Iraq War Vets Left Bloody at the Debates

Iraq War Vets Left Bloody at the Debates

www.ireport.com

I am a photojournalist that was covering the debate in Hofstra. It was one of the most dreadful and deplorable experiences I have ever been apart of. The authorities not only harassed and bullied people in the midst of a nonviolent protest, they also injured and arrested our war vets. It was a sad day in America. While we fight to figure out who will be the best leader to get us out of these immense set of problems that our country is forced to grapple with, armed thugs are bludgeoning our war vets for exercising their constitutional right to protest.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The times, they are a changin...

The Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) sent this letter before the last Presidential Debate:

Dear Mr Schieffer,

I'm writing you today as a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War to
make clear the details of a demonstration we will be leading Oct. 15th
at Hofstra University prior to the final presidential debate and what
our demands are and will be.

We in IVAW demand that two of our members, myself and Kristofer
Goldsmith, be permitted entry to the debate and be allowed to ask each
candidate one question. If this demand is not agreed to IN FULL by 7 p.m. EST on the 15th, members of IVAW will lead a large contingent of veterans and our supporters on a NON-VIOLENT procession to the debate center and are prepared to risk arrest and/or bodily harm attempting to enter to have our voices heard. (This action will look very similar to our marches at the DNC and RNC which were widely covered in the media and on youtube, should you wish to see what's coming.)

As the economy has continued its downhill slide this election season,
the issue of Iraq has been pushed further and further away from peoples'
minds, as well the platforms of the candidates. In addition, little to
no attention has been paid this election season to the abysmal failure
of the Veterans Administration to adequately care for our returning
troops and their families and how we can work as a nation to fix this
problem.

As a result, more and more veterans are falling into debt, starving,
going homeless and killing themselves while the government REFUSES to
allocate sufficient funds for our much needed and deserved care while
simultaneously lining the pockets of the richest with $700 billion in
taxpayer (including servicemembers and veterans) money.

Such blatant betrayals of our services and sacrifices cannot go
unaddressed by IVAW, thus we will have our voices heard on the issues one way or the other, be it from inside the debate hall, or be it to a hoard of domestic and international press outside the event who have already expressed great interest in and dedication to covering our demonstration.

What yourself and the candidates must decide now, Mr. Schieffer, is
what the legacy of this debate will be. Will this be remembered as an
event where both sides of the isle and the media came together to hear from our nation's heroes, even if only for five minutes, or will the words
and promises of both candidates be forever shrouded in the image of a
host of uniformed veterans and their supporters going to jail because
these campaigns cared too little to hear from them?

Again, we are dedicated to 100% non-violence during this demonstration and will resist no arrest. However, we will NOT, I repeat, we will NOT back down, be intimidated or moved in any way shape or form until our demands are met or we are arrested.

I thank you for your time, sir, and look forward to meeting you in
person.

For honor and country,

Matthis Chiroux

They were not permitted their requests, so they decided to protest. They ended up harassed and arrested.

www.ireport.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Added External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 10/16/2008 by Hal9000]

We in IVAW demand that two of our members, myself and Kristofer
Goldsmith, be permitted entry to the debate and be allowed to ask each
candidate one question. If this demand is not agreed to IN FULL by 7 p.m. EST on the 15th, members of IVAW will lead a large contingent of veterans and our supporters on a NON-VIOLENT procession to the debate center and are prepared to risk arrest and/or bodily harm attempting to enter to have our voices heard."

"However, we will NOT, I repeat, we will NOT back down, be intimidated or moved in any way shape or form until our demands are met or we are arrested.

(I added the boldface to the above quotes from the letter)

They will not be intimidated, but they thought it was OK to intimidate others? What a bunch of tools.


Mod Edit: Added External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 10/16/2008 by Hal9000]

Vietnam vets have been treated like dirt for decades by the government,history is well on its way to repeating itself.

And for a country that prides itself on the rights and freedom of its people,this hypocrisy is yet another rung on the ladder to a fascist state.

Originally posted by jerico65
They will not be intimidated, but they thought it was OK to intimidate others? What a bunch of tools.

the wording my not be great but comeone really they didnt deserve this crap for a peaceful protest

especially as they are the ones that are(read as should) be there to fight and safe guard your way of life

brazil we have the military fighting the police, in america its the other way around

Is this the same group that paraded around Macbeth? Yeah, forgive me if I don't take this all at face value. What did this guy do to get hit? Who hit him? We obviously aren't getting the whole story.

As a veteran, I don't know anyone who is like these guys or supports groups that tell lies about soldiers and Marines.

Vietnam vets have been treated like dirt for decades by the government,history is well on its way to repeating itself.

Lets be honest, it was the peace loving hippies that showed those troops the most hate and did the most damage.

We agree on government veterans benefits. I don't think anyone in the military who has fought for this country should have to ever work again, or pay taxes.

when do we ever get the whole story

all the vets seem to be standing at ease, in the above pics theres one where an army and marine vet are almost walked over by a horse and both are in at ease positins with arms behind thier backs

reply to post by Marcus Calpurnius


Who are you to say they are lying just because they have had a different experience in the military than you? I can't really seem to believe that a large group of people, veterans of war, are lying about all of the same experiences.

We see how far asking politely gets people these days. Hell, thousands of people DEMANDING didn't stop the bailout from happening.

These vets are obviously getting tired of the way they are being treated. They are demanding some accountability.

The person who was struck suffered a broken cheekbone.



