Community | January 04, 2011 | 37 comments

I am a US Air Force Intelligence Veteran of the War in Afghanistan and, I support Wikileaks.

source: http://crushingbastards.org/blog/2011/01/04/i-am-a-us-air-force-intelligence-veteran-of-the-...

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gerardange
Posted on January 4, 2011 by Crushing Bastards


Crew photo from my first deployment. The plane is a RC-135 "Rivet Joint."
I am a US Air Force Intelligence veteran of the war in Afghanistan and I support Wikileaks.

During my service I held a Top Secret security clearance and worked as an Afghan-Pashto linguist; my duties included consuming and producing a large number of intelligence reports. After reading many of the Iraq/Afghan/Cablegate logs I am compelled to inform my fellow citizens that I saw nothing in these logs that could endanger our troops or public servants.

Here’s what I did see: I saw Iraq war logs that painted a very bleak picture of the situation there which doesn’t match up with the “improved security” that’s been reported by the “Defense” Department for years. I saw proof of public officials acting dishonestly and abusing their posts. Overall, I saw an out of control government that is in over its head and does more to endanger the lives of its people than any publishing organization ever could.

I volunteered to protect this country under the impression that my government followed the will of the American People and adhered to the US Constitution. As it turns out, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were never constitutionally declared and despite public opinion being against the two wars they continue to grow more destructive. My experiences in these wars differed greatly from the propaganda the American people were sold by America’s mainstream media outlets; many times I would return from a mission to see wild inaccuracies being reported on Fox/CNN/MSNBC about the very operation I had just been supporting. Wikileaks has helped shine light on the true nature of these illegal wars and the policymakers that perpetuate them, for this I am thankful.

Speaking of policy makers that perpetuate war… Apparently, this nation is bankrupt. The US dollar, under the custodianship of Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve System, continues to lose its purchasing power as new dollars are printed to pay for warfare and corporate welfare (in the form of bailouts for bankers). We must recognize that printing more money will not solve our problems, it will only make Americans increasingly poorer. The foundation of America’s financial system is corrupt and dishonest; Wikileaks is also working to unmask this corrupt central-banking system.

For too long, bastards (using Julian Assange’s definition) have been able to use America’s good reputation as a cover for their misdeeds. These days, it seems that powerful interests wield more influence in Washington than the whole of the American electorate. These interests see the American people as nothing more than sheep to be fleeced and so they use their influence to make it easier for us to be held down. I support Wikileaks because I want to see these insidious influences exposed. My hope is that the 21st Century will be one of liberty and transparency, not of greater secrecy and slavish submission to authority.

Let it be known that there are many of us who will resist any attempts to stifle 1st Amendment protections; that America’s veterans take seriously their oaths to the US Constitution and will demand transparency and honesty from government officials; that America’s veterans stand ready to defend the ideals of a free society in the 21st century.



http://crushingbastards.org/blog/2011/01/04/i-am-a-us-air-force-intelligence-vet...
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   US Politics,   Collective Journalism,   3 more
  2. tags:
    Iraq,  Homeland Security,  Afghanistan,  Corruption,  33 more
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37 comments // I am a US Air Force Intelligence Veteran of the War in Afghanistan and, I support Wikileaks.

  • NiceN
    • +3
      NiceN  

    • This individual has prioritized his intelligence over someone else's lies, bottom line. This is the difference between a soldier and a droid.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • NiceN:

      Or a grown up and a child . It is a quality of maturity to have ones own internal compass . As a child , you just follow orders . Some "grow up " in this way at a very young age , others never do . Knowing right from wrong and accepting that you do AND being willing to stand up for it = Fully conscious individual . Until then , you are a child .

    • 1 year ago
  • MYkEv
    • +2
      MYkEv  

    • Every vet has their own opinion. And many vets have seen the dishonesty. They have the morale right to speak about it and share with the world. I support wikileaks.

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • 0
      Itsbatman_Durr  

    • nothing personal but why should anyone care about a vets opinion vs a bakers or any one elses? i mean i agree secrets and illegalities need to be outed. But by any means necessary? at the cost of treason? regardless of whom you feel your allegiance is owed to, a concept of what america should be or what it is, the oath of service is to the duly elected government of these united states. I want the truth to be out there as much as anyone. But wikileaks in my opinion is the brainchild of a media savvy wannabe player on the international media scene trying to shortcut his way into a Q rating without any of the responsibility that those who serve the public interest have learned and earned through hard honest work. Add to it that the info he is using was illegally obtained by a traitor to this nation, and honestly I don't get your position.

