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Support Stephen Funk, US Military ResisterSupport Stephen Funk, US Military Resister Military resister Stephen Funk goes on trial Thursday, Sept. 4, for refusing to fight in Iraq. Please stand with Stephen -- Sign this online petition NOW. Marine reservist Stephen Funk, a gay US conscientious objector of Filipino and Native American origin, faces a military tribunal on Thursday September 4.
Sign the petition at Petition and,
Commandant of the Marine Corps, Re: Stephen Funk, conscientious objector, awaiting military trial for "desertion" on 4 September 2003 "In the face of this unjust war based on deception by our leaders, I could not remain silent. In my mind that would have been true cowardice." We write from Payday, an international and multiracial network of men working with the Global Women's Strike, in support of US Marine Corps reservist Stephen Funk who faces trial for "desertion". We support Mr Funk s demand to be immediately discharged as a conscientious objector, as is his right. As Mr Funk goes on to say, "The purpose of the military is to churn out non-thinking killing machines. All humans have a natural aversion to killing, and being forced to shout out "Kill, Kill, Kill" everyday is a major stress on the mind, body, and soul. One must go through a transformation in order to accommodate the unnatural way of life that the military teaches." That is exactly our view in Payday -- and that of many others, as witnessed in great variety and detail on our Refusing To Kill website (www.paydaynet.org) -- and a major reason why we write in his support. Having come to such a conclusion, how could Mr Funk do other than apply for conscientious objector status? Mr Funk believes as we do that he is fulfilling his duty as a soldier to refuse illegal orders, a principle of the Uniform Code of Military Justice 809.ART.90 (20), 892.ART.92 (1), and 892.ART.92 (2). This principle, which came out of the Nuremberg Tribunals, has been part of the official policy of the US Department of Defense since 1953. The Bush administration s doctrine of pre-emptive war violates many international laws that the US has ratified under the Constitution, including the Nuremberg Principles which define as a crime against peace, the "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for accomplishment of any of the foregoing." Mr Funk stands in the best tradition of some of the United States most famous international figures. Speaking of another war, Dr Martin Luther King recommended that, "As we counsel young men concerning military service we must clarify for them our nation's role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection." He went on to say, "I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such."[1] This is still true today. For Vietnam read Iraq, or Afghanistan, or . . . as $900 billions are spent yearly on military budgets worldwide, half by the United States alone. Yet 10% of this would provide the essentials of life for all: water, basic sanitation, health, nutrition, literacy . . . Indeed it is Mr Funk s view, and Payday s, that war is an attack on people with least access to resources, and therefore primarily an attack on women, children and people of color, everywhere. We draw your attention to protests by the Iraqi Women s League who have described how the war and ongoing military occupation of Iraq have left women and children particularly vulnerable to the worst living conditions, including lack of protection against sexual and other violence. They demand that food, water, medical supplies, electricity, phone and other welfare facilities destroyed by the war be immediately made available. At the time of writing these basic essentials are still not accessible to millions of people in Iraq. For all of these reasons we urge you to immediately drop the charge of "desertion" and discharge Mr Funk as a conscientious objector. Eric Gjertsen Ben Martin 1. Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Concerned Laity at Riverside Church in New York City. |
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