GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

5.1.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4E1:

 

 

America Pukes Up George W. Bush

Anti-war activists march down Broadway, to protest the war in Iraq, in New York April 29, 2006.  The 250,000 marchers demanded an immediate withdrawal of troops.  REUTERS/Chip East

 

 

“They Were Not Mindless War Machines To Be Used As Their Commanders Had Thought”

 

 

2006-04-28 by Felix Vasquez Jr., Filmthreat.com

 

To some viewers, “Sir! No Sir!” will come off as a surefire liberal manifesto, but to those who really know what we’re talking about, “Sir! No Sir!” is a documentation of a group of soldiers who served their country, but then decided they just couldn’t do it anymore because it was unjust, so they stood up for their rights and decided they would fight no longer, and were crucified at the stake.

 

Along with it came a domino effect of more and more protestors, gathering of activist organizations, and incidents that would further test their wills. 

 

But they stood up for their beliefs, and in that process, they became real heroes that chose not to kill.  And yes, there are the ever present parallels to the Iraq war.

 

The government lied to America to enter in to Vietnam and pointed success towards the body count of the Vietnamese they’d slaughtered days before, much as what has happened today.

 

Though “Sir! No Sir!” would possibly choose not to be put in to correlation with the Iraq war the obvious analogous allusions are there.

 

After the Tet offensive in 1968, and the utterly brutal incident known as the My Lai Massacre, many of the soldiers serving for their country realized that this was not a war, yet a goal put upon by the government simply for their own means, and “Sir! No Sir!” presents two parties of soldiers.

 

One party realized this war was a fraud and chose not to fight, while the other could not take the brutality of it all and chose not to fight any longer.  They weren’t soldiers who pulled out of combat, but men asked to be killers, not to mention men, many of whom, hadn’t achieved the civil rights of an organization who felt they weren’t equal in society, but equal enough to die for them.

 

Zeiger’s documentary, along with charismatic narration from actor Troy Garity, is a tight, engrossing and excellent chronicle of the movement made by these heroic men who chose to question authority instead of falling in line.

 

Thomas Jefferson said that the best form of patriotism is dissension, and it’s a safe bet that the men interviewed here are in fact patriots, and true patriots.  

 

They were not mindless war machines to be used as their commanders had thought, and showed that they chose not to murder innocent people for the sake of a meaningless conflict.

 

Interviewed here is one of their most ardent and vocal proponents: Jane Fonda.  Oddly though, they never take umbrage to her involvement in the Hanoi Jane incident, and it’s never explored, thankfully, but we do explore how she voiced her support, and how she put on shows for the protestors.

 

But “Sir! No Sir!” is a documentary based not on people who chose to speak out, but on people whom discovered that the cause they supported was in vain.

 

To be disillusioned with your government who you believed would do you good, and to find out they’ve lied to you and asked you to pick up a weapon and kill people you’ve never met, to people who’ve done you no harm is what’s really the heartbreaking aspect of “Sir! No Sir!”

 

All of these soldiers were valiant in their efforts to not fight in a war they felt was a deceitful practice in government fraud, and they succeeded through all the hardships.

 

But the focus later changes to those who fought all the way through and discovered in the end, much too late, that their battle was for nothing.  

 

Because, the worst punishment a man can endure is regret.

 

 

Sir! No Sir!:

Extended Until May 2 At The IFC Center

322 Sixth Avenue At West Third Street,

New York City

 

Advance tickets on sale NOW through the IFC box office

Recording: 212-924-7771

Live box office: 212-924-5246

Online at www.ifccenter.com

 

Check out the trailer at www.sirnosir.com

 

Please contact max@riseup.net or celia@riseup.net for posters, postcards and flyers to help promote this event!

 

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

Hernando County Marine Killed

 

April 29, 2006 By JONATHAN ABEL and ASJYLYN LODER, St. Petersburg Times

 

BROOKSVILLE:  The first time Lea R. Mills came into Christine Kostis' classroom at Hernando High School, Kostis mispronounced his name.

 

"I said Lea, like L-E-A-H," Kostis recalled.  He was used to it. "He said, "It's Lea like pea, P-E-A. Doesn't that make sense?"

 

Four years later, after graduating from high school, after joining the Marine Corps, after marrying his high school sweetheart, after getting promoted to sergeant and being sent to Iraq, Lea is still remembered vividly by teachers at Hernando High.

 

But on Friday, Mills' family learned the 21-year-old had been killed by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Iraq. 

 

He is the first Hernando County man to be killed in the war in Iraq. Michael Schafer of Spring Hill died in Afghanistan in July.

 

Mills, of Masaryktown, joined the Marines after graduation in 2002 and had recently reupped to serve longer. His father, Rob Mills, said Lea asked to go to Iraq and had been there just six weeks when he was killed.

 

"He felt he needed to go and wanted to go, so he volunteered," his father said. "Everybody in the family, on the men's side, has been in the service. We believe we owe it to our country."

 

At the end of August 2004, Mills married Keesha Malicoate, who was two years behind him in school. They were living together in Oceanside, Calif., before Mills' deployment to Iraq.

