This blog contains entries for all known known GI resistors who publicly refused to participate in and/or spoken out against the wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, while on active duty or in the reserves.
While some of these activists remain in the military, most are veterans and belong to organizations -- such as the Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace -- the majority of members are not members are not included in this honor role. This is not meant to diminish the importance of these other activists, but there is an important distinction between the choice to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while in the military and the choice to do so after retirement. There is little that the military can do to punish servicemen who chose to wait until they have been discharged to speak out. These individuals are no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and can act without having to worry about how their actions will affect discharge status. With the exception of Adam Kokesh, I can not think of any veteran who was deliberately reactivated to strip them of their honorable discharge. This does not mean he is unique and if I am able to find others, I will add them.
While I have attempted to provide biographies for each activist listed, some of these are extremely comprehensive while others are only a couple of lines. These biographies have mostly been copied from the Iraq Veterans Against the War, Courage to Resist and US Heroes of the Iraq War websites. In a number of instances I have only been able to track down a name because their actions were discussed in a newspaper article, with no background information provided. For these persons I have reproduced the relevant article
If you know of persons who are not included, please contact me at james_lewes@yahoo.com
