from the article: Evan Knappenberger served one year in Iraq with the Army 4th Infantry Division working as an intelligence analyst. “We are responsible as soldiers, we are murderers of over one million Iraqis,” a visibly shaken Knappenberger said. “I participated in burglary, trespassing, knowledgeable negligence, criminal assault and battery, rape by association, and gangsterism, I am standing here today as a criminal — in a sense of the word that only someone who has worn the uniform can understand…. “in Iraq, I did many things, but nothing for freedom”
take a look at the following interview with independent journalist nir rosen, and check out his article how we lost the war we won on rollingstone.com. it’s an insightful look at the wars in afghanistan and iraq that you won’t see on most tv news broadcasts… -h
here’s an encouraging news story about one iraq war vet helping other vets to transform their trauma into artwork. they take their old uniforms, turn them into paper, and then make art projects out of them to communicate about their experiences during the war, help themselves heal emotionally, and also speak out for peace. check it out.
also, the author of this news piece, dahr jamail, is a renowned journalist who has written many reports from the war in iraq, and is also visiting portland this weekend on the resisting empire speaking tour. he’ll be speaking at the first unitarian church on SW 12th & main at noon on saturday, along with staff sergeant camilo mejía, the board chair of iraq veterans against the war (IVAW). click the resisting empire link for more details and go check it out if you can, as it sounds like they’ll have some very interesting things to say. i’ll likely be there, to see what i can learn…