I served in the same unit with Tony Teolis for 13 months from 1990-91 in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War and he gives a poignant interview in this article about his feelings on the current war in Iraq. Tony was a great soldier and is a great American speaking up for what he believes is a unmoral and unjust war. Men like Tony and Adam Kokesh I respect deeply for the courage they have shown in publicly denouncing the war in Iraq. No matter what your feelings are on the war one would do well to at least listen to their point of view.
By Amber Healy
September 13, 2007
(This is the first in series of articles about local sentiment to the
war in Iraq.)
Being a good soldier means following the orders given by higher
ranking officers, out of a sense of duty and loyalty to protect his
country.
But what happens when a soldier feels his commanding officers, even
the Commander in Chief, has betrayed and abandoned the Constitution?
Tony Teolis of Fairfax wrestled with that question for years before
joining Veterans for Peace, one of many organizations that help
veterans find the courage and the voice to speak out against the
current occupation of Iraq.
"As veterans, we believe in the Constitution as the law of the land,
and we took an oath to preserve, protect and defend it," Teolis said.
It is the same oath congressmen, senators and the president also take
when they step into office, and Teolis and other like-minded veterans
believe those elected officials have abandoned the Constitution by
going into Iraq under false pretenses.
"A declaration of war without a direct order from Congress, combined
with the abuse of human rights, the abuse and threat of invasion to
other nations are all signs that Congress and the president are not
fulfilling their duties," Teolis said.
A VETERAN of the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, Teolis spent
several years in Japan following his combat duty. With a long family
history of military service, he was proud to serve his country and for
the work he had done in helping to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi control.
"The Army let me travel and gave me training because they thought I
had a skill with languages," he said.
with the abuse of human rights, the abuse and threat of invasion to
other nations are all signs that Congress and the president are not
fulfilling their duties," Teolis said.
A VETERAN of the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, Teolis spent
several years in Japan following his combat duty. With a long family
history of military service, he was proud to serve his country and for
the work he had done in helping to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi control.
"The Army let me travel and gave me training because they thought I
had a skill with languages," he said.
That sense of pride changed for him shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.
"When I heard Bush essentially say you're either with us or you're
against us, that didn't sit well with me," Teolis said. "The world is
too complex to speak in absolutisms."
Steve Hayes of Herndon has a similar story. A soldier in the Army from
1978 to 1982, Hayes was stationed in Germany during peacetime,
continuing a family tradition.
"What is going on in the military, especially what might be waiting
for the younger generation, is important to my family and for people
of my generation to pay attention," he said. "We need to make sure
these soldiers get treated well so the military remains honorable and
we don't have to go back to a draft system."
For Hayes, concerns about the current military began in 2003 and 2004,
early in the Iraq occupation, when news started trickling out that the
reasons for the U.S. invasion were not factually correct.
Hayes, joined by other members of Veterans for Peace and the Prince
William County Peacemakers, began visiting Walter Reed and another
military hospital in Bethesda to talk with veterans returning from
Iraq to be treated for injuries.
The two hospitals had different methods in place to help veterans
recover. Walter Reed provided homes for veterans' families to stay in
while visiting their loved one; the hospital in Bethesda provided a
Marine Corps officer to make sure injured vets had whatever resources
needed for a full recovery.
AS THE VETERANS Hayes worked with began to speak out about the
conditions of Walter Reed, another group began to stage
counter-protests each Friday, accusing the group of betraying their
country.
"We just wanted to make sure these guys got a fair shake from their
government," Hayes said.
government," Hayes said.
Tina Richards fought with the Department of Defense for nine months to
prevent her son, who had already served two tours in Iraq, from
returning to battle after the Veterans Administration determined he
was 80 percent disabled from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We were in the middle of getting the VA paperwork filed with the
Marines when they tried calling him back for a third tour," said
Richards, now an activist on behalf of veterans who return home from
Iraq with mental health issues that directly result from their duty
overseas.
prevent her son, who had already served two tours in Iraq, from
returning to battle after the Veterans Administration determined he
was 80 percent disabled from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We were in the middle of getting the VA paperwork filed with the
Marines when they tried calling him back for a third tour," said
Richards, now an activist on behalf of veterans who return home from
Iraq with mental health issues that directly result from their duty
overseas.
