by his religious beliefs regarding what actions he will take or will not take. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the freedom of conscience and religion. Blake is a selective conscientious objector, which means that, in accordance with his religious belief, he is not against wars guided by wisdom, but he does not believe that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq are guided by wisdom. The United Nations recognizes selective conscientious objection as a human right.
The United States must grant Blake Lemoine his human rights. We demand that the Pentagon immediately and unconditionally release Blake Lemoine from the U.S. Army. We call on the Pentagon to immediately and unconditionally release all U.S. military personnel whose religious, moral, or ethical beliefs make it impossible for them to support the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Here is Blake’s message to the peace movement, this Easter weekend in the year 2005:
“Ladies and Gentlemen gathered today in the name of peace,
I would like to begin by thanking every person of every nation, particularly all the members of the German peace movement, who have given and offered aid and support through this trying process. Human civilization is very old and has survived many trials. With every passing age the state of the world and the lot of all peoples has consistently improved. This is directly due to people such as yourselves who have the personal courage to take a stand for what you believe in. Finally I wanted to assure you that you are not alone in this endeavor. There are quite a few people within the system who do not necessarily support an agenda of invasion. Keep faith and together we can work towards a happier and freer world.
Sincerely,
Blake Lemoine
Priest of the Cabal of Free Thought”
Last Thursday in Darmstadt, the local media of course came to Blake’s press conference, but so did AP, dpa, and Reuters. On Easter Monday, press will be allowed to attend the Special Court Martial of Blake Lemoine in Darmstadt to report on how the U.S. military responds to the challenge of Blake Lemoine. Thank you.
Contact: +49 30 326 015 40 or mobile +49 177 326 0154 and Elsa_Rassbach@compuserve.com
ViSP: Elsa Rassbach, Steifensandstrasse 6, 14057 Berlin
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