Berkeley, May 29 - Iraq war military resisters and veterans opposed to the current war spoke out against Amerikan militarism at the event Military Voices Against Endless War organized by the Not in Our Name organization. Among the presenters were a mother whose son was killed in Iraq, several recent gulf war resisters who were jailed for refusing to fight, and two veterans of the Iraq war who are now organizing against it.

Most of the presentations were condemnations of the Iraq war based on what the young men had seen and learned while in the military. Camilo Mejia, one of the resisters who completed one tour of duty and then refused to go back noted that he was jailed, not for refusing to fight in the war, "but for denouncing it as a crime against humanity." He is a member of the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War. While the group is far from revolutionary, it's focus on opposing militarism, stopping recruiting in the schools, and supporting war resisters, does a service to the anti-imperialist struggle.

Mejia was one of the speakers with more of a political analysis behind his condemnation of the war. Born in Nicaragua, he noted the parallels between Amerika arming the Contras to enforce it's will on the Nicaraguan people and the Amerikan invasion of Iraq. He also spoke about the draft, noting that "as long as there is social injustice in Amerika, there can not be an all volunteer army." This is an important point about the choice that Amerikan youth make when joining the army. Many of the enlisted men and wimmin in the military join because they see few other alternatives in their lives. This means the military is disproportionately made up of Blacks and Latinos while rich white men like George Bush use their family's money and power to get out of military service.

Tom Goodrich, a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, went to Iraq as a civilian after he was discharged from the military. He saw the destruction and damage to the Iraqi's lives from the wars and the sanctions, and after his visit he returned home and questioned "how can I be driving this nice car and going to work in a country that has 6% unemployment instead of 70%." MIM hopes that it doesn't take a visit to Iraq to make other Amerikans see what Goodrich realizes: we can't sit back and do nothing while Amerika plunders countries around the world.

The most interesting speaker at the event was Aidan Delgado, an Iraq war veteran, who worked in POW camps and spent part of his service at Abu Ghraib prison. His encounter with the prisoners changed his mind about the war and led him to apply for discharge as a conscientious objector. He noted the tremendous racism and violence against the Iraqis by the military men. He saw guys in his unit hit kids, throw bottles at civilians, and uniformly call the Iraqis "hajis."

Delgado described the prison in Abu Ghraib: Holding 4000-6000 prisoners, the Iraqi's lived in tents outside, between 60 and 80 prisoners to a tent. Communicable diseases were rampant, dysentery was common because of the rotting food, and 18 members of his unit came home TB positive from contact with the prisoners. Delgado noted numerous violations of the Geneva Convention rules about appropriate treatment of prisoners, including subjecting them to extreme cold without tents, blankets or warm clothing as punishment for infractions, filthy camps, and brutality at the hands of the guards.

Because of his conscientious objector status, Delgado was given the bad jobs, but this gave him access to information and documentation that few people saw. As a result he saw the arrest record paperwork of the detainees. According to Delagdo, of the thousands of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a large percentage committed no crime at all and were just picked up in random military sweeps of the cities. These men were known to be innocent but it took more than six months to release them from the prison camp. The rest of the prisoners were mostly non-violent offenders put in the prison camps for offences like public drunkenness. Delgado's account is backed up by the International Red Cross Report (2003/2004).

Delgado recounted the November 24th riot at Abu Ghraib prison. The prisoners had been demonstrating for several days, protesting the living conditions. By the 24th the demonstrations turned unruly with prisoners throwing stones. In response, the military opened fire with machine guns, killing four men and wounding more. The command posted graphic photos of the dead prisoners, guards posed with them and mutilated the bodies. Delgado commented: "The idea that it's a few bad apples is laughable to anyone who was at Abu Ghraib."

Delgado concluded his talk by saying "I never hurt anyone in Iraq but I feel like my hands are just as bloodyand every one of us is equally as guilty because the soldiers are our proxy..." MIM agrees with this statement and we call on all Amerikans to see their complicity in Amerikan militarism which murders and pillages other countries to bring home profits for the citizens of this wealthy country.