Veterans' Testimonies Echo Vietnam

Growing up in Long Island, joining the military was the only thing Kristofer Goldsmith had planned for his future. But that dream turned into a nightmare.

"I can't say that I was duped into the military by recruiters, because that would be an outright lie," he said. "I joined the Army to kill people. I joined the Army to kill Iraqis, to kill Muslims. To kill people that were a skin tone other than mine and inhabiting the Middle East."

On Sept. 12, 2001, Goldsmith spoke to his fellow high school students about how the United States should use biological and chemical weapons on the entire Middle East in retaliation for the attacks on the World Trade Center.

But on Thursday, May 15, three years after his deployment to Iraq and a suicide attempt, he sat alongside other veterans testifying against the war before members of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Goldsmith and eight other veterans from Iraq Veterans Against the War shared their experiences on the ground in Iraq and their experience upon returning home in a crowded, three-hour forum organized by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Until now, lawmakers had only listened to testimony about the Iraq War from high-ranking generals, cabinet officials and think tank analysts.

"They're all armed with PowerPoint presentations and colorful posters," Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said of those previous testimonies. "They're trying to convince us that, after five years, we're making progress in Iraq. But we know that's not true."

Thursday's unofficial hearing came after the Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan conference. More than 200 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan provided accounts of their experiences during a four-day event beginning on the anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

These antiwar veterans follow in the footsteps of the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation when soldiers returning from Vietnam helped galvanize opposition for the war by publicizing breaches of conduct and the atrocities they witnessed.

On Thursday, the veterans offered similar gripping stories that they say reflect larger problems in Iraq.

Many veterans criticized the military over violence against civilians, breaching the rules of engagement, and providing inaccurate information to the media. Others, like Goldsmith, spoke of the psychological damage caused by extended tours and poor veterans' care.

"What Iraq needs desperately more than anything is rule of law," a former member of the military police unit Adam Kokesh said. "They will never get it with a foreign military imposing martial law."

The gold standard in Iraq is the rules of engagement, he said. However, the brief rules explaining when the use of deadly force is allowed are vague and constantly disregarded.

"This isn"t gonna cut it," he said, holding up a small card all soldiers must carry with the rules. The result, Kokesh said, was that no laws were consistently enforced.

Several veterans said they were told by their superiors to shoot at unarmed civilians for seemingly insignificant reasons: if they looked suspicious, if they were speeding, if they were carrying a shovel or bag alongside a road.

Sgt. Scott Ewing recalled house searches that often resulted in civilian casualties and property damage. For Ewing, it was the first serious difference between what he saw in Iraq and what he saw at home.

"We smashed windows, broke open furniture, stepped on dishes, left graffiti, totally destroyed homes," he explained, while showing photographs of Iraqi homes his unit had searched.

"Middle-aged women were sprawled out on cement, and it looked like someone had opened up on them with a machine gun," said Ewing about one particular search. "It turns out Apache helicopters shot high explosive rounds into their front yard."

Vincent Emanuele, a former rifleman for the Marines, said that civilian deaths often went unreported. If soldiers encountered a dead civilian, he said, standard procedure was to run over the corpse.

The chain of command also gave soldiers weapons to lay next to dead unarmed civilians, according to Sergio Kochergin, a former Marine.

Sgt. Jason Lemieux, who was deployed three times, recalled an incident where his unit returned four rounds of enemy fire with thousands of rounds, tank fire and explosives. The commanding officer edited Lemieux's report on the incident because he did not want his superiors to see that the unit had used such force.

All the veterans focused on war's toll on the mind, expressing regret for everything from posing with dead Iraqis in trophy pictures and destroying civilians' cars to abusing detainees. And many echoed a stark disconnect between what they saw and what was reported by the media. The best army in the world gave their soldiers Vietnam-era flak jackets and M16 rifles made in the late 70s, Kochergin said.

Iraq was not the humanitarian project they were promised by recruiters. Instead of repairing schools and sewage systems, they patrolled neighborhoods and searched houses.

And the deception didn't stop there, according to the veterans. After returning home, several were put on huge waiting lists or denied benefits because of mental health issues.

"When we seek help, they give out pain pills to keep us down," Kochergin said.

After Goldsmith attempted to commit suicide upon hearing he would be sent to Iraq for another tour, he was given a general discharge from the military. He was then denied the $40,000 college scholarship promised to him.

As the veterans were testifying, several House members left to vote on the latest $162.5 billion funding bill to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through next summer. The House defeated spending bill 149-141.

Instead, representatives approved better education benefits for veterans and a Dec. 31, 2009 start date for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

After hearing Goldsmith's story, Rep. Maxine Waters, (D-Calif.) responded emotionally.

"You're going to get your GI bill, and you're going to go to college," she said. "I'm gonna make that commitment today. No matter who is standing in my way. You have to have it. You must have it. Thank God you did not take your life."