IVAW in Stars and Stripes

For some reason, the Stars and Stripes thinks the opinion of 70 people who call themselves “Iraq Veterans Against the War” (in my opinion, they should change the name to “Random People Off the Street Who Want You to Think They Are Iraq Veterans Against the War“) is important enough to report to our troops overseas;

At its annual convention in College Park, Md., earlier this month, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War vigorously debated what the group’s stance should be on Afghanistan, according to some participants. Opposition to the war quietly became official policy earlier this year following an online membership poll. The vote was said to be close, though no details were publicly released.

“A decision has been made in terms of our position, which is we are against it,” said Jose Vasquez, executive director of IVAW and co-founder of the New York City chapter.

Jose Vasquez, the new Executive Director of RPOSWWYTTAIVAW, decided after 13 years of service as a medic that he was a conscientious objector right before he was supposed to deploy to Iraq (yet claimed he would have gone to Afghanistan).

As is the case with Iraq, the existing IVAW resolution advocates “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces in Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people, and support (for) all troops and veterans working toward those ends.”

The third plank is the least important, of course. You can bet the debate over whether to include Afghanistan as something they oppose included a big discussion over how much money they could make. But who is surprised that a “majority” of members of the RPOSWWYTTAIVAW would vote for this? After all, a “majority” voted to protect Carl Webb’s right to preach sabotaging and killing US forces in theater. A “majority” voted to make Matthis Chiroux, self-admitted rapist who calls himself an Afghanistan veteran, a member of their leadership.

And this so-called “majority” was 70 members of a supposedly 1700-member organization. And did the International Socialist Organization members of RPOSWWYTTAIVAW stack attendance at College Park in their favor? They paid for Carl Webb to attend – how many others’ travel did they pay? And how many of those who got free travel were members aligned with the ISO?

How do I know Carl Webb got a free trip to College Park? He told me.

That was right before his profile disappeared from Facebook.

Not all of the members of RPOSWWYTTAIVAW approve of their new stance against the war in Afghanistan;

One of the members who supports the war in Afghanistan is Army Sgt. Selena Coppa, an active-duty military intelligence specialist based at Wiesbaden, Germany.

“The organization is kind of split on that,” Coppa said.

At times, she added, the issue of whether to oppose the war in Afghanistan “ran the risk of tearing us apart. IVAW is like a family. You don’t want members leaving.”

Well, it looks like you can’t stop that, Selena. I’m hearing rumors that an entire chapter resigned this weekend and some actual veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan from some other important chapters resigned as well. I hope you’re loving your new ISO overlords.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers, Usual Suspects