    • 1 year ago
  • afloyd60
    • +1
      afloyd60  
    • Itsbatman_Durr:

      you are wrong. here is the oath -- "I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

      the oath of service is to support and defend the Constitution, and to follow the orders of the president and the officers. however, the first line states, "I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC", which could possibly include the president or officers. bradley manning upheld his oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic when he chose to leak this info. he is no traitor. the perpetrators of these unconstitutional foreign wars of empire are the traitors. you've got it backwards.

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • 0
      Itsbatman_Durr  
    • afloyd60:

      umm obey the president
      and that doesnt leave wiggle room for you to individually decide who the enemies of the constitution are ffs.. you don't really think you could, say, assassinate a public official that you decided was a domestic enemy of the constitution, do ya? or even umm scold one too severely? how about if your CO tells you to shut up.. you gonna defend the right to free speech against him?

      stop clowning.. you know what that oath means, and what it doesn't so stop trying to play word games and add to the static

    • 1 year ago
  • afloyd60
    • +2
      afloyd60  
    • Itsbatman_Durr:

      ALL enemies foreign and DOMESTIC. it's the first thing in the oath. are you telling me that individuals in the govt. or individual officers can't be enemies of the Constitution? are you saying that soldiers must blindly obey illegal, unconstitutional orders of the president simply because he's the president? again, you are wrong. soldiers are legally allowed and duty bound to disobey illegal orders no matter who they come from. no word games and no clowning here, i'm just someone with a firm grasp of history and human nature. btw, you kinda sound like this guy:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejvyDn1TPr8

      the president is not above the law, nor is anyone else. at least not in a nation of laws with a well informed citizenry.

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • 0
      Itsbatman_Durr  
    • afloyd60:

      i got that, not saying they cant, either. just asking and you havent answered yet, if you feel as an enlisted grunt the oath means that you as an individual have the right to decide who an enemy of the state is and have the legal authority to act on it. if you think that you would have a viable defense if you said 'yes i placed the president under house arrest, because i decided he was a domestic enemy of the constitution'

    • 1 year ago
  • Robotic091
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • Robotic091
    • +3
      Robotic091  

    • i want to hear more from veterans about this issue, this is great to hear from people who gave a portion of their lives for the consitution, this country, and their families. i think if you asked someone to join for any other reason they would turn it down. i never served but every vietnam vet i talk to say don't join and that they are all for bring the troops home.

    • 1 year ago
  • antiutopia
  • Jake_Leonard
    • +5
      Jake_Leonard  
    • antiutopia:

      I can imagine an individual in his position (I have a close relative who is a Captain in the USAF) would certainly have a more transparent and clear picture of what is going on in Afghanistan and Iraq than the average voting American citizen. To hear it from a military man solidifies a lot of what Wikileaks is doing.

      Perhaps as a USAF Intelligence officer, he does not have those qualifications, but as per the rights granted to every American citizen, a title he also holds, he has the right to make these points and justifications (opinion or not)--more so than most people here on Current what with the knowledge and position he possesses. And if I may say, (1), identifying media lies about his operations, is a big point to be able to make--considering all of our voting habits and propaganda is hand fed to us through what mainstream media tells us. If they lie to us (and it's pretty obvious that they do on a consistent basis), what rights do we really have, basing our decisions off of lies?

      If he can't make such remarks, who can?

    • 1 year ago
  • larry_keylargo
  • vicgal
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • panichead
    • +5
      panichead  

    • I have just finished reading "The Rise And Fall Of Great Nations" by Paul Kennedy written in 1987. In it he traces the histories and economies of world superpowers of the last 500 years. He explains, "great powers in relative decline instinctively respond by spending more on security, and thereby divert potential resources from investment and compound their long term dilemma". Every word and every example, he has parallels in the U.S today. He writes of the Spanish Empirire of the 16th century, "Spain resembled a large bear in a pit: more powerful than any of the dogs attacking it, but never able to deal with it's opponents and growing gradually exhausted in the process". What experience and history teach is this - that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history. Every superpower in modern history has collapsed due to lengthy fighting by it's armed forces and it's expanding internationally while it's economy weakens domestically. In other words, empires collapse when they stretch themselves to thin. The question is are we gonna become a smaller player like Spain and Britain or are we gonna become like Rome, Austria - Hungary or the Soviet Union?

