Friday, May 16, 2008

Resisting an illegal war




Sgt. Matthis Chiroux
, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines, today publicly announced his intention to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq.

Photobucket

Resisting the backdoor draft or as I see it, involuntary servitude.

IVAW's post finishes with a request for donations:
To donate to IVAW’s Legal Fund to support Matthis and other servicemembers who are refusing to support the occupation of Iraq, use our online donation form and select “Legal Fund” under special projects.


crossposted at SteveAudio

2 comments:

Steve Bates said...

It took a lot of courage for Sgt. Chiroux to commit a righteous act for which he will surely be called a coward by many, and almost as surely spend some time in jail. I cannot help remembering the Vietnam war, and the things my college classmates experienced... those who went, those who didn't, those who were drafted, those who fled to Canada, those who lived... and those who died. I honor them all, including those who did what Sgt. Chiroux is doing. It isn't easy.

(FTR, I had a medical deferment which later became an exemption. It is strange to be grateful for injuries sustained in a fall when I was 13, injuries which to this day limit some activities, but there it is: I'm not sorry not to have been drafted.)

ellroon said...

Oh, ow, Steve! Being smacked by reality at thirteen sucks. I'm so sorry. That must have been really rough.

That said, I'm grateful you didn't have to experience the draft, the military, or the war.