Overview

How does a young person who volunteers to serve in the U.S. military become a war-resister who risks ostracism, humiliation, and prison rather than fight? Although it is not well publicized, the long tradition of refusing to fight in unjust wars continues today within the American military. In this book, resisters describe in their own words the process they went through, from raw recruits to brave refusers. They speak about the brutality and appalling violence of war; the constant dehumanizing of the enemy-and of our own soldiers-that begins in Basic Training; the demands that they ignore their own consciences and simply follow orders. They describe how their ideas about the justification for the current wars changed and how they came to oppose the policies and practices of the U.S. empire, and even war itself. Some of the refusers in this book served one or more tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and returned with serious problems resulting from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Others heard such disturbing stories of violence from returning vets that they vowed not to go themselves. Still others were mistreated in one way or another and decided they'd had enough. Every one of them had the courage to say a resounding ""NO!"" The stories in this book provide an intimate, honest look at the personal transformation of each of these young people and at the same time constitute a powerful argument against militarization and endless war. Also featured are exclusive interviews with Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg. Chomsky looks at the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the potential of GI resistance to play a role in bringing the troops home. Ellsberg relates his own act of resistance in leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to the current WikiLeaks revelations of U.S. military secrets.

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9781604864403

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Reviews

This book is a collection of interviews about resisting militarism and empire. They are organized into five sections on the refusal to go back to the military, rejecting military culture, thinking independently in military and how the military suppresses it, and resisting flagrant abuse. Book News Reference &Research (January 2013)

During this time of war it is vital that every American take a moment to listen to the firsthand accounts of those who have served on the front lines and those who refuse to fight. -- Aaron Glantz, author, The War Comes Home

Author Information

Buff Whitman-Bradley is an author, an editor, and a social justice activist in the Courage to Resist organizing collective. He lives in Marin, California. Sarah Lazare is an independent journalist, an editor, and an organizer in the U.S. antiwar and GI resistance movement through the Civilian-Soldier Alliance and Courage to Resist. She lives in Urbana, Illinois. Cynthia Whitman-Bradley is a birth doula and an activist through Courage to Resist and ¡Presente! She lives in Marin, California.

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