This article, by Andrew Rosten, was published in the Daily Vidette, April 14, 2008
War veterans speak out against war
According to a recent CNN poll, 64 percent of respondents said they are against the war in Iraq. Jason Wallace, a senior politics and government major and former Air Force step sergeant stationed in Kuwait during the Iraq war, can also be considered to be against the war in Iraq..
"War, as it's done now, isn't for just means," Wallace said. "If we went to war for moral reasons, we would be in Darfur, but we're not. Instead, we go to Iraq.".
Along with Ben Peters, a freshman biology major and former Marine stationed in Iraq, Wallace lectured Thursday at Schroeder Hall about their views about the war in Iraq..
The lecture began with a video titled "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan." The video showed, along with images of casualties and explosions from the war in Iraq, commentary from former Iraqi soldiers who are against the war..
"I guess I'm sick of being lied to," Jason Washburn, a former Marine Corporal, said in the video. "I'm sick of America being lied to.".
After the video, Wallace asked the audience to participate in a moment of silence in honor of U.S. soldiers who died and are serving in Iraq..
"These are my brothers and my sisters," Wallace said. "These are people I support. I want to make it very clear that what we are trying to do is end the occupation in Iraq, and we want to see our troops home and we want to see them home now.".
Wallace said the Iraq Veterans Against the War, an organization for which he started the Central Illinois chapter, has three goals, including an immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Iraq..
"That's not just our military," Wallace said. "That also includes the contractors and mercenary groups like Halliburton because we want to address the other issues with the occupation, and that's the corporate pillaging that's going on over there.".
"Responsible withdrawal is a meaningless phrase," Peters said. "[It] ... is a way of cheating, saying we have to do it responsibly.".
The second goal Wallace discussed was an end to corporate pillaging in Iraq and the giving of reparations to the Iraqi people..
"One of the quotes in the video was, 'We broke it, we bought it,'" Wallace said. "It's true that we broke it, but we need to get out of there and give the Iraqi people control of their government and their land."
The third goal Wallace talked about was better care for veterans, including mental health..
"We don't recognize our troops as much as we need to," Wallace said.
"What [Iraq Veterans Against the War] is hoping to do is to build a community of veterans to take care of each other. We realize that the government is not going to do it, but we can do it for ourselves."