The Art of War?

A persistent group of anti-war Quakers have been promoting truth in recruiting and helping soldiers and sailors make informed decisions about their military obligations and options since 1969. Chuck Fager, director of Quaker House, and a counselor with the GI Rights Hotline, spoke in Asheville Friday evening on a panel which included Iraq veterans Jimmy Massey and Jason Hurd, founders of the newly launched Asheville Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Both Hurd and Massey are outspoken critics of the war and have often stood in Asheville with the local Veterans for Peace group in the Tuesday vigils at Vance Monument. Fager, who described himself as "an Air Force brat raised on military bases," said the GI Rights Hotline received 8,100 calls this year, and he expects the number could reach 10,000 by years end. Quaker House is close to Fort Bragg, a town that has suffered the loss of many soldiers throughout the course of the war. "The military's weakest point is recruitment and retention," he said, and they are coming to Buncombe County to recruit. "They're on your turf, that is your strength," he advised.

"It is largely a mistake to focus on Washington, D.C. where we don't have the equipment or the leverage needed to be a player," Fager said. "Resistance at home is a lot easier to organize."He urged the twenty-five gathered in the North Asheville library to "think like a warrior and redirect your energy in a more strategic way." The peace movement, he said, has a lot to learn from the military.

Jimmy Massey said that the ancient text by Sun Tzu on The Art of War was required reading for all Privates in the military. "Do your homework," he said.

Massey's memoir Kill! Kill! Kill! has been widely published throughout the world, though not in the United States ("Its because I tell the truth," he explained). The Waynesville native worked as a Marine recruiter in Buncombe for three years. He provided some practical suggestions for activists who want to do counter-recruitment work, but spoke primarily of his time as a Marine Staff Sargent in Iraq, describing several circumstances where he participated in missions resulting in numerous civilian causalities.

"I am beyond certain that we Marines were violating International Law and the Geneva Conventions," he said. "Bush says we went to Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. But we are using a weapon of mass destruction on Iraq...Depleted Uranium--
my generation's Agent Orange."

Jason Hurd, a graduate in Philosophy from East Tennessee State University, who served ten years in the U.S. Army after enlisting at age 17, said that the Iraq Veterans Against the War want to re-energize the peace movement in Western North Carolina. "We are about direct action." Iraq veterans have most influence on the military and its support for this war, he said. "IVAW of Asheville will organize events to help shut down the recruiting offices. ...We support war resisters."

Fager participated in an October 27 demonstration in Smithfield, N.C. at Aero Contractors, linked to the CIA's practice of "extraordinary rendition," through operation of the "torture taxi's" that take off from Johnston County Airport. "These two were there," he said, indicating Hurd and Massey. "Where were the rest of you? The group North Carolina Stop Torture Now is attempting to dismantle North Carolina's "Torture Industrial Complex."

During the question and answer session a woman rose to say "My two sons are in the Marines. I'm here out of respect for you Iraq veterans. I wanted to hear what you had to say."
While both her sons have returned from duty in Iraq, she still has a nephew there. "I was on my knees the whole time my sons were away," she said, expressing the heartache of so many military mothers. It was a poignant moment. One of the peace activists in the audience addressed the military mother saying, "I want you to know, if you see me on the street holding a sign against this war, it does not mean I am against the soldiers. I want this war to end and I want them home safely."
"I do too,"the military mother agreed.

The panel was sponsored by WNC Peace Coalition, Buncombe Greens, and Veterans for Peace, Chapter 99.