^^ This is the beginning of 12 part video series of Youtube detailing the events that took place. www.youtube.com...

[edit on 16-10-2008 by Tgautier13]

reply to post by Tgautier13


guess it shows he wasnt resisting unless it was serveral against one

surley with his training he could have defended himself had he chosen rather then take a direct hit to the face strong enough to break bone

the video should be interesting good find ^^

This is truly shocking.

Police in black riot gear Nazi style, yes, we are headed as a nation into very dark times indeed.

Those of you who refuse to see what is going on will find out the hard way.

Wait till they come after you or your family.

How sad that these policemen are willing to bloody up vets, people who have served this country many times over! What they arent realizing is that they will meet with the same fate, and officers who have families, how can they be such willing participants in these shenanigans, when it will affect them and their loved ones too?????

Wow. I just cant beleive i am living in these times. I would rather Not.

The Fourth Reich is here alive and well and in America.

What a horrible twist of fate.



THANKS ALEX JONES FOR PUTTING OUT THE TRUTH. Now i know he is 100 percent on the money.

Not trying to cloud this thread with videos, but here is video from the series I posted earlier. It's Marine Sergeant Jason Lemiuex (sp?) detailing what had just happened.

part 5-9 of the videos inclusive deal with the vets

it seems his cheek was broken by a horse

police were advancing through the police line charging on a horse into the crowd, several vets were nocked down and one got stepped on by the horse

also looks like there were other protesters there too (all peaceful it appears) as some are shown on another video and a civillian woman was also riden down and injured

The Nassau county PD is a bunch of egotistical, aholes. They harass you for anything they can. Seriously, these guys have nothing better to do and most of them don't see any real action, so this is something for them to get their panties in a twist about.

They honestly harassed me as youth to the point of severe hatred for all police.I wasn't a trouble maker either. I was a very respecful kid, who was just being a teen ager hanging out and picking up girls. If you ever read my posts which are anti cop, know you'll know why.

As sad as this sounds, I honestly LOVE to read, see and hear about the misfortunes of any cop because of the torturous treatment of these low life scum.Everyone gets what's coming to them and they will all get theirs.Call it karma destiny or just some deranged physco, but it does happen.World has a strange way of paying people back.

Edit: I also grew up wanting to become a cop because my father was. I'm glad he talked me out of it. He was a cop and knew a majority of them were nothing but punks with guns and wanna be gangsters. Thank god I wound of a convicted felon instead of a cop.

[edit on 16-10-2008 by 19DCW71]

Originally posted by noobfun
especially as they are the ones that are(read as should) be there to fight and safe guard your way of life

Sorry about that, Gus. Iraqi Vets against the war aren't fighting to safe guard my way of life. I fought for it myself while I was over there.

Why can't all Americans learn from this???

The politicians will use the military, stand next to them in photo ops and proclaim themselves to be the soldier's best friend.

Then they silence the free expression of others in the name of "not supporting the troops" while they cut funding for veterans, take kick backs from companies who double bill for bad water and rotten food for the troops and deny our soldiers equipment which will save lives in order to slide even more money to their campaign donors.

If they're so easily willing to betray our military what chance do any of us stand?

This is not about party politics, either. Both parties are evenly guilty of doing these things. The fact they would not allow war veterans to ask the candidates even one question makes me sick. There is no justification for the way our vets are being treated. None. This incident just mirrors the larger problem.

Unlimited money for the wealthy who stole themselves into a corner, nothing for anyone else. That's the USA our soldiers are fighting for now. McCain will do more of the same and Obama will make Bush and McCain look tame in comparison. DC serves the wealthiest of bankers now, not the people.

reply to post by jerico65


i was talking about bieng vets past/present military whos job is to safe guard them (even if the powers that be have the runing around doing stuff that is questionable to many they still took an oath to protect you and yours and get on harms way to do it) as you know as your a vet your self

the protest is them speaking up for what they believe, as well as trying to get a better standard of help for them and vets likes them wether thier problems be financial or mental or what ever

your still pro war fine your call but what does that ahve to do with the fact they were repeatedly charged with horses and the odd baton got thrown around against peaceful protesters



[edit on 17/10/08 by noobfun]

reply to post by panda319


I'm saying they could be lying, because this organization has a history of pushing fraud liers who were never in the military. Look it up.

Controversy
Jesse Macbeth, formerly affliated with IVAW,[8] falsely claimed to have committed atrocities in Iraq. In fact, he never completed Army basic training, and was never deployed outside the U.S. He was convicted of falsely claiming veteran's disability benefits. Afterward, Macbeth's actions were disavowed by IVAW and his membership was revoked. All members of IVAW have since been required to submit documentation of military service.[9]

en.wikipedia.org...

one man does not a bunch of frauds and liars make, he was also claiming veteran disability benefit isnt that isssued by the goverment(it is in the uk)? so he had them fooled too

only did a quick check buts thats all i found .. maybe you should share some of your sources Marcus

reply to post by Tgautier13


I think someone here has a signature quote that came to mind while reading this......

Two thousand years ago, a Roman Senator suggested that
all slaves wear white armbands to better identify them.

"No," said a wiser Senator,
"If they see how many of them there are, they may revolt."

There are many of us, and few of them. There comes a time when being trampled by a horse is a lesser insult to your dignity than having your rights trampled by the untouchable elite. Remember what happened to the French aristocrats when people realized just who had the power???

We are all slaves to the powerful.

The sooner people wake up and realize that it is the oppressors who are out numbered......the better.