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Welcome
to the Rogue Valley Chapter of Veterans for Peace!
Welcome to our website. Please take time to check out our content. If you have questions please
contact our website editor, Jim Woods.
Comments or suggestions are welcome.
Our collective experience tells
us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the
innocent. As veterans, we draw on our personal experiences and
perspectives to raise public awareness of the true costs and consequences of
militarism and war - and to seek peaceful, effective alternatives.
We are a non-partisan, non-profit
501 (c) 3 educational organization.
The Rogue Valley Chapter was
formed in 2008 and covers Jackson and Josephine Counties in Oregon. The national
Veterans for Peace organization was formed in 1985 and maintains offices in
St. Louis, Missouri.
We hold regular monthly meetings
in members' homes in the Rogue Valley. For more information about our
meetings please contact our president, Daniel
Guy, or call him at 541-772-8372. We generally meet on the first
Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM.
We participate in local peace
stands in public places, hold rallies, and march in the Boatnik and Ashland 4th
of July parades. Our members have served our country in all branches of
the military. We regularly join forces with other peace and social justice
groups.
Our links
page has information on many organizations with similar goals and
objectives.
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Veterans
for Peace, Rogue Valley Chapter 156, monthly meeting, Wednesday, June 6th
Our next chapter meeting will be held at
6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6th but the meeting location needs to be
determined. Please check back for more up to date information.
At the
April meeting we agreed to once again enter the Boatnik Parade in Grants Pass
on May 26th. Ruth Dailey will be coordinating our efforts for this
parade. Ruth will go over some great ideas at the May meeting which you
will not want to miss.
Andrew
Bacevich to speak at SOU on May 17th
All
VFP 156 members are urged to attend the lecture of Professor Andrew Bacevich
at 7 pm Thursday, May 17th, in the Music Recital Hall, Southern Oregon
University, Ashland. Bacevich was a
recent guest of the Moyers & Co. PBS TV program.
The program can be viewed on-line at http://billmoyers.com.
Bacevich graduated in 1969 from West Point and served in Vietnam. He
achieved the rank of Colonel before retiring. He currently is a
professor at Boston University and finds time to write. Check out Andrew
Bacevich on the Internet.
Most
discussion about the "costs of war" focuses on two numbers:
dollars spent and American troops who gave their lives. A decade into the
war on terror, those official costs are over a trillion dollars and more
than 6,000 dead. But as overwhelming as those numbers are, they don't tell
the full story.
In
one of the most comprehensive studies available, researchers in the
Eisenhower Study Group at Brown University's Watson Institute for
International Studies looked at the human, economic, social and political
costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as our military actions
in Pakistan. Their complete findings are available at costofwar.org. The
numbers below are all from their report, which is dated June 2011. When
the study sites both conservative and moderate estimates, we've chosen the
conservative numbers. It is difficult to find more recent tallies for most
of these numbers, but up-to-date totals of U.S. military deaths, along
with photos and biographical information, can be found in The Washington
Post's Faces
of the Fallen collection.
The
Dead
6051 U.S. service members
2,300 U.S. contractors
9,922 Iraqi security forces
8,756 Afghan security forces
3,520 Pakistani security forces
1,192 Other allied troops
11,700 Afghan civilians
125,000 Iraqi civilians
35,600 Pakistanis (civilians and insurgents)
10,000 Afghan insurgents
10,000 Members of Saddam Hussein's army
168 Journalists
266 Humanitarian workers
Total:
224,475 lives lost
The
Wounded
99,065
U.S. soldiers
51,031 U.S. contractors
29,766 Iraq security forces
26,268 Afghan security forces
12,332 Other allied troops
17,544 Afghan civilians
109,558 Iraqi civilians
19,819 Pakistani civilians
Total:
365,383 wounded
The
Displaced
3,315,000
Afghan civilians
3,500,000 Iraqi civilians
1,000,000 Pakistani civilians
Total:
7,815,000 refugees and internally displaced people
Costs
to the American Taxpayer
$1.3
trillion in Congressional War Appropriations to the Pentagon — the
official budget for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
$3.7-4.4
trillion estimated total costs to American taxpayers. This includes the
official Pentagon budget (above), veterans' medical and disability costs,
homeland security expenses, war-related international aid and the
Pentagon's projected expenditures to 2020.
$1
trillion more in interest payments through 2020 on money the U.S. borrowed
for war.
