Veterans for Peace is an organization founded in 1985. Initially made up of US military veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, and as well as peacetime veterans and non-veterans, it has since spread overseas and has an active offshoot in the United Kingdom (which has effectively replaced the former 'Ex-Services CND' organization).[1] The group works to promote alternatives to war.
The organization has opposed the military policies of the United States, NATO and Israel, and has opposed military actions and threats to Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and Syria.
We draw on our personal experiences and perspectives gained as veterans to raise public awareness of the true costs and consequences of militarism and war - and to seek peaceful, effective alternatives."[2]
Veterans For Peace was founded and incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of Maine on July 8, 1985.[3] It was approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational organization that year. It was also recognized as a United Nationsnon-governmental organization (NGO) in 1990.[4] VFP's first permanent representative to the United Nations was Benjamin Weintraub of Staten Island, New York, who was seated in 1990.[5] Chapters and members are active in communities throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Viet Nam. National conventions are held annually and members communicate through quarterly newsletters as well as daily listserve news, online discussion groups as well as the national and chapter websites. Veterans for Peace has a national office in Saint Louis, Missouri and members across the country, both organized in chapters and at-large.
At least one unrelated anti-war group from the Vietnam War era had a similar name: "Veterans for Peace in Viet-Nam" participated in a number of demonstrations in 1967.[6] And another demonstration in Washington, DC.[7][self-published source?] Yet another group with a similar name may also have existed at the time of the Korean War.[citation needed]
Anti-war activities
VFP first began organizing major anti-war protests in 1987 when, on Easter Sunday, hundreds of its members marched on President Reagan's "Western White House" in California, and Vice President Bush's vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine, protesting U.S. support for the Nicaraguan Contra counter-revolution.[8]
In August 2005, Veterans For Peace Member, Desert storm veteran Dennis Kyne[9][better source needed] lead a group of veterans in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US Army soldier killed in Iraq who embarked on an extended anti-war vigil near the ranch of US PresidentGeorge W. Bush in Crawford, Texas.[10] On August 5, 2005, Sheehan spoke at the organization's 20th annual convention in Dallas, Texas, just a day before traveling to Crawford to begin her vigil. Members traveled from California to install an Arlington West display at "Camp Casey", the site of Sheehan's protest.[citation needed]
According to Vets for Peace - Peace Action Network, "The military has a clear and dangerous presence at Milwaukee's Summerfest" (June 26 - July 6, 2008). "One exhibit is especially offensive: kids as young as 13 years old can aim automatic weapons from atop a humvee at a large screen to virtually kill people."[citation needed]
In 2016, the US Peace Memorial Foundation awarded the US Peace Prize to the group “In recognition of heroic efforts to expose the causes and costs of war and to prevent and end armed conflict.”[12]
Veterans for Peace takes positions on a number of issues which generally oppose the military policy of the United States, NATO and its allies against nations such as Iran, Russia, Palestine and Syria.
Veterans affairs
Members and chapters actively participate in efforts to save VA healthcare and defend veterans rights; to provide counseling through the GI Rights Hotline to active duty military needing assistance; and providing alternative information to counter military recruiters in the schools.[citation needed]
In April 1986, VFP protested the judicial execution of David Funchess, a Vietnam War veteran who was electrocuted in Florida for a double murder despite exhibiting signs of severe post-traumatic stress disorder from his service that may have affected his moral culpability in the murders he committed. VFP set up a round-the-clock vigil at the Florida Vietnam War Memorial in the days leading up to Funchess's execution. Members of VFP called Funchess a "forgotten man" and protested that neither Florida Governor Bob Graham nor the state and federal courts had taken Funchess's PTSD into enough consideration when refusing to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.[13][14]
Central America
In the 1980s, VFP opposed US-sponsored wars in Central America. On Easter Sunday, Apr 19, 1987, VFP members marched on President Reagan's Western White House in California, and Vice President Bush's vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine, protesting U.S. intervention in Central America.[8] From May 4–18, 1987, sixteen members of VFP representing eight states traveled through Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua conducting site visits and interviews with high level government, military, religious and private sector elders, and talking with many average citizens. Following their return, they published a 40-page delegation report that was distributed to 5,000 opinion leaders in the United States including members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the heads of many government offices and agencies, church, labor, and educational leaders, and media pace setters.[15] In 1988, many VFP members participated in the Veterans Peace Convoy which was intended to truck medical and humanitarian aid to the suffering children of Nicaragua. Though the convoy was stopped by U.S. Customs and Treasury officials in Texas at the Laredo border checkpoint, on June 15, 1988, the vehicles were off-loaded into containers at a Texas port facility and about 95% of the cargo reached its destination in Nicaragua.[16] In July 1988, VFP member Joe Ryan, an environmental scientist, of Tallahassee, Florida, established VFP's Nicaragua Environmental Science Project. Ryan spent two years working in Nicaragua training pollution control teams how to correct water contamination problems. The project was credited with significantly reducing the nation's infant mortality rate.[17] Also in July 1988, VFP member Randy Parent of Caribou, Maine, drove a truckload of smelting and casting equipment to Guatemala where he established the Pro-Tierra Machine Tool Project to train members of several indigenous tribes how to make farm tools for the 100,000 members of the Pro-Tierra land reform movement.[18] VFP regularly sends election observers to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.[19][citation needed]
