A group of IVAW members (all veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan) were joined by a few hundred supporters on the Hofstra campus to provide each Presidential candidate a question to answer during their debate Wednesday, October 15, 2008. Matthis Chiroux who is resisting a return to either war and faces severe legal consequences was one of those veterans. If you visit the IVAW website at http://ivaw.org there are many links to the story of what happened with the police that night. Most links show video, good and bad, of the trampling of activists by the police horse patrol. Democracy Now has a link to the story.
As I sat watching all the video and reading all the different stories I became more and more enraged by the patch of an American flag on each cop's uniform. It was a sickening sight of a symbol that should represent freedom but has come to represent shameful violence, oppression and the worst kind of nationalism.
I can't say I'm surprised by the events of that evening. I remember veterans getting assaulted by police in the 1970's by police who were directed to stop us. I remember Ron Kovic being tossed from his wheelchair as if he were a grave danger to any abled body person. I remember tear gas and batons. What has happened to IVAW isn't new. It just gets pretty damn old in a nation priding itself for supporting their troops. The reality is this is a nation of perpetual war and perpetual lies. Allowing either McCain or Obama to seize power is an obscenity and insult to any person seeking peace and justice.
But come November 5, 2008 one of them will become the next President and all their lies told during the campaign will be forgotten. And all the promises will evaporate. And young men and women will continue to be killed and maimed for the sake of country and flag. They'll be asked to kill and maim. And on return they'll be discarded as disposable tools of oppression. The horses of police will step on them and crush them as Matthis Chiroux describes below:
WT Leichner VVAW
Hooves of fury stampede veterans/U.S. Constitution Oct. 15
Matthis Chiroux of the "Hempstead 15" recounts his debate experience
Wednesday, Oct. 15th, 2008, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War
and supporters gathered near the Hempstead, N.Y., train station to
march on the final presidential debate at Hofstra University.
Our intent was made clear in a letter to Bob Schieffer, the debate
moderator, one week prior. We wanted two members of our organization
inside the debate where they would ask one question of Obama and one
of McCain. If CBS and the candidates failed to meet our demands, we
would march on Hofstra at 7 p.m. in a peaceful attempt to enter the
debate to have our voices heard.
I planned on asking Barack Obama if he would back up his assessment of
the occupation of Iraq as illegal by supporting servicemembers who
would thus be required to refuse service there. Kris Goldsmith planned
on asking McCain about his history of failing to vote in favor of V.A.
funding, especially since the beginning of the occupation of Iraq.
Non-violence was stressed in every stage leading up to this action. It
was stressed by me and Kris to Det. Thomas J. Calvert and Det. Robert
Annese of the Nassau County Police Department the day before the
action. Calvert and Annese were in charge of security for the debate,
and they assured us they would instruct their officers to respect the
non-violent spirit of the action by using restraint towards peaceful
veterans and demonstrators.
In every stage of planning, IVAW made every effort to keep all planned
tactics and actions "above the table" so that the candidates, the
media, the police and the country would know exactly what would happen
if our demands were not met.
We were at Hofstra to force the issue that veterans and servicemembers
are not being cared for or heard from by our government, and the
candidates, CBS and the Nassau County Police Department couldn't have
proved us more correct.
We, the veterans and our supporters, stood together in solidarity,
knowing the stakes were high. But a resolve echoed deep from with us
to stand our ground and be heard. Twice these candidates had brushed
us off, and thrice just wasn't going to happen.
So at seven p.m. when we'd heard nothing from the moderators, IVAW
made good on its promise to the candidates and Det. Calvert. We
marched to the front gate of Hofstra, read our questions and
peacefully proceeded into police lines.
Because these candidates cared more to hear from "Joe the Plumber"
than veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, ten veterans went to jail and
five civilian supporters joined us.
This upsets me, but I knew the risk, and if I must fall in defense of
democracy, peace and justice, I offer my sacrifice willingly.
What infuriates me is the GROSS MISCONDUCT of the police in the
process, much of which I believe to be illegal.
After my arrest, the police charged their horses onto a sidewalk and
unprovokedly knocked my friend Nick Morgan, a veteran of Iraq, to the
ground and trampled his face. They then arrested him, put a piece of
gauze on his facewound and loaded him onto a bus headed for jail with
the rest of the Hempstead 15.
After they brought Nick onto the bus and we the veterans identified
him as exhibiting signs of a concussion and as needing immediate
medical attention, our arresting officers laughed at us and told us
Nick would receive no help unless he himself asked to go to the
hospital, though Nick was barely conscience and completely disoriented
at the time AND THE COPS KNEW IT!
