Photo: IVAW, This is where we take our stand

I approached the Army when I got back from Iraq and I was like hey I need to talk to somebody, I need some help, they said come back in two months." (Michael Kern, Iraq Veterans Hold Candlelight Vigil, NVIC, November 11. 2009)

I helped murder people in Iraq for nothing. These are things I'm not proud of whatsoever, and I want to be able to turn this around and bring the people ultimately responsible for this to justice. Because had I known back then what I know now, I never would have signed up in the first place. (Dupre, Resisting soldiers, the New American heroes, Examiner, June 4, 2009)

As the Army conducts a probe into the Fort Hood shootings, units return to prepare for Afghanistan deployment, the newly released Woody Harrelson film, THE MESSENGER (trailer below) depicts hidden pain of U.S. casualties, and Robert Greewald's RETHINK AFGHANISTAN gains viewer momentum,  Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW) members are being targeted for being outspoken about health care needs of fellow soldiers, one threatened with a physical beating by commanding officers for wearing his IVAW shirt, and then forcibly held and interrogated according to IVAW today.

A new Army mental health survey of soldiers in Afghanistan shows morale is down and mental stress increases with increased number of deployments that  President Obama continues to commit with  disinformation to Americans about ME war increasing national secuirty documented by Robert Greenwald in RETHINK AFGHANISTAN.

There is one mental health specialist for approximately 1,100 troops in Afghanistan.  The Army says it hopes to improve that ratio to one for every 700 soldiers in Afghanistan,  "obviously inadequate" for mental injuries the illegal war causes according to IVAW

Ft. Hood still feels aftershocks of the massacre of over two weeks ago.  IVAW spokerperson stated, "While we still have yet to learn the twisted motivations of the shooter. The fact that he was a psychiatrist responsible for counseling other soldiers is a tragic testament to the dire lack of adequate mental health care for troops."

IVAW Ft. Hood has been speaking out about the issue, holding a candlelight vigil (see Veterans Day news clip) honoring the local victims and offering Warrior Writers workshops and free professional counseling sessions at Under the Hood Cafe, one of the only safe environments for anti-war soldiers near the base.

A professional therapist that IVAW sponsored to go to Ft. Hood counseled soldiers and researched  a referral list of area therapists friendly toward anti-war soldiers. 

IVAW Ft. Hood will continue aggressive outreach to other soldiers about their human rights need for mental health services on the base and provide referrals to them for quality counseling outside the gates of Ft. Hood.

IVAW is also active in American public education about counter-productiveness of the U.S. imperialist wars of aggression.

Victor Agosto, former Ft. Hood soldier and Afhganistan war resistor, and Emiko Hakada, survivor of the Atomic bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima gave a joint talk at Pom Gallery in NYC as an IVAW fundraiser, there podcast remarks here.

Agosto, according to the Associated Press, wrote on the bottom of a military counseling statement submitted May 1st, 2009 to the commander of a Ft. Hood, Texas Army unit headed for Afghanistan, There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect.

THE MESSENGER, starring Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, and Ben Foster, is the story of two soldiers assigned to the Army's Casualty notification service. 

The Messenger - In Theaters November 13th

Learn more by responsible action and continuing to ask, "Why?" and "Why not?":
Find a screeeing of THE MESSENGER in your area. 
Sign IVAW's Letter to President Obama. Take action today to support GI resistance (from Courage to Resist)  Learn more About IVAW, why its members are against the war and its Resources:

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