In the spirit of the Oleo Strut, Under The Hood is a place for soldiers to gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military. Support services for soldiers include referrals for counseling, legal advice and information on GI rights.

Under The Hood needs your donations and support!

Our community was deeply affected by the November 5th tragedy.

Antonia Juhasz, author of The Tyranny of Oil: the World’s Most Powerful Industry—And What We Must Do To Stop It will speak 3-4:30 p.m., Saturday, December 12, 2009 @ Under the Hood, 17 S. College St., Killeen, Texas. Free

Under The Hood
5-10 p.m., everyday
17 S. College Street
Killeen, Texas
(254) 449-8811

http://www.underthehoodcafe.org/

In the spirit of the Oleo Strut, Under The Hood is a place for soldiers to gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military. Support services for soldiers include referrals for counseling, legal advice and information on GI rights.

NBC Nightly News, Nov. 13, 2009

Featuring Under the Hood Cafe and Outreach Center, Ft. Hood GI’s, and Cynthia Thomas.

Military Stress. (NBC Nightly News, 11/13/09) “Some pretty frightening new numbers are out tonight on the toll that these dual wars are taking on American troops…” View more

Thanks to Under the Hood for this link.  For this and more news from Ft. Hood, see http://www.underthehoodcafe.org/news.html

Please send us your comments using the “Contact” button on our home page. Texas State Employees Union passed a resolution in 2008 that did oppose both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Certainly, it was not unanimous.  Many members do not agree with opposition to the Afghanistan War, and even some signers of the resolution are not so sure about Afghanistan, especially in light of President Obama’s position.

What other union locals in Texas have taken positions against the war(s)?  We need your help to find out!  Let us know using the “Contact” feature on this website.

from the Nov. 2009 Labor Notes, http://www.labornotes.org/print/node/2515:

Labor Anti-War Group Refocuses on Afghanistan

According to US Labor Against the War, the money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan could have paid for a year’s worth of health care for 140 million people—almost every working person in the U.S. The wars have cost each U.S. family $12,750 so far.

Warrior Writers

Veterans Day Veterans Speak
at Under the Hood Cafe
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 4-7 p.m.
GI and Veteran Writing Workshop

8-10 p.m., Open mic and fundraiser

Thursday, Nov. 12, 4-8 p.m., Extended writing workshop

Under the Hood, 17 S. College St., Killeen, TX,  254-449-8811

http://www.underthehoodcafe.org/index.html

VETERAN’S DAY EVENT: THE WAR THAT’S COMING HOME
Wednesday, November 11, 8pm, at Monkey Wrench Bookstore, 110 E. North Loop, Austin, TX, (512) 407-6925, or at http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org/
Come and discuss the effects of military culture on society. We will touch
on issues for returning veterans, the effect that such a large number of
returning veterans has on a society, and the recent shooting at Fort Hood
and more. Hosted by Iraq War Veteran and Iraq Veterans Against the War
Member Bobby Whittenberg and Monkey Wrench Books.

Call to the Third USLAW National Assembly

December 4-6, 2009 – Wyndham O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL

6810 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL 60018

An International Call to Labor for

World Wide Peace with Economic and Social Justice

in a Time of War and Economic Crisis

Featuring:

• Iraqi Oil Worker Union Leaders

• Pakistani Women, Youth & Labor leaders

• Scholars and Policy Experts on Afghanistan

• Antiwar Trade Unionists from Across the US

• Iraq & Afghan War Veterans

We are at a turning point in US History. In 2008 the labor movement had a moment of triumph, playing a critical role in electing Barack Obama and a majority Democratic Congress. In 2009 we find ourselves still in the middle of a devastating economic crisis with wars and militarism standing between working people and the peaceful just world we seek and deserve.

This is a moment of both peril and promise. USLAW is challenged to develop a program and organizing strategy that will expand and deepen the influence and effectiveness of antiwar forces within the labor movement, while continuing to play a leading role within the broader antiwar movement.

This is the context in which USLAW will convene its third National Assembly in Chicago, December 4-6^th.

The Assembly is open to delegates from USLAW affiliates as well as individual associate members. It is the highest decision-making body of USLAW where we debate and adopt resolutions on a range of issues that establish USLAW policy and strategic direction for the next three years. The Assembly will elect the leadership that will guide the organization, and has the authority to make changes in the By-Laws that govern USLAW.