Social,
Political and Environmental Cost
Hundreds
of thousands of people have been detained in
the ten years since 9/11; the unjust treatment some endured has led to
mistrust towards the United States across the entire region. Here in the
U.S., Muslims endure racial
profiling, hate crimes
and workplace discrimination.
The
so-called military-industrial
complex has been
bolstered by increased military spending, with hundreds of billions of
dollars going to private companies. One company, Lockheed Martin, received
$29 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2008 alone — more than the
Environmental Protection Agency ($7.5 billion), the Department of Labor
($11.4 billion) or the Department of Transportation ($15.5 billion).
War-related pollution has
affected the health of Iraqis — a study showed significantly
higher rates of cancer and infant mortality in Iraq than
in neighboring countries. Depleted uranium used in ammunition is thought
to be a culprit. Toxic dust on military bases has contributed to a 251
percent increase in rate of neurological disorders, 47 percent increase in
rate of respiratory problems and 34 percent increase in rates of
cardiovascular disease in military service members since 2001.
Recently received letter from Robert Magarulian
- who found our chapter from our website Greetings,
Thanks for your strong and honest statement! It's rare to see so many
pertinent aspects of this topic covered in one article. I too fully support
the establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East.
However, I also realize that a NWFZ will be put into place only after hell
freezes over. Do you seriously expect the Israeli government to give up its
nuclear weapons? Do you seriously believe the majority of European and
American Jews will agree to this disarmament? Of course not!
"Self-seeking geo-politics" will not change with your well-reasoned
statement. And taking action by calling "Obomber" or your
corporate-sponsored representatives is, at best, lame.
As a drafted Vietnam-era veteran, I am absolutely sick and tired of corporate
wars for profit, the dumbing-down of the American people, and the
politically-correct favoritism shown toward the three war-mongering religions.
This upcoming war is being directed by psychopaths within the U.S. and Israeli
governments and within the global corporate media. If the Israeli government
does find an excuse to attack Iran, I will be going on the record to declare
my support for Iran. If the psychopaths in D.C. get the U.S. involved in this
conflict, I will continue my vocal support for Iran, and I will not support
volunteer U.S. troops invading Iran.
What statements will you offer, and what actions will you take, if this war
proceeds as planned?
Peace,
Robert
Invisible
War film wins Audience Award at
Sundance Film Festival
It
is more likely that a woman service member will be raped than killed in
combat. The film, Invisible War,
takes
an in-depth look at the epidemic of military rape and how this crime is
systematically covered up.
Watch
the trailer here:
Free Bradley Manning
It is very important that we all
follow the news now that the Bradley Manning prosecution has started. It
is suggested that you keep in touch with Courage to Resist who is coordinating
efforts to raise money for Bradley's defense expenses. Here is the web
address for Courage to Resist: http://couragetoresist.org/
Also, here are two stories worth
reading:
http://www.truth-out.org/man-tunisia-movement-wall-street-and-soldier-who-ignited-fuse/1324230790
More VFP Convention
information
The most recent
quarterly VFP Newsletter has a lot of interesting information. One of the
events was the art show, "Tenacity of Hope" which was on display in
Lincoln Hall near the registration desk. I confess that I didn't spend a
lot of time looking at the show, organized by member Dan Shea. But I'm
happy to report that local video producer Joe Anybody put together a great
little "Art and Music" slideshow and posted in on YouTube: Here
is the web address: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbdujbvBRLc
The best surprise (at least
for me) was that the music included the new band, "Emma's Revolution"
and the song that they performed at the opening ceremony and again at Thursday
evening's program: "It's not my war!" I understand that this
song is on a new CD that was just released, "Revolutions per
Minute". You must check out the both the slides and the music at the
YouTube address, above.
Jim Woods
Watch Amy Goodman interview S.
Brian Willson Amy Goodman
of Democracy recently interviewed Brian Willson, author of Blood on the
Tracks. Brian was one of the keynote speakers at the August 2011 VFP
National Conference in Portland, Oregon. 
Today we spend the hour with a man
who put his life on the line twice: once when he served in the Vietnam War and
again when he came back. On September 1, 1987, Brian Willson took part in a
nonviolent political action outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station in
California. He sat down on the train tracks along with two other veterans to
try to stop a U.S. government munitions train sending weapons to Central
America during the time of the Contra wars. The train didn’t stop. Willson
suffered 19 broken bones, a fractured skull and lost both of his legs.
