Madison Winter Soldier

By: Harry Waisbren

I have been working on the Madison Winter Soldier media team to help give these anti-war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan a platform to speak. While our media parrots the narrative that "supporting the troops" means staying the course in Iraq they are actively ignoring the troops' real views, and Winter Soldier is an opportunity to discuss their perceptions over what is really happening on the ground.

Below is more information on what you can expect to see at Madison Winter Soldier, and I could not suggest coming to experience it enough: 

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), is composed of over fifteen-hundred soldiers who have recently served or are still serving in the U.S. military.  IVAW has provided courageous and true leadership, opposing the war-funding politicians of both parties. 

In March of this year, IVAW organized an historic event, the Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan hearings held outside Washington DC, where nearly 200 soldiers testified to the atrocities and war crimes they witnessed or personally committed while in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emotionally moving and carefully vetted truth telling lasted for days. 

To its disgrace, most of the mainstream corporate media ignored the hearings. The hard facts of the Iraq war, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, the millions driven from their homes, the thousands of American dead and tens of thousands wounded, are simply not deemed appropriate and newsworthy by American news media. Indeed, the U.S. media has pushed Iraq to the back pages and off the TV tube.

Not to be deterred, IVAW continues to organize a national movement against the war. 

This Saturday, September 27th, veterans will testify about their experiences in the military, addressing:

 
* Eyewitness accounts and personal stories from veterans and military families
* Veterans' Healthcare and the failure of the VA system
* The poverty draft and military recruitment today
* Supporting war resisters and the future of GI resistance
* Racism and the War on Terror
* Veterans, GIs, students, labor, and other peace groups working together end the war

Featuring guest speakers John Stauber, co-author of "The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies, and the Mess in Iraq" and "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq" and Sami Rasouli an Iraqi-American who splits his time between Najaf and the U.S. where he talks about life under the U.S. occupation.

For more information or to endorse the event contact: madisonwintersoldier@gmail.com

Suggested donation of $5, no one will be turned away, all proceeds will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War -Madison Chapter, a proud affiliate of Veterans For Peace, a 501 (c) (3) charity.

Endorsed by: Veterans For Peace: (Chapter 25 - The Clarence Kailin Chapter, Chapter 102 - The Milwaukee Chapter, Chapter 114 - The Sheboygan Chapter), Military Families for Peace, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Madison Area Peace Coalition, Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance - Madison Chapter, LIBERTY TREE Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Health Writers, OneWisconsinNow, The Progressive, Campus Anti-war Network UW-Madison, DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, International Socialist Organization: (Madison City Branch and University of Wisconsin Campus Branch), Madison Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Madison Infoshop, WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition, Peregrine Forum, United Nations Association - Wisconsin Division, Madison Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Code Pink - Boscobel, TAME Wisconsin, Campus Progress, South Central Federation of Labor, AFSCME Local 171, South West Wisconsin Area Progressives, Progressive Students of Milwaukee, The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - The Madison Branch, The World Can't Wait, Unión de Trabajadores Inmigrantes, Student Progressive Dane, Pax Christi-Madison, Realeconomy.com, Peace, Education and Action through Creative Engagement (P.E.A.C.E) UW-Whitewater, Students Allied for a Green Earth (SAGE) UW-Whitewater, The Nader/Gonzalez Campaign of Wisconsin, Progressive Dane.