In October 2003 at the historic founding Assembly of USLAW, the delegates adopted a visionary Mission Statement that calls for:

• A just foreign policy
• An end to U.S. occupation of foreign countries,
• Redirecting the nation’s resources from inflated military spending to meeting the needs of working families
• Supporting our troops and their families by bringing the troops home now
• Protecting workers’ rights, civil rights, civil liberties and the rights of immigrants
• Solidarity with workers and their organizations around the world

In the Fall of 2009, the need to organize based on these principles is greater than ever.

IRAQ

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars, more than 4300 US fatalities and an unknown number of Iraqi deaths and personal trauma, the people of Iraq and the US have little to show for it. Violence and economic devastation abound. More than 130,000 US troops and an even greater number of private contractors remain on Iraqi soil. Iraqi workers still have no right to union representation, as the US supported government clings to Saddam’s 1987 anti-union labor law. Global corporations hover over Iraq like vultures waiting for the opportunity to seize control of Iraqi resources

AFGHANISTAN

In Afghanistan, after 8 years of war the US faces another quagmire of death, dollars and destruction, with the added elements of drug lords, massive corruption and untold human dislocation and suffering. This is now President Obama’s war – a war that threatens to undermine both Obama’s and labor’s domestic agenda, much as Vietnam did to LBJ’s.

PAKISTAN

Meanwhile Pakistan, a country with 173 million people ruled by a corrupt regime with a nuclear arsenal, is threatened with dangerous destabilization as the US has turned it into part of a military battlefield in what is now a regional war.

MILITARISM

The giant sucking sound you hear is the US military budget of 2/3 of a trillion dollars that consumes 58 cents of every tax dollar as it drains away precious resources from meeting human needs.

Labor can never have a sustainable full employment economy, healthcare for all, an environmentally responsible energy policy, and humane immigration policy while billions of dollars and countless lives are squandered on unwinnable and unnecessary wars that make us no safer but make a small elite very rich. The Iraq and Afghan wars will distract from and overwhelm any possibility of implementing a progressive agenda.

USLAW has had a powerful effect in the labor movement since its formation in 2003, helping to alter how organized labor views foreign policy. But our mission is far from over. USLAW is the only voice of workers that brings them to the forefront in linking the struggle for a just society to the struggle for a just foreign policy.

U.S. labor needs a larger, more powerful and influential USLAW.

Our challenge is to refocus and re-energize our movement, to more clearly make the connection between the economic crisis, a national economy that operates in service to the military-industrial complex and a militarized foreign policy that puts our country at odds with most of the people of the world. We need to figure out how to make foreign policy a legitimate subject of discussion and an important concern to be addressed by our labor movement – in much the same way concern for the environment and a sustainable economy is now understood to be a legitimate focus for organized labor.

Our task is to expand the vision of the labor movement so that unions serve as more than instruments for reshaping our workplaces. They must become instruments for reshaping our world.

Come to Chicago to help

US Labor Against the War

Chart a Path to Peace with Justice

For registration and hotel reservation information,

Visit www.uslaboragainstwar.org/09Assembly

Saturday, October 17, 3:00 – 6:00 PM
HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE RALLY
Texans will rally on the eighth anniversary of the invasion and occupations of Afghanistan/Iraq to challenge the government to end those wars and focus on national priorities such as healthcare and the economy.  The rally will include speakers, musicians, Iraq veterans, health care professionals, religious leaders, peace activists and families affected by lack of healthcare and the impacts of war.  Confirmed speakers and musicians include: Roscoe Overton, President, Austin Center for Peace and Justice, Dr. Jim Rigby, Pastor, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Charlie Jackson, Founder, Texans for Peace, Medea Benjamin, Co-founder, Code Pink, Joe Carr, John Ramsey and Will T. Massey.  Join with your fellow Texans to help bring an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while standing up for healthcare and jobs for all.
Location: Austin City Hall, Cesar Chavez and Lavaca
Sponsored by Texans for Peace, CodePink-Austin, Austin Center for Peace and Justice, and other peace/social justice groups.  More info: Heidi at 565-2244 or heiditurpin@yahoo.com

Good that the AFL-CIO included “contractors” in the call for withdrawal.  Unfortunately, they dropped the call for “complete and immediate” withdrawal.   (And what about Afghanistan?) –Leslie Cunningham, Texas Labor Against the War, Austin