"Before, I had spent many months in Nicaragua in the war zones, and I had
been to El Salvador talking to guerrillas and talking to human rights workers,
understanding the incredible extent of murders that were going on and maimings
and displacements, because of fear of being murdered," Willson said. He
decided, "I have to at least escalate my own nonviolent occupation, if
you will, of the tracks." In retrospect, Willson added, "I regret
that I lost my legs, but I don’t regret that I was there. I did what I said
I was going to do... Following orders, I discovered, is not what I’m
about." Today, he is traveling the country visiting solidarity protests
with Occupy Wall Street, where some of his fellow protesters are also
veterans. He’s also been talking about his new memoir, "Blood on the
Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson." On the West Coast, he
completed much of the tour on his handcycle. [includes rush transcript]
S.
Brian Willson, Vietnam veteran whose
wartime experiences transformed him into a pacifist and an activist. On
September 1, 1987, he was nearly killed by a U.S. Navy munitions train while
engaging in a nonviolent blockade in protest of weapons shipments to El
Salvador. He now uses two prosthetic legs and a three-wheeled handcycle to
"walk." His new memoir is called Blood on the Tracks: The Life and
Times of S. Brian Willson.
To watch this interview click on the
following website: About 42 minutes.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/28/blood_on_the_tracks_brian_willsons
Jim Woods, Web Editor
Veterans For Peace (VFP)
includes men and women veterans of all branches of service, eras, conflicts and duty stations. We are an official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) represented at the UN. Our collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving and old-fashioned diplomatic negotiation are necessary. As veterans, we draw on our personal experiences and perspectives to raise public awareness of the true costs and consequences of militarism and war - and to seek peaceful, effective alternatives.
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© 2011 Pat Humphries, Moving Forward Music, BMI
"My father joined the Army when he was 15. His mother had died when he was
a child and he signed up for the same reasons most young people do: to get an
education, find a job, to do something that would make his family proud. US wars
have always been waged on and fought by the poorest people in the world. I’ve
never seen a recruiting billboard in a rich neighborhood. This is for the
resisters. ivaw.org. veteransforpeace.org"
I will not fight
I will not take orders
My life is short and getting shorter
This is not my land
I don’t belong here
This is not my war
This is not my war
When I was young I would play the hero
My chance for real, next to zero
I grew up poor and I grew up empty
Recruiters came and tried to tempt me
They promised cars and they promised money
They showed my future bright and sunny
Though it sounded good, I did not believe them
I had a friend and they deceived him.
My buddy, Juan joined the army
He was convinced he would help his family
He tried his best to buy the story
But bloody lies betrayed the glory
Juan wrote to me from a bar in Baghdad
He helped me see the power that I had
There is no war without the warrior
Just silent tanks, guns and mortars
Juan came home to the dock at Dover
We laid him down in Kentucky clover
With his son and his wife beside me
I read his words. May they always guide me.
Note: If you liked the lyrics
to Not My War, you can go to the following website and read the lyrics to the
other songs on Emma's Revolution new CD "Revolutions per
Minute". http://emmasrevolution.com/listen/album/revolutions-per-minute/occupy-usa/
Watch and listen to Liam Clancy
singing "And the band
played Waltzing Matilda"
Take a minute to hear
Liam Clancy's touching rendition of Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played
Waltzing Matilda," about an Australian soldier in the WW1 butchery
known as Gallipoli, says about all that needs to be said about Armistice
Day. Ponder. Pass along. Just click on this website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg&feature=player_embedded
Rogue
Valley Chapter - Veterans For Peace Statement of Purpose
Having dutifully served our nation, we hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others:
(a) Toward increasing public awareness of all costs of war;
(b) To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations;
(c) To end the arms race, and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons;
(d) To seek justice for veterans and victims of war;
(e) To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace. We urge all people who share this vision to join us.
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Recently
discovered quotes
Congress
is not preparing to defend the people of the United States. It is planning
to protect the capital of American speculators and investors....
Incidentally this preparation will benefit the manufacturers of munitions
and war machines.... Strike against war, for without you no battles can be
fought! Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other
tools of murder! Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to
millions of human beings! Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of
destruction! Be heroes in an army of construction!
—
Helen
Keller at Carnegie Hall January 5, 1916
During the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King called our
government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” True
then—and even more so today.
