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.