 

"It wasn't an infatuation love like you see in junior high school," said teacher John Miller, who knew both of them. "They were soul mates."

 

Mills was so close to his best friend, Josh Perdue, that the two went everywhere together, even into the Marines.

 

Perdue was on a helicopter training mission in North Carolina when he heard about his friend's death, said his mother, Pam Perdue. She said her son was devastated. So was she.

 

"I had just talked to his mom," Pam Perdue said. "She (asked Lea), "Do you sleep with one eye open?' He said, "No, with both eyes open.' She could tell by talking to him that he was stressed."

 

Before they enlisted, Mills and Perdue were livening up Miller's American government and economics classes.

 

"They kind of skated, but they loved school. They were the kind of goof-offs you liked," Miller said. "They always participated when we talked about the military."

 

A few years after graduating, Mills came back to Hernando High to give a motivational speech. He told the kids to buckle down and study. If he had it to do over, he said, he would have been valedictorian.

 

Miller said his demeanor had changed. "Lea had something with his voice that would crack like a teenager," Miller remembers. "He came back from the Marines and he had a man's voice."

 

Newlywed Soldier Killed

Newlyweds Metodio and Charmaine Bandonill are pictured in a photo provided by the family.

 

April 28, 2006 By Rosemarie Bernardo, Honolulu Star-Bulletin

 

CHARMAINE BANDONILL was in bed Tuesday morning when military officials arrived at her home in County Tipperary, Ireland, to tell her that her husband, Staff Sgt. Metodio A. Bandonill, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

 

"They said words but I couldn't hear anything," Bandonill's wife said yesterday in a phone interview from Ireland.

 

"We just got married. Just one click and he's gone. It's very hard for me," a tearful Charmaine said. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

 

Bandonill, 29, a highly decorated soldier from Kalihi, was killed Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee while on patrol in Baghdad.

 

He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) assigned to Troop B, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, according to Army officials at Fort Campbell, Ky.

 

Bandonill joined the Army in May 1997 and arrived at Fort Campbell in October 2004. Before that, he spent two years training in Fort Knox, Ky. He also traveled to Korea, Louisiana and Colorado.

 

He and Charmaine married in a civil ceremony in their native Philippines on Jan. 14.  He returned to Iraq the next day.

 

The couple had planned to have a wedding reception in Hawaii after he completed his tour of duty in September.  Charmaine, a hotel supervisor in Ireland, also said they wanted to travel before settling down in Colorado and starting a family.

 

It will never happen now, Charmaine said who hasn't slept since she was informed of her husband's death.

 

The couple met through a Web site in 2003.  A year later, in June 2004, they met face-to-face at Shannon Airport in Ireland.  Charmaine said she was always distrustful of finding romance on the Internet, but that all changed.  "The first time I met him, I knew he was the one," she said.  A month later, Bandonill proposed.

 

Both visited each other often before tying the knot.  They also e-mailed and called each other often.  She described her husband as having a great sense of humor.  "He makes me laugh all the time," she said.

 

The couple last spoke to each other on Sunday when he had three minutes left on his phone card to tell her that he loved and missed her.  "He would tell me, 'you're my fuel, you keep me going.'" said Charmaine, who is expected to arrive in Hawaii tomorrow. Bandonill, the second of five children to Virginia and Virgilio Bandonill, was born and raised on a farm in Sison, Pangasinan.  He helped his parents tend to vegetables and farm animals.

 

Bandonill attended Northern Luzon Adventist College Academy before his family decided to move to Hawaii to seek better opportunities.  He and his mother joined his father in Hawaii in December 1995.  Bandonill's four other siblings arrived later.

 

Virginia Bandonill said he joined the Army for a better future.  He was on his second tour of duty to Iraq.

 

She said he spent a year in Iraq during his first tour and she did not want him to return. "It is very dangerous," she said.

 

Bandonill's mother said she was on her way to work Tuesday morning when military officials arrived at her home to inform her of her son's death.  She said her mind has since been in a "blurred" state.  "I can't believe my son has died," she said as she wiped away tears.  "I'm shocked. I don't know what to do."

 

A framed photo of Bandonill dressed in full military uniform was placed on a small table at his parents' Kalihi home with a bowl of kim-chee saimin in front of it.

 

Bandonill's mother described him as smart and friendly and said she last spoke to her son on Friday when he asked her to send him some spicy Korean saimin, his favorite.

 

Bandonill received many awards during his military career, including the Army Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

 

"I'm very proud of him.  I call him a hero," said his father. "I salute him."

 

Bandonill is also survived by his sister Maria and brothers, Dionisio, Joseph and Domingo.  Funeral arrangements are pending.  A memorial service for Bandonill is also to be held in Iraq.

 

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO LIVES IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU THERE, SO HE WILL LOOK GOOD.

That is not a good enough reason.

U.S. soldier attaches a chain to a concrete barrier blocking the soldier's unit from access to a street in Baghdad, April 19, 2006.  (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

 

Death Toll For Americans In Iraq Is Highest In 5 Months

 

29 April 2006 By Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times

 

Baghdad, Iraq - The military announced the death of one American soldier on Friday, bringing the death toll so far in April to 69, the highest in five months.  The monthly figure disrupted a trend of steadily falling American fatalities that had begun in November.

