The War on Dissent Gets Creepy
by Mike Ferner
Excerpt: [Read on about Mike Ferner’s arrest, charges, and the rest of his letter to the Toledo Blade in response to an editorial denouncing his actions.]
Our government is not only causing great suffering by this war, it is also violating dozens of international and domestic laws. See the Veterans For Peace “Case for Impeachment” for a partial list. As citizens we are complicit in these crimes and suffering. That is why historian Howard Zinn’s words make more sense to me each day this war continues:
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
The most important mistake I made on New Year’s Day was not that I painted “Troops Out Now” on overpasses, it was choosing a form of civil disobedience not many people are comfortable adopting. If you believe we must end this war, what kind of civil disobedience would you choose? Refuse to pay part of your taxes this April? Sit in at a Congressional office? Organize a strike? Or will we be content to speak quietly, watching the petty criminals go to jail while the grand criminals continue the slaughter in our name?
How creepy is this? Karen Kwiatkowski, whose Pentagon Papers have been virtually ignored by these grand criminals, interviewed Monica Benderman on her radio show last Saturday. Monica’s husband, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, is currently serving an 18 month sentence for declaring conscientious objector status after serving a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004. In a move that defines the military’s cruelty, he is being made to do this time in an institution that is 3,000 miles away from his loved ones.
Who excuses this?
In a fascinating irony, at the time the Army was fumbling Benderman’s CO paperwork, one of the officers in Sgt. Benderman’s chain of command was under investigation for and later convicted of privately selling bulletproof vest plates purchased by taxpayers for our soldiers deploying to Iraq. A military court sent down a far shorter sentence than the one they deemed appropriate for Sgt. Benderman. It is clear which type of “crime” the Army brass considers more dangerous.
OUR PROBLEM IS CIVIL OBEDIENCE