C. Flower
06-04-2010, 12:54 PM
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/afgh-a06.shtml
A British soldier has been jailed for refusing to participate in the military occupation of Afghanistan and for his involvement in anti-war protests.
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, 27, joined the Army in 2004 and served with the Royal Logistic Corps in Afghanistan. Having returned to the UK, just nine months after his previous tour Glenton was ordered to redeploy to Afghanistan. Instead, he absconded on June 11, 2007, and went to south-east Asia and Australia.
Glenton handed himself in to UK military authorities on June 16, 2009, when he was charged.
On October 24, Glenton addressed a Stop the War Coalition rally of around 5,000 anti-war protesters in London’s Trafalgar Square, where he questioned the military’s role in Afghanistan and spoke of his inability to continue to follow orders.
“I’m here today to make a stand beside you because I believe great wrongs have been perpetrated in Afghanistan,” he said. “I cannot, in good conscience, be part of them. I’m bound by law and moral duty to try and stop them....”
“I’m a soldier and I belong to the profession of arms. I expected to go to war but I also expected that the need to defend this country’s interests would be legal and justifiable. I don’t think this is too much to ask.
“It’s now apparent that the conflict is neither of these, and that’s why I must make this stand. The occupation in Afghanistan is at best dubious in terms of legality and morality. I can’t be involved in it on that basis and, not only that, I am also bound to try and stop it, try and change things. That’s the law, the occupation of a country like that, regime change, these things are all illegal.”
Glenton said military personnel had warned him not to appear at the rally, but that despite the threat of prison, he was determined to speak out. Already facing charges of desertion and a court martial, Glenton was arrested and charged with five further offences for his involvement in the anti-war demonstration.
There were reports on Sunday that US Special Forces has tried to conceal the killings of a group of women by digging the bullets out their bodies.
A NATO military statement issued Sunday admitted that US Special Forces commandos carried out the execution-style killings of three women and two men in a February 12 night raid in southeastern Afghanistan. Among the dead women were two pregnant mothers, with 16 children between them. The third was a teenage girl. For weeks the US-led NATO officials had denied killing the women.
After the killings US Special Forces dug their bullets out of the dead women’s bodies and treated the holes with alcohol to erase forensic evidence, an Afghanistan government investigation has reportedly determined. A United Nations official confirmed that the Afghan investigation found evidence US soldiers had tampered with the crime scene. These reports are substantiated by family members and local authorities, who say US soldiers blocked access for seven hours to the home in Gardez, the regional capital of eastern Paktia province, while they attempted to cover up the crime.
The idea of a sanitised war that is put out in much of the news coverage of the Afghanistan occupation is far from the reality of any war. The longer they stay the worse it seems to get.
This article shows that thousands of British soldiers are leaving the army each year, with the Iraqi and Afghanistan tours of duty being the reason.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/afgh-a06.shtml
A British soldier has been jailed for refusing to participate in the military occupation of Afghanistan and for his involvement in anti-war protests.
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, 27, joined the Army in 2004 and served with the Royal Logistic Corps in Afghanistan. Having returned to the UK, just nine months after his previous tour Glenton was ordered to redeploy to Afghanistan. Instead, he absconded on June 11, 2007, and went to south-east Asia and Australia.
Glenton handed himself in to UK military authorities on June 16, 2009, when he was charged.
On October 24, Glenton addressed a Stop the War Coalition rally of around 5,000 anti-war protesters in London’s Trafalgar Square, where he questioned the military’s role in Afghanistan and spoke of his inability to continue to follow orders.
“I’m here today to make a stand beside you because I believe great wrongs have been perpetrated in Afghanistan,” he said. “I cannot, in good conscience, be part of them. I’m bound by law and moral duty to try and stop them....”
“I’m a soldier and I belong to the profession of arms. I expected to go to war but I also expected that the need to defend this country’s interests would be legal and justifiable. I don’t think this is too much to ask.
“It’s now apparent that the conflict is neither of these, and that’s why I must make this stand. The occupation in Afghanistan is at best dubious in terms of legality and morality. I can’t be involved in it on that basis and, not only that, I am also bound to try and stop it, try and change things. That’s the law, the occupation of a country like that, regime change, these things are all illegal.”
Glenton said military personnel had warned him not to appear at the rally, but that despite the threat of prison, he was determined to speak out. Already facing charges of desertion and a court martial, Glenton was arrested and charged with five further offences for his involvement in the anti-war demonstration.
There were reports on Sunday that US Special Forces has tried to conceal the killings of a group of women by digging the bullets out their bodies.
A NATO military statement issued Sunday admitted that US Special Forces commandos carried out the execution-style killings of three women and two men in a February 12 night raid in southeastern Afghanistan. Among the dead women were two pregnant mothers, with 16 children between them. The third was a teenage girl. For weeks the US-led NATO officials had denied killing the women.
After the killings US Special Forces dug their bullets out of the dead women’s bodies and treated the holes with alcohol to erase forensic evidence, an Afghanistan government investigation has reportedly determined. A United Nations official confirmed that the Afghan investigation found evidence US soldiers had tampered with the crime scene. These reports are substantiated by family members and local authorities, who say US soldiers blocked access for seven hours to the home in Gardez, the regional capital of eastern Paktia province, while they attempted to cover up the crime.
The idea of a sanitised war that is put out in much of the news coverage of the Afghanistan occupation is far from the reality of any war. The longer they stay the worse it seems to get.
This article shows that thousands of British soldiers are leaving the army each year, with the Iraqi and Afghanistan tours of duty being the reason.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/afgh-a06.shtml