Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Peace activist and blogger Clare Hanrahan had an interesting report about a panel discussion that included Jimmy Massey and Jason Hurd, Iraq war veterans who have just launched an Ashvegas chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Here are a few tidbits that caught our attention:
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.”
And this:
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 sergeant 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.”
Here’s Clare’s full blog entry on the topic.
