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A message to troops and would be troops

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
By Jeff Patterson.
In August 1990 I was an active duty US Marine Corps Corporal. I was ordered to the Middle East, the Gulf War was about to come. Four years prior-thinking I had nothing better to do with my life-I had walked into the Salinas, California recruiting station and told them to "put me where I was most needed".

"What am I going to do with my life?" has always been huge question of youth, and today in the wake of the horror and tragedy of New York September 11th this question has increased importance for millions of young people.

If I hadn't spent those four years in the Marine Corps, I might be inclined to fall into line now. Most of the time my unit trained to fight a war against peasants who dared to struggle against "American interests" in their homelands-specifically Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. I saw dire poverty in the Philippines, US government-sanctioned prostitution rings to service servicemen in South Korea, and unbridled racism towards the peoples of Okinawa and Japan-the standard response to a child waving a "peace sign" at us with his fingers was "yeaa, ha ha, two bombs little gook." I began to understand why billions of people around the world really do hate the United States-specifically it's war machine, covert contra wars, and an increasing system of economic globalization that replaces hope with 12-hour days locked in sweatshops producing "Designed in the USA" exports.

Faced with this reality, I began the process of becoming un-American-meaning that the interests of the people of the world began to weigh heavier than my self-interest. I realized that the world did not need or want another U.S. troop. Although they did not look much like me, I found I had more in common with the common peoples of the Middle East than I did with those who were ordering me to kill them. My Battalion Commander's reassurance that "if anything goes wrong we'll nuke the rag heads until they all glow" was not reassuring. Up against that, I publicly stated I would not be a pawn in America's power plays for profits, oil, and domination of the Middle East. I pledged to resist, and if dragged out into the Saudi desert, I would refuse to fight. A few weeks later, I sat on the airstrip as hundreds of Marines-many of whom I had lived with for years-filed past me and boarded the plane.

Since 1990 over 1.5 million Iraqi people have died-not mainly from the massive US bombing from the sky, but from a decade of economic sanctions. All the while the US government has coldly declared that these Iraqi deaths are "worth it" in order to achieve strategic regional objectives. So today, as the US Government demands the world mourn with us for our loss, we in turn are expected to ignore the suffering that this nation produces.

Every time the war machine is kicked into high gear, acknowledgements are made about past "mistakes": Gulf War Sickness, Agent Orange and napalm in Vietnam, massacres of refugees in Korea, U.S. troops used as nuclear exposure guinea pigs after World War II. And always: "Trust us, this time it will be different". But it never is.

One need not be a pacifist, a Communist, a Quaker, or a humanist to oppose this war. However, it certainly helps to be an Internationalist-realizing that our collective future is bound with the majority of humanity, and not with those who are taking this horrific opportunity to threaten world war. For those woman and men now in uniform, you have a choice to make. Silence is what your "superiors" expect of you, but the interests of humanity require more. Think. Speak out. Resist. And if you refuse to fight, there are hundreds of thousands who will support you-many of whom have already taken to the streets to oppose this war.

Let's dedicate our lives to changing this situation, and ending all terror.

September 22, 2001

On August 30, 1990, 22-year-old Marine Corporal Jeff Paterson refused to board a military plane in Hawaii heading to Saudi Arabia. He was the first active-duty military resister in the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. The photo of Jeff Paterson sitting on the airstrip, defying orders to go fight in the Gulf War, appeared on TV and in newspapers around the world.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    He should have been executed. Plan and simple. I'm suprised that the Marines in his Platoon didn't beat him till he stoped breathing.

    I can reassure you that is not what happens in Japan. They suggest us to all go to the Hiroshima Peace Park and see what the Atomic bombs did to the city.

    We do not use racist terms or we will be severly punished. Iraq sanctions caused the deaths. How about Sadam using nerve gas on his own people? How about all those that are starving while yet another Presidential Palace is built for him.

    The whore houses in Korea and Japan are legal there and actually illegal to US citizens, but that does not mean that the Chinesse nationals that work most of them do not try and bring Servicemen into them saying they are just massages.

    Steelegate - You always speak of our ignorance when replying to your posts. But you just quoted a very ignorant person yourself. Again he is a traitor and should be hung.

    BTW if he was such a tratior he wouldn't be a Corporal.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Traitors are the lowest of the low in my opinion. They put the lives of their squad mates and brothers at arms, as well as the lives of those back home.