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans
and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"
—
Mohandas Gandhi, from Non-violence in Peace and War.
"Dissent
is the highest form of patriotism." — Howard Zinn.
"We must not conceal from ourselves that no improvement in the present situation is possible without a severe struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined to do something is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm and the misguided." —
Albert Einstein, 1934
"Violence causes trauma and unhealed trauma causes more violence." —
Elaine Zook Barge
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a
revolutionary act.” — George Orwell
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We
know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know
about living. —
Omar N. Bradley
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
—
Mohandas Gandhi
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
—
Omar N. Bradley
I can promise you that
women working together - linked, informed and educated - can bring peace and
prosperity to this forsaken planet. —
Isabel Allende
Wars can be prevented just
as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them, must share
the guilt for the dead. —
Omar N. Bradley
I think it's naive to pray
for world peace if we're not going to change the form in which we live.
—
Godfrey Reggio
I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
government had better get out of their way and let them have it. —
Dwight D. Eisenhower
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we
belong to each other. —
Mother Teresa
It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it.
And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. —
Eleanor Roosevelt
Nonviolence is the first
article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. —
Mohandas Gandhi
Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin. —
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be
attained through understanding.
—
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years
in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials
and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never
abandoned. —
Dag Hammarskjold
You don't have to have fought in a war to love peace. —
Geraldine Ferraro
Other quotes can be found on our More
Quotes Page.
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Report on Associate Members
issues from National VFP
To read a committee report from National
VFP on Associate Members CLICK
HERE.
Sources
of news on the internet
(E-newsletters)
Note: This is a
new section on our website and it's our hope to expand this list as we
become aware of new websites with information that we feel have important
things to say. Also, you may want to review the groups listed on our
Links Page. Many of them publish newsletters. If you would like
to add to this list please contact
us.
Truthout
. This organization publishes a daily e-mail newsletter. I recommend
that you subscribe to their newsletter and decide for yourself if this
information is worth reading. For
more information go to http://www.truth-out.org/about
 .
A great source of news. Get more
information on: http://www.nationofchange.org
Check this one out too. DemocracyIsForPeople.org
or go to https://secure.citizen.org/t/10694/signUp.jsp?key=5059
to sign up.
About World Can't Wait
World Can't Wait is a national
movement formed to halt and reverse the terrible program of war,
repression and theocracy that was initiated by the Bush / Cheney
regime and the ongoing crimes that continue
to this day. Founded in 2005, the original mission of The
World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime was to "create a
political situation where the Bush administration's program is
repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where
the whole direction he has been taking U.S. society is
reversed." Go to: http://www.worldcantwait.net/
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The Military as a Jobs
Program: There Are
More Efficient Ways to Stimulate an Economy
Ellen Brown, Truthout: "The military is the nation's largest and most
firmly entrenched entitlement program, one that takes half of every tax dollar.
Even if 'national security' is considered our No. 1 priority (a dubious choice
when the real unemployment rate is over 16 percent), estimates are that the
military budget could be cut in half or more and we would still have the most
powerful military machine in the world. Our enemies (if any) are now
'terrorists,' not countries; and what is needed to contain them (if anything) is
local policing, not global warfare..... The military is not subject to ordinary
market principles, but works on a 'cost-plus' basis, with producers reimbursed
for whatever they have spent plus a guaranteed profit.
Read this article, click here: http://www.truth-out.org/military-jobs-program-there-are-more-efficient-ways-stimulate-economy/1308752213
This thread I weave
This step I dance
This stone I carve
This ball I bounce
This nail I drive
This pearl I string
This flag I wave
This note I sing....
This pot I shape
This fire I light
This fence I leap
This bone I knit
This seed I nurse
This rift I mend
This child I raise
This earth I tend
This check I write
This march I join
This faith I state
This
truth I sign
this is small part,
in one small place,
of one heart's beat
for one great Peace.
For One Great Peace was written by Shirley Erena Murry with music
by Jim Strathdee.
Contact
our Officers President
Daniel Guy
Vice-President
Jim Woods
Secretary
Loree Arthur
Treasurer
JD Dixon
Correspondence
Secretary
Linda Smith
Video
with song on youtube "War/No More Trouble"
Check this website for this great song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgWFxFg7-GU
This and other songs are part of a group called "Playing the
change". Google this group's name and check out what they have.
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Chapter 156
