Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

Articles Archive
Hits: 3360

From Draft NOtices, October-December 2013

— Kathy Gilberd
 
    

On August 21, Private Chelsea* Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison and a Dishonorable Discharge, after one of the longest and most significant courts-martial in U.S. military history. She was originally charged with aiding the enemy, for which the prosecution had sought a life sentence, but her attorney, David Coombs, was successful in challenging that charge. Manning was ultimately convicted of violations of the Espionage Act, among other charges, for releasing the Collateral Murder videotape, Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, and embarrassing U.S. diplomatic cables. As the Private Manning Support Network stated, the video, cables and other materials “show a pattern of lacking accountability during the War on Terror, in which civilian deaths go unaccounted for, detainee torture is commonplace and corporations wield enormous influence on U.S. foreign policy.”

Reflecting on her case, Chelsea Manning wrote in a request for pardon to President Obama:

I realized that in our efforts to meet the risk posed to us by the enemy, we have forgotten our humanity. We consciously elected to devalue human life both in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we engaged those that we perceived were the enemy, we sometimes killed innocent civilians. Whenever we killed innocent civilians, instead of accepting responsibility for our conduct, we elected to hide behind the veil of national security and classified information in order to avoid any public accountability.

Articles Archive
Hits: 4688

From Draft NOtices, July-September 2013

— Oskar Castro
    

Once again it is summer blockbuster season. Along with incessant pleas for us to spend hard-earned dollars to see the flick claiming to have the biggest explosions and the most seamless CGI, we are also inundated with advertising tie-in campaigns on screens big and small. This, of course, is nothing new. But what many people are unaware of is that the military has been in on this game of working with Hollywood filmmakers for even longer than the retailers have been playing the game. And, like most things, with age comes experience.

Operating collaboratively since World War II, the military has deftly been working with Hollywood to mold a consciousness of patriotism by slipping propaganda messages into films. The Pentagon assists filmmakers by providing authentic military hardware or personnel to enliven scripts. Therefore, it really should come as no surprise that right-wing director Zack Snyder would embrace the partnership that the U.S. National Guard has forged with Warner Brothers to make the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. His newly produced National Guard recruitment video and all the patriotic hyperbole around it is worthy of closer examination.

While the iconic Superman has long been known as the Boy Scout on steroids — championing truth, justice and the so-called American way — we haven't seen him being used to sell war and recruit people into wars since WWII. Sure, we've seen him in comic books and in animated cartoons where he fills the power void and supports the military when it comes to battling super-powered villains or extra-terrestrials bent on global conquest. But it's been decades since we've seen him used to blatantly sell a pro-military message.

Articles Archive
Hits: 3360

From Draft NOtices, July-September 2013

— Kathy Gilberd
    

The military is once again in crisis over sexual assaults. In recent weeks, it has become more apparent than ever that the military’s sexual assault policy is a failure and that sexual assault in the services has become epidemic.

In early May, the Department of Defense (DoD) released new figures showing a significant increase in reported and unreported assaults. DoD estimates that more than 26,000 servicemembers were assaulted in 2012, with only 3,374 of these cases reported to the military. Just as the figures were released, the Air Force was rocked by news that the head of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program had been arrested for sexual battery. More recently, the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for Ft. Hood was charged with sexual assault and pandering. On May 12, the Washington Post published an article recounting a number of incidents of sexual misconduct and sexual assault of potential recruits by military recruiters. All of this came not long after two separate cases of officers with court-martial convening authority who, against the advice of their own attorneys, granted clemency to officers convicted of sexual assault at courts-martial. Meanwhile, at Lackland Air Force Base, a series of courts-martial of instructors for sexual misconduct or assault with students wound down.

Draft NOtices

Quarterly print newsletter

Subscribe now Learn more

 

Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS

When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:

Find Out More | Download PDF