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Counter Recruitment in a Time of Revenge by asif ullah
The offices of Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, War Resisters League and other antiwar and progressive organizations have been flooded with angry calls from among others, members of the military or would-be members tying counter-recruiters to the atrocities of September 11. The issue of educating and advising young people on the hazards of joining the military has taken on new connotations. Many think that, if the United States is “under attack,” counter-recruitment is flagrantly un-American. They think it supports “the terrorists,” so in turn we must be terrorists. They think we hold no compassion for those women and men who perished on September 11. Meanwhile, the media would have it that record numbers are storming recruiting stations. Is that the case? During the initial post-atrocity week, the Department of Defense reported an upsurge in “recruitment queries.” According to a September 20 BBC radio report, the over-arching sentiment of young men and women “primarily of color” was “I want blood,” and an Associated Press report two days later affirmed that bloodthirsty mood in an article about “recruiters noticing a change.” But a September 17 Reuters report noted, “Unlike the aftermath of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Armed Forces recruiting offices since the disastrous Sept. 11 attacks on the United States have reported no big upturn in enlistment.” It went on to contradict several AP reports suggesting that there has been an upsurge. One information specialist in the army noted “very minimal impact on recruiting nationwide” as “recruiters around the country made similar reports.” Whatever the numbers, counter-recruiters have taken to the task by doing what they do best, engaging people. “There are many ways to serve your country through community service,” says Harold Jordan, coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee’s Youth and Militarism program, when questioned about his patriotism. “Killing people in other countries has little to do with patriotism,” says Walidah Imarisha of AWOL, the hip-hop magazine and cd. “It’s not about how much we love our country, but about how much we can obliterate ‘their’ country.” The job of counter-recruiters has broadened, from talking primarily about the deceit used to lure youth to a military career, to discussing U.S. foreign policy. “People run around asking ‘Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this?’ I ask them ‘What haven’t we done? Look at our history in the Middle East,’” says Mario Hardy, Coordinator of the Third World Outreach program for CCCO. For some young men in their teens and twenties, the primary question has been, is there going to be a draft? Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said, “The draft is not something that is immediately before us.” The Selective Service issued a statement affirming this: “[It] would take legislative action by the Congress and implementation by the President to reinstate a draft in an emergency.” Counter-recruiters concur. “[Worrying about] a draft at this point is premature,” said Kevin Ramirez, also of CCCO. “A million reserves have to be called up in order for there to be a draft. The Soviets had a 10-year war in Afghanistan, and in those 10 years they suffered only 15,000 casualties.” The United States currently has approximately 2.6 million military personnel. Many members of the military, frightened by the possibility of going to war, have been seeking advice. The GI Rights hotline set up by peace groups to facilitate discharges for military personnel has been teeming with such calls. Before September 11, the average number of calls the hotline received was around 400 a week. Since than, “We have been receiving [more than] 500 calls a week on average,” says Teresa Panepinto, the coordinator of the national hotline. “Ninety percent of calls we receive are from GIs who want out.” They’re scared, she says—they don’t want to die, kill others, be removed from their family. She adds, “We have been now getting calls from skeptical and Muslim- identified soldiers who say, ‘I don’t want to kill my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.’” And the recruiting goes on, amounting to another war—a war against poor and working young folk. What
You Can Do Asif ullah is the Coordinator of ROOTS, WRL’s youth program. |
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ince September 11, the job of counter-recruitment activists has taken
on new challenges. In addition to dealing with the normal onslaught of
angry recruiters, counter-recruiters are dealing with vindictive civilians,
patriotism in a time of apparent national attack, the question of the
draft and members of the military rank and file who fear the reality of
war.