"An Interview with Darrell Anderson, Iraq Vet Against the War"

Pen on Washblog:

Pen: What has it been like since coming home?

Darrell: I just got home in October. I shut myself inside my house and didn't want to come out. I took a bus from Georgia and came here. After this I'm going to move to Portland Oregon. The people in Kentucky don't relate. They're too conservative. Even the anti-war crowd doesn't understand what's going on in Iraq.

Pen: That brings me to the main question I wanted to ask. You said, "It's not even real enough to the anti-war crowd. People are dying in Iraq today and we're just sitting here talking about it." Yesterday, several panelists asked "What can WE do?" I have to be frank, there wasn't really any very satisfying answers. We were told the U.N. is useless. The international courts are impotent. It's up to us. Yet both times, the answer what to do was dodged. No one asked any of the veterans this question however. So I'd like to ask it. "What can WE do?"

Darrell: (Nodding emphatically)We're all just talking politics. That won't stop the war. The Democrats won't stop the war. The courts won't stop the war. Only the soldiers can stop this war. If the soldiers refuse to fight, then there'll be no more war. If you say you're anti-war, but you don't know any soldiers who are resisting or support the resistance, then you aren't doing anything. We gather in hundreds of thousands for protest marches, but when a soldier makes a stand we don't show up to support them. It is their leadership that inspires others to refuse to accept this illegal war. They need your support.

Pen: Given the wealth and power of the American military machine, do you think common Americans can stop this war?

Darrell: The whole military-industrial-complex is funded off taxpayers money. It goes straight to Iraq and then Halliburton gets it. Halliburton puts zero in and gets 100% out. It's the best business move Bush ever made. If we stop paying taxes they can't pay for the war.

Pen: Do you intend to remain in America?

Darrell: I spoke to a Canadian soldier when I was AWOL who was going to America. I asked him why would he leave Canada and go there? He said that America is where you have to go to make a change in the world. I want to make a change.

H/t to dinazina.