September 17, 2009

These resolutions were adopted on September 17, 2009, in the final session of the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh.  Numerous USLAW affiliates contributed to this success.  Special thanks go to David Newby, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, and Jos William, President of the Metropolitan Washington DC Labor Council, both of whom served on that committee, to Co-convenors Fred Mason and Nancy Wohlforth, who led the antiwar effort at the convention, to  Tim Paulson, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council, Traven Leyshon, President of the Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Council and Gerry Colby, President of the Champlain Valley Central Labor Council, all of whom spoke from the floor on the resolutions, and Sharon Cornu, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council; and USLAW National Organizer Tom Gogan, who helped coordinate that effort.  Many delegates were also involved in building support for the resolutions and circulating USLAW’s petition to Hillary Clinton in support of labor rights in Iraq.  Leaders of five of Iraq’s labor federations attended the convention to witness this effort.  They were also honored with a luncheon hosted by the United Steel Workers Union.

RESOLUTION 16

End the Silence on Labor Rights in Iraq

Submitted by Alameda Labor Council (Calif.), San Mateo County Central Labor Council (Calif.), Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Council (Vt.) and Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

WHEREAS, after more than six years of military occupation, more than 4,300 U.S.  and as many as a million or more Iraqi lives have been lost and our government has spent nearly $650 billion of taxpayer funds on the military occupation of Iraq, and yet real democracy in Iraq still remains more of an aspiration than reality; and

WHEREAS, one of the fundamental building blocks of a democratic society is the right of workers to join unions of their choice free of government interference, domination, harassment or repression; and

WHEREAS, after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S.  nullified most of the repressive Saddam era legal code, but kept on the books and continued to enforce a 1987 law that Saddam Hussein imposed making it illegal for public-sector and public enterprise employees to join unions or negotiate the terms of their employment; and

WHEREAS, the subsequent Iraqi Interim Governing Authority continued to enforce this undemocratic denial of worker rights, and the newly elected Iraqi government imposed additional restrictions on worker and union rights, including seizure and freezing of union bank accounts and assets; and

WHEREAS, U.S.  and Iraqi forces raided and ransacked union offices and assaulted and detained union leaders, and management of public enterprises, including the oil industry, was directed not to recognize or bargain with unions; and

WHEREAS, a vibrant pluralistic independent labor movement continues to grow in Iraq despite harassment, beatings, kidnappings, detention, torture and even murder of trade union activists; and

WHEREAS, Article 22, Section 3 of the new Iraqi Constitution promises respect for worker rights, foremost freedom of association and calls upon the Iraqi government to enact a law that guarantees the right to form unions; and

WHEREAS, Iraq is also a 1962 signatory to ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize and collectively bargain (which, ironically, the United States has yet to ratify), thereby also imposing a treaty obligation under international law to respect worker rights; and

WHEREAS, the ILO assisted the Iraqi government to draft a basic labor law that conforms to the requirements of the Iraqi constitution and international norms for respect of labor rights and yet the Iraqi government has refused to present that law to the Parliament for adoption; and

WHEREAS, these transgressions of fundamental labor and human rights have taken place for more than six years without a word of criticism from the U.S.  government to Iraqi authorities and it is long past time for the U.S.  government to speak up for the rights of Iraqi workers and unions; and

WHEREAS, respect for and enforcement of labor rights anywhere encourages respect for and enforcement of labor rights everywhere, including in the United States;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO adopt this resolution and urge the U.S.  government to strongly call upon the Iraqi government to live up to the terms of its own constitution and international treaty obligations by:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO shall send a copy of this resolution to the U.S. government through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with an additional copy to the Iraqi government through its embassy in Washington, D.C.; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO urge its state and area labor federations and central labor councils to concur with this resolution and communicate that concurrence to the U.S. government by notice to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Iraqi government through its embassy in Washington, D.C.; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO shall participate in the campaign for labor rights in Iraq by circulating the petition in support of those rights initiated by U.S. Labor Against the War.

RESOLUTION 52

Bring All the Troops and Contractors Home!