 

The bulk of American deaths in April occurred in Baghdad and in the insurgent-controlled western province of Anbar, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent group that compiles casualty figures based on information provided by the American military.

 

Deaths in April could still climb, but are not likely to top the 84 American deaths in November.  The April figure is more than double the 31 troops killed in March, one of the lowest monthly tolls of the war, according to the group's statistics.

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Assorted Resistance Action

 

[Thanks to PB, who sent this in.]

 

Apr 29 By Mirwais Afghan, Reuters

 

Taliban insurgents threatened on Saturday to kill a kidnapped Indian telecommunications worker unless Indians left Afghanistan.

 

The Indian and his Afghan driver were kidnapped after gunmen stopped their car on a road in the volatile southern province of Zabul on Friday.

 

"If India does not pull out all its nationals working in Afghanistan by 6 p.m. (1330 GMT) tomorrow, we're going to kill him," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

 

Three policemen were killed in a Taliban attack in the southern province of Helmand, a provincial official said.

 

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

THIS IS WHAT THE TRAITOR BUSH HAS NEVER DONE AND WILL NEVER DO:

THE PRESIDENT OF ITALY HONORS THEIR WAR DEAD

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi touches the flag-draped coffin of Carabiniere Warrant Officer Carlo De Trizio during the arrival of the bodies of three personnel killed in Iraq, at Ciampino airport near Rome April 29, 2006. A roadside bomb killed three Italian soldiers in Iraq on April 27, 2006.  REUTERS/Enrico Oliverio/Pool

 

Rumsfeld Losing It:

Runs Away From Press And Acts Generally Weird On Baghdad Trip

 

April 28, 2006 By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer

 

BAGHDAD, April 27:  A full 10 seconds of silence passed after a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld what the intense secrecy and security surrounding their visit to Iraq signified about the stability of the country three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Rice turned to Rumsfeld to provide the answer. 

 

Rumsfeld glared at the reporter.

 

"I guess I don't think it says anything about it," he snapped.  He went on to say that President Bush had directed him and Rice to go to Iraq to "meet with the new leadership, and it happens that they are located here," a reference to the heavily fortified Green Zone where U.S. officials -- and many Iraqi leaders -- live and work.

 

Even though her arrival here followed an exhausting sprint through Greece and Turkey, Rice appeared energized by the task at hand.

 

Rumsfeld arrived directly from Washington, after a recent Asian tour, but he seemed disengaged and bored, both to reporters traveling with him and to some U.S. officials. Some said he seemed irritated by the whole exercise.  He did not speak a word to reporters with him on the flight to Baghdad.

 

During a joint meeting with reporters traveling with the secretaries, Rumsfeld frequently doodled with a black felt-tip pen or stared absent-mindedly at the ceiling when Rice spoke.  Rice would occasionally cast a nervous glance at Rumsfeld as he prepared to respond to a question.  His answers were terse; hers were expansive.

 

The two secretaries recently had a widely publicized dispute over a comment by Rice that the administration had probably made "thousands" of "tactical errors" in Iraq.  Aides later said she had meant it figuratively, but it generated headlines around the world.  In a radio interview, Rumsfeld dismissed it as a comment made by someone who didn't understand warfare.

 

Asked about the flap here in Baghdad, Rumsfeld replied, "I wasn't aware of what she meant." (The transcript shows that the radio interviewer described her remarks carefully and placed them in context.)  Rumsfeld made no effort to smooth over the issue but pointed to Rice and said, "She's right here, and you can ask her." 

 

Rice noted that her comment about tactical errors had been made "not in the military sense."

 

Rice courted the news media, racing through five television interviews in 17 minutes.

 

Rumsfeld gave no separate interviews.  At one point, he arrived early for a meeting and saw an array of television cameras inside the room.  He shook his head at the reporters and turned on his heel.

 

Before the two Cabinet members left Baghdad on Thursday, Rice dismissed any suggestions of tension.  "Secretary Rumsfeld and I have an excellent relationship," she told Fox News.  "We're working very hard together.”

 

“We’re actually having a great time here in Iraq."  [And if there is any justice in the world, next trip you’ll get to meet an IED up close and personal.  Those are always such fun.  Be sure to bring Donny Dickhead with you.]

 

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

 

 

“How Does This Dusky Dare To Touch The White Masters’ Toys?”

 

April 30, 2006 By Israel Shamir [Excerpt]

 

The European and American reaction to Iran’s nuclear program was that of Uncle Tom’s slaveowner, Simon Legree, on learning of an escaped slave.  How does this dusky dare to touch the white masters’ toys?

 

Their empty talk of an “Iranian threat” is designed for the ignorant: Iran has never, ever attacked a European nation since the wars for Anatolia in the 5th century BC; whereas European imperialists have repeatedly occupied and controlled Iran, most recently in 1942, or by proxy in 1953, when they deposed democratically-elected Mosaddeq and returned to dominate this ancient nation.