    • 1 year ago
  • vicgal
    • 0
      vicgal  

    • it's fine to exercise your 1st Amendment rights by expressing your thoughts and opinions... to what end though? resist how?? you imply to speak for all veterans when you claim to "stand ready to defend the ideals of a free society" against who? do you see how this can be interpreted? how can you speak of "taking seriously oaths to demand honesty" in this way?

    • 1 year ago
  • GeorgeCarlin77
    • +6
      GeorgeCarlin77  
    • Image

    • Support Free Information.
      Information is power!
      Things like the Patriot act 1+2
      these laws sneak in under the false pretense of "National Security",
      The words "Its a matter of National Security" is all some one has to utter and your hauled off to get-mo to be water boarded, you get a GPS unit is put under your car, your Phone is tapped and Guess what.... no need for a search warrant to do all of this!
      Its the little stabs that go unnoticed, by "the masses", that will kill our bill of rights!

    • 1 year ago
  • vicgal
    • +1
      vicgal  
    • GeorgeCarlin77:

      those are all legitimate points... i don't disagree with the issues at hand but in my opinion what you mention are different and separate from a naive person volunteering for the military then betrays the nation with the trust it provided.

    • 1 year ago
  • gerardange
  • gerardange
    • +4
      gerardange  
    • vicgal:

      The Military is not "Our Military" anymore.. The military that represented the citizens ended after WWII.

      Today The US Military serves only one master = The "Military Industrial Arms Complex".
      The MIAC is what dictates our Foreign Policy. And, it sucks all our wealth out of all our pockets... and sucks every penny from our schools & Hospitals. The MIAC and its counter-part The "Project For a new American Century" PNAC Hijacked our country and our Government and locked all it's citizens in the trunk.

    • 1 year ago
  • vicgal
  • EvilDoer
  • vicgal
  • Nephwrack
  • vicgal
    • +1
      vicgal  
    • Nephwrack:

      ok i'll give you that... i don't think Assange is the bad guy, he would have nothing to post if someone with access to classified information took our national security more seriously.

    • 1 year ago
  • Nephwrack
    • +4
      Nephwrack  

    • stuff like this gives me hope. it's good to see that at the end of the day our military would choose us rather than the gubmint if the shit went down.

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • 0
      Itsbatman_Durr  
    • Nephwrack:

      they wouldn't. not for nothing but anyone who joins the completely volunteer army in times of wars like these is not the type to think for themselves, at least not very well. They are for the vast majority insecure rednecks, frat boys and minorities who feel they have no other viable options. hoooo rah indeed, as they feel their self worth elevate each time they crush another group of dissenters, or in their minds 'enemy' because dissenters is too big a concept for most of them to grasp and all they know is what they are told, and to them thats all they need or care to know as long as they get that great mob mentality rush from their 'peers'.

    • 1 year ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
    • +6
      cantucwearebrothers  

    • Most people that I've come into contact with have been disillusioned with the military after they enlist.

      I have a close family member that intended to be in for life and has subsequently retired after everything that has gone down.

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
    • +6
      Incredulous  

    • "Let it be known that there are many of us who will resist any attempts to stifle 1st Amendment protections; that America’s veterans take seriously their oaths to the US Constitution and will demand transparency and honesty from government officials; that America’s veterans stand ready to defend the ideals of a free society in the 21st century."

      Now that gives me hope.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • KSirys
  • keithponder
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • Nephwrack
  • cantucwearebrothers
    • +3
      cantucwearebrothers  
    • Nephwrack:

      I took keithponder's comment to imply that the man who spoke up had a large amount of courage to do so....to speak against the widely accepted opinion within the military.

      I found it sad that it takes courage to form an individual opinion and speak it. That should be a given...a non-negotiable right.

    • 1 year ago
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