Subject: Iraq veteran talk tonight Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 09:21:20 -0600 Message-ID: <B14120EE5C432443B21102F7925DAD0201420177@COKE.uwec.edu> From: "Grossman, Zoltan C." <GROSSMZC@uwec.edu>
From Amnesty International UWEC chapter....
"SUPPORTING THE WARRIOR, NOT THE WAR"
Ex-Marine Sergeant Robert Sarra to Speak
on Iraq Veterans Against the War
MONDAY, DECEMBER 6
Davies Theater
(2nd floor in back of Davies)
7:00-9:00 pm
(but get there early for seats!)
Please stay for Q & A
Robert Sarra, a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War and co-founder of
the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), will be the keynote speaker
for the annual Human Rights Awareness Week observance at U.W.-Eau
Claire. Sarra will present his talk entitled "Supporting the Warrior,
Not the War" at 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, December 6, in Davies Theater.
Sarra is a nine-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and an urban
warfare instructor, who served as an infantry sergeant in last year's
invasion of Iraq. He supported the war before his deployment, but after
witnessing it firsthand, he joined his mother, a member of Military
Families Speak Out, in fighting to end the occupation. Sarra currently
lives in Chicago.
In an interview with Alternet.org, Sarra said that when he headed to
Iraq in January 2003, he was a 31-year-old eager to serve his country
and the U.S. Marine Corps. But the day he opened fire on an Iraqi woman,
everything he had believed in for most of his life changed forever. When
he saw the white flag in the hands of the dead woman that he'd mistaken
for a suicide bomber, Sarra said he began to question the war and his
role in it, while continuing to honor U.S. troops? sacrifice for their
country.
In a speech he delivered on Memorial Day, Sarra remembered, ?The waves
and smiles we got when we first moved in were disappearing quickly and
we all had the feeling that we had overstayed our welcome. When we were
told we would be going home, missions and excuses kept popping up, and
we were kept in-country with no certain end in sight. This was a cause
for severe frustration on all levels in my unit, as well as for our
families at home.?
Sarra quit the military soon after returning home in June 2003. His
reentry into civilian life was marred by the effects of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder and alcoholism. He received therapy and made peace with
his war experience by taking on the role of peace organizer ? "an
unlikely vocation," wrote Alternet.org, for someone who "had always seen
protesters as 'hippies who had no right to protest and just hated the
military.'" The group Sarra co-founded, IVAW, is the only anti-war
organization comprised entirely of soldiers who served in the Iraq War.
It takes its inspiration from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
(VVAW), which involved thousands of G.I. enlistees and draftees
disillusioned with the quagmire in Southeast Asia.
As Sarra looks to the future, he has said he just wants to make a
difference. Sarra told Alternet.org. "I've opened people's eyes to what
warfare is all about." He added that the Iraq War ?reinforced my
feelings on what these guys [soldiers] sacrifice, and what they are
sacrificing now. And what an honorable job it is ?.For the guys over
there, politics isn't a factor to them. It's about fighting for that guy
next to you and getting home in one piece and getting back to your
family. I hope that this war is going to end sometime soon. That we can
bring all these guys home and Iraq will be stable. That we didn't just
go in there and stir up a huge hornet's nest.?
The event will be free and open to the public. Military personnel,
veterans, family and friends are welcome. For more information about the
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), see http://www.ivaw.net . For
information about Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), see
http://www.mfso.org .
The Dec. 6 event is sponsored by Amnesty International's UWEC chapter,
the Progressive Student Association, Eau Claire Staff and Faculty for
Peace and Justice, and supported by the UWEC Departments of English,
Economics, History, Sociology, and Philosophy & Religious Studies,
Student Life & Diversity, Active Student Association, College Feminists,
College Democrats, Women in Black, Eau Claire Peace Coalition, and
Citizens Against the War in Iraq.
Human Rights Awareness Week marks the U.N.'s 1948 passage of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International has played
a leading role in exposing human rights abuses around the world,
including in Iraq under both Saddam Hussein and the current occupation.
Its UWEC chapter holds biweekly meetings on Thursdays in Davies' Eagle
Room at 6:00-7:00 pm (Dec. 9, Feb. 10 & 24, March 10 & 31, April 28, May
5). Contact chapter president Aaron Kroska at 5). Contact chapter president Aaron Kroska at kroskaaj@uwec.edu. PSA
is holding an antiwar rally this Saturday, Dec. 11, at the corner of
State & Garfield (a block from Hibbard) from 12 noon to 1 pm.
-30-