"When my son first came home, he was telling me about how the
occupation was destroying people's lives and I knew I had to do what I
could to stop it," she said.
occupation was destroying people's lives and I knew I had to do what I
could to stop it," she said.
Despite a serious medical problem, Richards said her son was in danger
of losing his honorable discharge for refusing to return for duty,
which could have cost him the medical benefits he needed.
"When he first came back, he tried to speak out, but now the Marine
Corps has taken that away from him too," she said.
of losing his honorable discharge for refusing to return for duty,
which could have cost him the medical benefits he needed.
"When he first came back, he tried to speak out, but now the Marine
Corps has taken that away from him too," she said.
"For every person we kill, we're making 10 more people angry,"
Richards said of the tension in Iraq. "Who knows how many of those
people will become extremists in the future?"
Richards said of the tension in Iraq. "Who knows how many of those
people will become extremists in the future?"
Like Hayes and Teolis, Richards said many men on both sides of her
family have proudly served in the military. Like so many other mothers
and family members, she felt guilty every time her son called her
after soldiers had died, knowing some other mother would be getting
the call that her son or daughter wouldn't be coming home.
"By the end of his second tour, he knew it wasn't right," Richards
said. "In the beginning, with all the rhetoric going around, he was
already a Marine and was going to do what his commander said."
Adam Kokesh joined the Marines when he was 17 in 1999, fresh out of
high school and eager to serve.
Kokesh and his division were among the first on the ground in Iraq,
eyewitness to the raids on Fallujah in 2004.
"It was a very interesting time," he said. "We were there for the
battle in April, we were there when Saddam [Hussein] was taken out of
power and we held our position through the alleged transfer of power
to the Iraqi parliament."
FROM THAT VANTAGE point, Kokesh said he saw the rise in the number of
insurgent attacks against American soldiers who were stationed in the
city to protect Iraqi homes and streets. Early on, he said, he
believed the mission in Fallujah was "a failure."
"We waited until August to disband and until November to try to get
into the city from the outer perimeter because [President] Bush
couldn't get elected with 20 Marines dead in Fallujah," he said. "We
saw two or three guys die each day patrolling the city."
Kokesh gained a measure of national notoriety earlier this year when
he was stripped of his honorable discharge from the Marines for
wearing parts of his uniform during protests in Washington in March.
He's also become a leader of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a national
organization of veterans and currently enlisted members of the
military who want troops to begin coming home soon.
All these groups and other will be converging on Washington on
Saturday, Sept. 15 and staying for nearly a week, with marches,
rallies and days set aside for lobbying members of Congress to demand
a withdrawal of troops and the restoration of Constitutional law.
"The first casualty of war is the truth," Teolis said. The American
people were told what they needed to hear to support the invasion of
Iraq, he believes.
"When we took the oath to join the military, we made a promise to
defend the law of our land," Teolis said. That promise has been
forgotten or betrayed by leaders who continue to support the war, he
said.
"
The way I see it, we have two options for going forward," he said.
"We can either throw out the Constitution as our laws and start all
over again, or we have to act like we mean what we say, and that goes
for the president, for Congress, for soldiers and veterans and
citizens."
"We can either throw out the Constitution as our laws and start all
over again, or we have to act like we mean what we say, and that goes
for the president, for Congress, for soldiers and veterans and
citizens."
Which brings up the question of what it means to support the troops
still serving overseas.
"It's a vague statement," Hayes said. "I'm concerned about people from
the Navy being used in combat when they weren't necessarily trained
for that. There's the stop-loss program which allows a soldier's tour
of duty to be extended after he's been deployed. I'm not one to say
that recruiting is bad, but people need to read and understand what it
really means to join the military before they enlist."
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=87184&paper=63&cat=104
the Navy being used in combat when they weren't necessarily trained
for that. There's the stop-loss program which allows a soldier's tour
of duty to be extended after he's been deployed. I'm not one to say
that recruiting is bad, but people need to read and understand what it
really means to join the military before they enlist."
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=87184&paper=63&cat=104
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