Dissension in the IVAW ranks

It’s that time of year again – time to nominate IVAW’s board. Oh, and guess who’s in charge of the Election Committee? Yep – Matthis. I’m just guessing, but that’s probably the work of Adrienne Kinne, easily the furthest left and radical member of the leadership of IVAW. She wears her International Socialist Organization (ISO) membership with pride, she’s Mattis’ main defender in IVAW, and she’s a mega-bully when people disagree with her. I guess it’s that shallow intellect.

Well, anyway, Matthis’ committee sent out invitation to several members to invite them to run for positions on the board late last week because, supposedly, they were nominated by the membership. One nominee sent a letter back to the board rejecting their offer. Among his reasons for turning them down was, of course, Matthis himself;

Matthis, being a key part of the elections, compromises the integrity of the elections. He has openly and deliberately offended members; expressed his intent to continue to do so and has openly called for us NOT to support soldiers. He states that it is impossible to support the soldier without supporting the war. I, and many other veterans and soldiers, find this idea repulsive. War leaves both sides devastated and by isolating and shunning the very soldiers we are trying to reach, we are only defeating ourselves. While I do not think that we should be supporting the war, every soldier is a human who faces a choice. Just as we wish our right to object should be respected, so we should respect the decsions that those who disagree with us make. We don’t have to approve of their choice, but we shouldn’t let their choice affect our willingness to be there. Regardless of a soldiers support or non-support of the war, when they return from overseas, they will need our help. Loving and treating one’s enemies with respect is never easy nor is it a swift way to bring about change, but it is the only way to affect real and lasting change.

And, oh, by the way, this veteran who didn’t deploy doesn’t like hanging Iraq Veterans T-shirts on guys who went AWOL from the Coast Guard in Hawaii.

I am not a deployed veteran and thus do not feel that I should be in a leadership position. To represent myself as something I am not, either by wearing a member’s only t-shirt (something I have stopped doing) or by taking a leadership position, I would be doing a great disservice to those who actually did deploy. The organization is Iraq Veterans Against the War – not Global War on Terror Veterans Against the War and our leadership, at the very least, should reflect that.

But, real veterans in IVAW either must be getting few and far between, or they’re not getting the respect from the likes of Adrienne Kinne, Geoffrey Millard and Mathis Chiroux that they deserve in an organization called Iraq Veterans Against the War. It seems to me that more real veterans should get the positions, but what do I know? I find it real hard to believe that there are any real veterans left in the organization when I see who puts their faces out front these days. It’s looking more and more everyday like VVAW and VFP – no real war veterans. Just the Ward Reillys, Hal Muskats and Doug Zacharys.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War