Submitted by Alameda Labor Council (Calif.)
Amended by the International Labor Committee

WHEREAS, the 2005 AFL-CIO convention resolved that “Our soldiers…deserve a commitment from our country’s leaders to bring them home rapidly.  An unending military presence will waste lives and resources, undermine our nation’s security and weaken our military;” and

WHEREAS, at the time of that convention, 1,700 U.S.  troops had already lost their lives in Iraq, and today there are more than 4,300 U.S.  dead and more than 30,000 seriously wounded; and

WHEREAS, the nation confronts the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression and as a consequence millions of workers have lost their jobs or suffered cuts in working hours and wages, social programs and government services are being cut or eliminated across the country for lack of resources while our country has spent $650 billion in Iraq already and nearly $900 billion since 2001, including Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, under terms of the Status of Forces Agreement signed by the Bush administration, U.S.  forces will remain in Iraq until the end of
2011, and will continue to engage in combat and suffer casualties as long as they remain in that country; and

WHEREAS, in March 2008, Barack Obama said, “It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future.  As we do, we must serve the memory of all who have died as well as they who served our country, by providing support for their families, caring for our troops and veterans and upholding the American values which our fallen heroes exemplified through their service”; and

WHEREAS, at its 2005 convention, the AFL-CIO called for “rapid” withdrawal from Iraq—and four years later, 130,000 troops and 190,000 contractors are still in Iraq;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Alameda County Labor Council reaffirms its opposition to the continuing military occupation of Iraq and calls for the speedy* withdrawal of all military forces and armed contractors from Iraq; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Alameda County Labor Council calls upon the Congress and president to redirect the resources now squandered in Iraq to meeting the urgent needs of the American people, restoring and fully funding vital social programs and public services, developing sustainable technologies to address global warming, creating quality long-term jobs that provide a decent living, rebuilding the Gulf Coast and our nation’s infrastructure and a host of other needs that will provide our country with real security; and

Alice Embree : The Court Martial of Travis Bishop

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Travis Bishop (right), before his sentencing. With (left) journalist Dahr Jamail and attorney James Branum. Photo by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog.
Anti-war GI Travis Bishop found guilty;
joins Victor Agosto in Bell County jail

I can not say that a year in prison doesn’t scare me. I am terrified… (But) it would be scarier still to know that my fellow soldiers who feel as we feel would never find out what we are trying to accomplish. — Travis Bishop

By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / August 16, 2009

See ‘Protesters support Bishop and Agosto’ by Alice Embree, Below.

In the second court martial in two weeks, another Fort Hood soldier was sentenced on August 14th for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Sgt. Travis Bishop was brought before special court martial proceedings, found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison. His rank and pay were reduced. He is expected to be held in the Bell County Correctional Unit before serving his sentence in a military jail. His discharge status will be determined later. Because Sgt. Bishop has a prior honorable discharge, his GI benefits may not be reduced.

Sgt. Bishop faced four charges: willful disobedience of a Non-Commissioned Officer, absence without leave and two counts of missing movement. The charges were more serious than those faced by Spc. Victor Agosto on August 5th. Agosto’s case was resolved in a summary court martial and he is serving a one month sentence in the Bell County Correctional Unit.

The courtroom resembled a civil courtroom with the judge in black robes. An Army defense attorney was seated with Bishop and his civilian defense attorney, James Branum. The panel, however, was hardly a peer panel. The jury seats were filled by eight Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors who had to be warned once not to fall asleep while the Judge read instructions.

A Fort Hood Public Affairs representative told Bishop supporters during a recess that Bishop was being tried in the same courtroom where Army Staff Sgt. Shane Werst had faced a court martial for shooting an unarmed Iraqi citizen. “Five privates turned a dime on him,” he said. Despite testimony that soldiers were ordered to plant a gun on the Iraqi citizen to make the death appear to be self defense, Werst was acquitted May 26, 2005. Bishop’s sentence for not deploying is a sobering contrast.

Bishop’s court martial began on Thursday and Bishop’s defense attorney and supporters had expected the arraignment, designation of a jury panel and testimony of one witness to be brief. Instead, the trial began in earnest and lasted five hours. At one point on Thursday, supporter Cynthia Thomas was asked by a Killeen police officer and an Army MP to leave the courtroom and explain her relationship with the defendant. Thomas asked if she were being detained and to speak to her attorney. She was not stopped from returning to the courtroom.

The prosecution brought Captain Chrisopher Hall in to testify that the absence of Travis Bishop from his unit had caused hardship to his unit. The defense presented four witnesses who testified to Travis Bishop’s sincerity of beliefs. Bishop filed a request for Conscientious Objector status in late May and the request is still pending.