We pointed out that as a result of a serious head injury, Nick wasn't
aware enough to speak for himself. The police responded with, "too bad."
After Nick stirred enough for us to instruct him to ask for medical
attention, he was taken to a hospital, diagnosed with a fractured
cheekbone, given nothing more than Motrin for the pain and brought to
the Police Station where he sat chained to a bench for 5 hours with no
further medical attention at all.
Additionally, police pulled other members and supporters of ours from
the sidewalk and arrested them while horses spun in circles causing
injury to most who couldn't escape their paths.
All of this, I observed after arrest through the large windows of a
bus we were detained in which was parked parallel to the demonstration
and subsequent atrocities.
While on the bus, the officers mocked us, calling us idiots and
whiners. When we arrived at the Nassau County Detention Center, the
hazing did not cease.
One officer, when I brought up the prospect of speaking to a lawyer,
threatened to, "put me in the back (jail)," where, "the big boys will
pop your cherry!" When I asked this officer if he had just threatened
an honorably discharged veteran of Afghanistan with prison rape and
told him I wanted his name and rank, he refused and told me to look it
up on the police report which the Nassau County Police Department has
refused to provide us a copy of.
While detained, the three females who were arrested with us, including
Marine Reserve Capt. Marlisa Grogan, were sexually harassed by the
police who went so far as to hold Ids next to the chained women's
faces and make comments like, "you look like you came out of a Barbie
magazine."
All night, they didn't stop. "You're cowards, you're idiots," they
said. The hostility was thick and unwarranted.
"This non-violent protest stuff is retarded," they said (as if they'd
prefer the alternative). "See how it got your friend's face fucked up?"
Literally, they said this when they brought Nick in and chained him to
the bench. The harassment only increased from there.
"Look at you friend's face," said one officer. "You're responsible for
that." As if I gave to order to charge horses onto a crowded sidewalk.
I saw this same officer in the Colony diner where we went to eat after
we were charged with disorderly conduct and released. He was with the
one who threatened me with prison rape, and when I approached them
respectfully and again asked for their names, he leapt to his feet,
threw his finger in my face and began threatening to "beat my ass" if
I didn't drop it.
Afterward, one of his friends, also a police officer, approached me,
accused me of being drunk and said I was about to get arrested again.
I retorted that his accusations were false (considering I'd only
gotten out of jail 30 minutes prior) and that I was only interested in
learning the names of the officers who arrested and harassed us as I
have the legal right to do. He responded with only his name, which he
said was Peter Sikinger, but refused to reveal the names of his
partners, though to his credit, he did back down from threatening me
with arrest.
I am outraged at the egregious conduct of the Nassau Country Police
Department and the failure of Det. Calvert to make good on his promise
to "make things go as smoothly as possible."
But mostly, I must put this on the candidates.
Barack Obama and John McCain, you have failed to properly address the
occupation of Iraq and veteran and servicemember issues in this
campaign. You failed to hear from us, the veterans and servicemembers,
at the conventions. Your overwhelming concern for "Joe the Plumber" at
the final debate while veterans are killing themselves at a rate of 18
per month is inhumane to say the least.
The fact that you allowed your veterans to be arrested, brutalized and
harassed for simply trying to be heard by you is inexcusable. Forever
should your consciences be scarred for what you allowed to take place
to veterans on American soil.
But our questions still stand, and we still demand answers.
Obama, are you ready to support members of the military refusing to
participate in the occupation of Iraq which you have termed "illegal?"
McCain, as a veteran, how can you account for your abysmal failure to
vote in favor of post-2003 legislation to fund the V.A. which provides
life saving services to men and women who gave all to serve this
nation?
Besides which, you both owe the Hempstead 15 an apology. You owe Nick
Morgan an apology for the reconstructive surgery he'll be receiving
and the permanent, violent altering of his face that is a result of
your failure to hear from us.
You owe every veteran in history a public statement condemning the
sidewalk trampling of Nick and Carlos Harris, an Iraq veteran, who
also had his foot broken by a horse. As well Geoff Millard, a disabled
veteran of Iraq with degenerative spine disease who was knocked to the
ground, dragged from the sidewalk and arrested, and Nadine Lubka, one
of our supporters, who was kicked in the face by a horse.
And we the people are not done forcing this issue.
I encourage every person who reads this to contact both the Obama and
McCain campaigns and demand they answer our questions and condemn the
actions of the police Wednesday night.
They don't own this election, the media doesn't own this election, we
the people own this election, and we deserve to have our voices heard.
Any candidate who disagrees with that statement is unworthy the
Presidency of the United States of America.
Peace and Solidarity,
Matthis Chiroux
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