It is being billed as the first fullscale testimony in Congress by anti-Iraq war veterans, and it's a shame it has taken this long. The statement by Matthis Chiroux, 24, who is now refusing to be deployed to Iraq -- after serving in Afghanistan and elsewhere as an Army journalist -- will surely get the most attention, but don't miss the rest.
"I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq," Chiroux said in a House rotunda today.
"My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation... I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation," he said, as a dozen veterans of the Iraq war looked on.
But there was so much more, and it follows equally vivid testimony yesterday by antiwar vets to the Progressive Caucus in Congress. It shows why some of us here have been so active in drawing attention to the vet suicide surge -- and the self-inflicted deaths in Iraq -- and the 300,000 suffering mental problems, also featured in my new book.
Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith spoke of "lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis." He said he had "self-medicated" for several months to treat the wounds of the war.
A terrific AFP report (see link) observed, "A group of veterans sitting in the hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades' testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding.
"Almost to a man, the soldiers who testified denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=08...;show_article=1