[R-G] "There's No Way I'm Going to Deploy to Afghanistan"

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46978

U.S.:  "There's No Way I'm Going to Deploy to Afghanistan"
By Dahr Jamail

U.S. Army Specialist Victor Agosto, a veteran of the U.S. occupation  
of Iraq who is refusing deployment to Afghanistan.

Credit:Courtesy of Victor Agosto

MARFA, Texas, May 26 (IPS) - "It’s a matter of what I’m willing to  
live with," Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who is refusing  
orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. "I’m not willing to  
participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong."

Agosto, who returned from a 13-month deployment to Iraq in November  
2007, is based at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

While in Iraq, Agosto never left his base, located in northern Iraq.

"I never had any traumatic experiences, never fired my weapon," Agosto  
told IPS in a phone interview. "I mostly worked in information  
technology, working on computers and keeping the network functioning  
well. But it was in Iraq that I turned against the occupations.  
Through my reading, and watching what was going on, I started to feel  
very guilty."

Agosto added, "What I did there, I know I contributed to death and  
human suffering. It’s hard to quantify how much I caused, but I know I  
contributed to it."

Having served three years and nine months in the U.S. Army, Agosto was  
to complete his contract and be discharged on Aug. 3. But due to his  
excellent record of service and accrued leave, he was to be released  
the end of June. Nevertheless, due to the stop-loss programme, the  
Army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan anyway.

Stop-loss is a programme the military uses to keep soldiers enlisted  
beyond the terms of their contracts. Since Sep. 11, 2001, more than  
140,000 troops have had tours extended by stop-loss.

A copy of his Counseling Form from the Army, dated May 1, reads, "You  
will deploy in support of OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] on or about  
[XXXXX] with 57th ESB. This is a direct order from your Company  
Commander CPT Michael J. Pederson."

Agosto posted copies of the Counseling Statements issued by the Army  
on his Facebook page. Counseling Statements outline actions taken by  
the Army to discipline Agosto for his refusal to obey a direct order  
from his company commander.

On one of them, dated May 1, Agosto’s written statement appears:  
"There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is  
immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It  
has the opposite effect."

In another, dated May 18, he wrote: "I will not obey any orders I deem  
to be immoral or illegal."

On that day, Agosto was ordered to get his medical records in  
preparation to deploy to Afghanistan. He refused to do so. The Army  
threatened to take punitive measures, but Agosto wrote on the  
Counseling Statement, "I am not going to Afghanistan. I will not take  
part in SRP [Sealift Readiness Programme]."

If Agosto continues to refuse orders, he almost assuredly will face  
court martial, and likely jail time.

When IPS asked Agosto if he is willing to take whatever consequences  
the Army is prepared to mete out, he replied, "Yes. I’m fully prepared  
for this. I have concluded that the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are  
not going to be ended by politicians or people at the top. They are  
not responsive to the people, they are responsive to corporate America."

Agosto added, "The only way to make them responsive to the needs of  
the people is if soldiers won’t fight their wars, and if soldiers  
won’t fight their wars, the wars won’t happen. I hope I’m setting an  
example for other soldiers."

Agosto has overtly refused to follow any order that has anything to do  
with his taking an action that would support the occupation of  
Afghanistan. For a time, according to Agosto, he was given simple  
orders to clean the motor pool, or pull weeds.

"They switched that recently," he told IPS, "I’ve continued to be  
fairly defiant, so on Tuesday I have to meet with Trial Defense  
Services, which then begins the process of getting an Article 15,  
which is movement towards being court-martialed, if these reprimands  
continue."

"If I take the Article 15, I’ll take a reduction in rank and pay. I  
don’t’ know what is going to happen. I agreed to sweep the motor pool  
and pull weeds, but nothing else that I feel directly supports the  
war. I’m not going to follow orders I’m not comfortable with."

Agosto’s case is not unique. The group Courage to Resist, based in  
Oakland, California, actively engages in assisting soldiers who refuse  
to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

"Although the efforts of Courage to Resist are primarily focused on  
supporting public GI resisters, the organization also strives to  
provide political, emotional, and material support to all military  
objectors critical of our government's current policies of empire,"  
reads a portion of the group's mission statement.

IPS spoke with Adam Szyper-Seibert, an office manager and counselor  
with Courage to Resist.

"Currently we are actively supporting over 50 military resisters like  
Victor Agosto," Szyper-Seibert told IPS, "They are all over the world,  
including André Shepherd in Germany, and several people in Canada. We  
are getting five to six calls a week just about the IRR [Individual  
Ready Reserve] recall alone."

U.S. Army Specialist André Shepherd, who went AWOL after serving in  
Iraq, has applied for asylum in Germany after refusing military  
service because he is morally opposed to the occupation of Iraq.

The IRR is composed of former military personnel who still have time  
remaining on their enlistment agreements but have returned to civilian  
life. They are eligible to be called up in "states of emergency." The  
Army is currently undertaking the largest IRR recall since 2004,  
despite the recent inauguration of a so-called anti-war president.

Szyper-Seibert said that the number of soldiers contacting Courage to  
Resist has been increasing dramatically in the last year, and  
particularly in recent months.

"The number of soldiers contacting us is increasing," he explained,  
"With five to six IRR’s contacting us a week, plus others going absent  
without leave [AWOL], the numbers are all climbing, as compared to a  
year ago. Since May 2008, we’ve had a 200 percent jump in how many  
soldiers are contacting us."

According to Courage to Resist, there have been at least 15,000 IRR  
call-ups since Sep. 11, 2001, for deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sgt. Travis Bishop, who served 14 months in Baghdad and is also  
stationed at Fort Hood, recently went AWOL when his unit deployed to  
Afghanistan.

Like Agosto, Bishop feels it is immoral for him to deploy to support  
an occupation he morally opposes.

"I love my country, but I believe that this particular war is unjust,  
unconstitutional and a total abuse of our nation’s power and  
influence," Bishop’s blog reads, "And so, in the next few days, I will  
be speaking with my lawyer, and taking actions that will more than  
likely result in my discharge from the military, and possible jail  
time... and I am prepared to live with that."

The reason he made this decision is addressed in his blog.

"My father said, ‘Do only what you can live with, because every  
morning you have to look at your face in the mirror when you shave.  
Ten years from now, you’ll still be shaving the same face.’ If I had  
deployed to Afghanistan, I don’t think I would have been able to look  
into another mirror again."

(END/2009)