Charles Luther, a defense witness with a background as a lay Baptist minister, spoke of Bishop’s religious beliefs. The defense attorney established that psychiatrist, Lt. Col. Adams, to whom Bishop had been referred, approved Bishop’s Conscientious Objector claim and that it was one of only two claims in his ten years that Adams had approved.

In a surprise moment at the end of testimony, the Prosecution decided to call Lt. Colonel Ronald Leininger to the stand. Leininger was the Brigade Chaplain to whom Bishop was referred for pastoral counseling. Bishop has described his deep disappointment in speaking to someone he thought would be attentive to his religious beliefs. Bishop said the Chaplain reduced his interview time and interrupted the interview repeatedly by receiving phone calls.

In the statement issued by the Chaplain after his visit with Bishop, he focused almost no attention on Bishop’s religious beliefs. Instead, he wrote that Bishop had been coached by Iraq Veterans Against the War and other antiwar activists. He went further to say that the affiliation that best described Bishop’s religious heritage was “Conservative Evangelicals” who the Captain said are “generally pro-military service with no pacifist tendencies in doctrine or practice. In fact, they make good soldiers.”

Bishop has received letters of support from a number of pastors who cite their church’s doctrine and practice supporting conscientious objection to war.

The court was recessed as the panel considered the verdict for about one hour. They found Sgt. Bishop guilty. In the sentencing phase, the civilian defense attorney, James Branum, asked for a three months sentence in light of Sgt. Bishop’s sincerity and previous good conduct, including a fourteen month deployment in Iraq. In particular, Branum focused on the fact that soldiers are never given information about their rights to Conscientious Objection. Branum said that a soldier who changes his or her belief about war doesn’t understand that there are options.

Maj. Matthew McDonald, who served as the judge, discounted the relevancy of whether Bishop was notified about his right to file for CO status. McDonald was quoted in the Killeen Daily Herald (8/14/09) as saying: “If every soldier in the Army who disobeyed an order could claim it was because they weren’t notified of conscientious objector status, we probably wouldn’t have a military any more.”

Prior to sentencing, Bishop’s testimony was forceful and moving. He cited several articles that protect a soldiers rights and noted that soldiers often are not informed of their rights, but that doesn’t relieve the Army of its responsibility to honor those rights. Bishop said that the right to pursue a claim of Conscientious Objection requires protection. He said that he was unaware that he could pursue a claim of Conscientious Objection until right before his deployment.

“The truth is, as soon as I discovered this process [C.O.] existed, I acted upon it. I left because I did not feel that I would have a sympathetic, understanding command structure to fully take my problems to, and also to give myself time to prepare for my C.O. application process, and the legal battle I’m currently fighting. These are not excuses. These are explanations. My hope is that you truly treat them as such during your sentencing deliberations.”

After being sentenced to the maximum jail term allowable under a Special Court Martial, Bishop had time to handwrite a note:

“To everyone who still cares: I can not say that a year in prison doesn’t scare me. I am terrified… But still, though I am terrified, it would be scarier still to know that my fellow soldiers who feel as we feel would never find out what we are trying to accomplish… Everyone who hears or reads this should know that I love you all, and my life is forever changed because of you. Victor and myself are starting something and it is now up to all of you to continue on. With all my heart. Travis.”

As Bishop was escorted from the Justice Center to a waiting van, supporters who were active duty soldiers or veterans stood at attention and saluted. Hands cuffed together, Bishop flashed a peace sign in return.

Demonstrators outside the Bell County Correctional Unit where Victor Agosto and Travis Bishop are being held. Photo by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog.

Protesters support Bishop and Agosto

Protesters gathered Saturday, August 15th, in support of two Afghanistan war resisters held in the Bell County Correctional Unit. Under a blazing Texas sun, protesters held signs and chanted.

Victor Agosto is incarcerated at the Bell County facility after being court martialed August 5th for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. Agosto was sentenced to one month. Travis Bishop will be held in Bell County for about two weeks before his transfer to a military prison. Bishop was court martialed August 14th and received a sentence of one year.

Supporters plan to be present every Saturday while the resisters are in jail at this facility. For more information, go to the Under the Hood Cafe website.

–Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / August 16,2009

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/