On this Memorial Day, we honor all those lost and injured in war — our wounded service members and those killed in action, the dead and injured Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani civilians, and the 18 veterans we lose to suicide every single day. We honor their lives by publicly sharing the human costs of war and by fighting for the right to heal from our military service.
We also remember all those in our larger military community inevitably affected by the violence of eleven years of war. The latest Army data shows that:
- Violent sex crime was up 64 percent from 2006 to 2011
- Domestic violence rose 33 percent from 2006 to 2011.
- Child abuse rose 43 percent in the same time period.
We don’t have these same statistics for Iraqi and Afghan communities.
Acting in defiance of war
Last week, we marched on the NATO Summit with Afghans For Peace. Then nearly 50 of us symbolically returned our medals to the heads of NATO, in defiance of the continuing ‘global war on terror’ that has traumatized us as well as Iraqi and Afghan families, has depleted the resources our government has to use at home, and has enriched the coffers of war profiteers.
On this Memorial Day, we honor all those lost and injured in war — our wounded service members and those killed in action, the dead and injured Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani civilians, and the 18 veterans we lose to suicide every single day. We honor their lives by publicly sharing the human costs of war and by fighting for the right to heal from our military service.
We also remember all those in our larger military community inevitably affected by the violence of eleven years of war. The latest Army data shows that:
- Violent sex crime was up 64 percent from 2006 to 2011
- Domestic violence rose 33 percent from 2006 to 2011.
- Child abuse rose 43 percent in the same time period.
We don’t have these same statistics for Iraqi and Afghan communities.
Acting in defiance of war
Last week, we marched on the NATO Summit with Afghans For Peace. Then nearly 50 of us symbolically returned our medals to the heads of NATO, in defiance of the continuing ‘global war on terror’ that has traumatized us as well as Iraqi and Afghan families, has depleted the resources our government has to use at home, and has enriched the coffers of war profiteers.
Nathan Toth is one of the veterans who participated in that courageous act. Read his personal story and why he turned in his medals.
If you missed it last week, Democracy Now has devoted their entire Memorial Day broadcast to our NATO action.
Our commitment
Even though funding for our work has been more difficult to find over the past year, we’ve experienced an increase in membership. An average of 40 veterans and active duty service members are joining us every month. Our movement is growing, and we are not going away.
We are committed to ending our military’s practice of deploying traumatized troops back into combat and fighting for veterans’ and service members’ right to heal.
We are committed to ending the war in Afghanistan and reducing our government’s bloated military budget.
We are committed to developing ourselves as leaders in our continued struggle for social change, justice and peace.
Thank you for continuing to stand with us.
In Solidarity,
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Afghanistan Veterans Against the War Committee