    Some of you may find it hard to believe, but one of my biggest ambitions is to join the armed forces. I argue against war so much because I like to see it from the other side and try to remain objective.
    However my desire to fight for this country is stronger, and I believe that by being able to see an argument from both sides is an advantage in such matters.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    [

    On August 30, 1990, 22-year-old Marine Corporal Jeff Paterson refused to board a military plane in Hawaii heading to Saudi Arabia. He was the first active-duty military resister in the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. The photo of Jeff Paterson sitting on the airstrip, defying orders to go fight in the Gulf War, appeared on TV and in newspapers around the world.[/QB][/QUOTE]

    Like you steal - hes a coward
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Because it takes absolutely no courage to stand up (well sit down) and make a moral stand like that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Vox populi, vox Dei:
    <STRONG>Because it takes absolutely no courage to stand up (well sit down) and make a moral stand like that.</STRONG>

    dude you act as if he did the right thing when indeed it was the act of a coward and a traitor. I cant fight, due to a hearing loss but damnit Id be there in a heartbeat if theyd allow me.
    Hes an ass, the government paid to train him to fight, the country depended on him to fight and the little bitch sat on the tarmac in protest??!!
    Scumbag is a word that immediately comes to mind.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The fact of the matter is that his objections were unfounded and incorrect. I'm in Japan right now, have been to Korea in the last 2 months and I know for a fact his statements were outright lies. If infact this person was ever in the military; He took a oath before God and will be dealt with for the way he acted. So how many years did he spend in levanworth? Thats what I thought, never in the military let alone a Marine Grunt. Stop posting this bullsh!t
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jeff Patterson edited the Anti-WARrior newsletter of military resistance to the Gulf War during the Gulf War. He is a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti- Imperialist. He can be contacted at EMAILJP@post.com.

    He was not a traitor, he refused to fight in the Gulf which was war purely to protect the profits of the big oil companies! America only ever goes to war to protect the profits of its big corporations like all imperialist countries!

    You need to understand that all wars are only ever fought to protect the economic interests of big business! See the passage below from a retired general:

    I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

    Smedly Bulter ex US marine corps General

    [ 27-03-2002: Message edited by: stealgate ]
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by stealgate:
    <STRONG>

    You need to understand that all wars are only ever fought to protect the economic interests of big business!

    [ 27-03-2002: Message edited by: stealgate ]</STRONG>

    Interesting...NOT
    WW2 - stopping Hitler self defense after Pearl Harbor...wheres the economic interest there?

    Vietnam - stopping the spread of Communist punks like yourself (an admittedly flawed war partly to blame because of how it was run at home yet noble in intention)

    Gulf War - tricky, as there was some definite oil interests there but at the risk of allowing Hussein to walk in and annex a country and allow him to further threaten interests abroad he needed to be stopped. In short it was a correct action to take.

    War on terror - Self defense and preventative self defense. Keep in mind steal - the terrorists dislike even you - no matter how much you clamor for their cause.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by stealgate:
    <STRONG>America only ever goes to war to protect the profits of its big corporations like all imperialist countries!</STRONG>

    Of course they do. Big bad America bullies the world. I mean, hell, it was probably Americans themselves who flew those planes into the WTC, in order to protect the construction industry.

    Moron.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    World War II was about protecting economic interests of both Britain and America though.

    Here are the economic reasons for World War II:


    The slump led in 1931 to a major breakdown in the system of international payments. Production fell in country after country and trade plummeted. Gold became concentrated in the hands of the dominant capitalists in the USA, Britain, France and the countries associated with them. These states also had a monopoly of access to most of the sources and raw materials in the world. The world thus became divided into two groups; those countries which had the gold and raw materials and those which lacked them. Germany, Japan and Italy were in the second group and in a bid to solve the problems this presented, the governing parties organised on an aggressive totalitarian basis and resorted to policies which challenged the other, dominant group.

    To get gold and currencies to buy essential raw materials the totalitarian states tried 'dumping', i.e. selling their products below cost. In their trade with other countries they used devices which avoided gold, such as barter and bilateral trade agreements and credits which had to be used to buy their goods. All these devices tended to tie their trading partners to them and thus take them out of the world market.

    This decline in the use of gold threatened the financial centres of London and New York. London was also threatened as the centre of dealings in raw materials. Pursuing these aggressive economic policies Germany had considerable success in Southern Europe and Latin America, while Japan made headway in the markets of Southern Asia. In 1931 Japan used armed force in Manchuria to set up a trading monopoly there. In the past the imperialist powers had decided on an open door policy for trade with China as none of them was strong enough to exclude all the others. Now Japan was trying to do just this, a policy which inevitably led to conflict with America and Britain. Italy similarly used force to get an overseas market in Abyssinia in 1935.

    By way of response, the dominant powers decided on a determined campaign to regain the markets lost to the totalitarian countries. German, Japanese and Italian goods were boycotted. Credits were offered to the countries of Southern Europe to win them away from dependence on Germany. The more successful these policies were the more desperate became the economic position of German capitalism. Without the funds to give credits, force appeared to be the only way. Hence the annexation of Austria in 1938, the breaking up of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

    At this point the conflict of economic interests was coming to a head. Germany was trying to keep its gains in Southern Europe by all means, including force, and Britain and France were using credits to undermine German influence. There was no backing down on either side. War would break out as soon as Britain and France decided to resist force with force. It was a war fought between rival groups of capitalist states over markets, trade routes and sources of raw materials just like any other war!.
    WorldSocialism.com

    [ 27-03-2002: Message edited by: stealgate ]
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