Yugoslav wars
Within a year of the start of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, it was announced the hospitals in several cities were no longer functional, and thousands of refugees had fled to the mountains. As the refugees were ill-equipped to face the coming winter, many were expected to perish. VFP's UN-NGO representative Ben Weintraub was instructed to offer U.N. officials whatever assistance VFP could provide in helping to deliver medical and humanitarian aid. Following discussions with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), another UN-NGO, the VFP National Office began contacting hospitals around the U.S. requesting pro bono services for any war wounded children that could be evacuated. Within weeks VFP had secured pro bono space and services for over 100 wounded children, but IOM had been able to evacuate very few due to Serbian, Croatian, and U.N. political constraints. In response, VFP organized the Children of War Rescue Project, and with assistance from contacts in the U.K., chief among them John Morrison of the Ex-Services Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and over 200 other British volunteers, a 63 vehicle convoy including 50 ambulances was staged at Brighton, England. Seven VFP volunteers including three physicians also joined the convoy that traveled almost non-stop for five days and nights. The convoy stopped only to regroup in Croatia. A Spanish battalion of U.N. protection forces assisted with armored vehicles in the evacuation of over 22 wounded children from East Mostar, Bosnia, including at least one family member accompanying each child. The children were airlifted to Ancona, Italy, and once stabilized, from there to hospitals throughout western Europe and the United States. In all, pro bono space and medical services were provided for about 50 wounded Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian children through the project.[20]
War on Terror
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, VFP called for restraint while agreeing that: "...the hijacked airplane attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon a grievous assault upon innocence; a cause for outrage, sadness and disbelief....At this critical point, we believe it is essential to recognize that terrorists do not represent, nor are representative, of any community or country as a whole. We must not allow terrorism the power to create fear, suspicion and hatred -- or to direct our nation's domestic and foreign policies. We must not surrender to the cycle of retaliatory violence these angry people would push us into. Instead, we must come together and support each other, with faith and trust."[21] Veterans For Peace seeks to protect civil liberties that they believe are threatened by the Patriot Act and other similar legislation.[citation needed]
Local chapters continue[when?] to conduct educational forums, demonstrations, and ongoing Iraq memorial displays such as Arlington West (portrayed in the documentary Arlington West: The Film) to remember the growing human cost of the war, to end the occupation, and to bring U.S. troops home.[citation needed]
VFP Chapter 14 in Gainesville, Florida has for the last eight years[timeframe?] installed a display of small headstone replicas along a one-mile stretch of road in town which they call the Memorial Mile. Rows of 4 "tombstones" and columns of about 1+1⁄2-mile long represent every person killed since the beginning of war in Afghanistan to the very day of installation. Every single marker can be located for a friend or loved one to visit, and often remembrances or flowers are left by friends and relatives. From Sat. Morning to Monday evening on Memorial Day weekend VFP members and volunteers guard the memorial in shifts. The community has welcomed this tribute to the fallen service men and women and Chapter 14 continues to do this until all the troops come home.[citation needed]
Impeachment of George W. Bush
In 2005 and 2007, VFP called for the impeachment of PresidentBush. In a letter sent to each member of the U.S. House and Senate, Veterans For Peace stated that "this administration's war on Iraq, in addition to being increasingly unpopular among Americans, is an unmistakable violation of our Constitution and federal law which you have sworn to uphold. In our system, the remedy for such high crimes is clear: this administration must be impeached."[22][23]
Israel-Palestine
Veterans for Peace members at January 2009 protest vs. Israeli attacks on Gaza
Veterans For Peace issued a statement on Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon condemning the targeting of civilians by both sides and the "unjustified and totally disproportionate use of force and violence by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)."[24] In 2009 it issued a statement against Israel's attacks on Gaza condemning attacks on civilians both sides and stating "Bombings, rocket attacks, blockading medical supplies and military invasions will not lead to peace and security but will perpetuate the cycle of death, destruction, fear and insecurity among the people of all countries, including the U.S."[25]
VFP was a sponsor for the Boston March for Palestine which demanded to "Free Palestine! No war on Iran or Syria! and Boycott Israel!" along with the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights and the Palestine Task Force of United for Justice with Peace. Members of the Palestine Working Group support remembrance of Al Nakba, and have made visits to Gaza and participated in "efforts to break the blockade of essential supplies to the area, including the Gaza Flotilla".[26]
War against Iran
VFP agrees with the Iranian complaint that NATO seeks to "surround and threaten the nation of Iran".[27] In 2012, the group stated that "Iran does not have a nuclear bomb. The U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously confirm this and say that Iran has not made the decision to build a nuclear weapon. Yet Iran has three neighbors that possess nuclear arsenals—India, Israel, and Pakistan."[28] VFP endorsed United for Peace and Justice position against a War against Iran.[28]
Humanitarian intervention in Syria and Libya
In 2012, VFP opposed military “humanitarian intervention” in Libya and in Syria as "opposition to all war is the official position of VFP because we know that peace cannot be realized by waging war."[29]
Drones
Veterans For Peace joined Code Pink, World Can't Wait and Afghans For Peace to protest Drones in Chicago in 2012.[30] On their national calendar, April 2013 was marked as the "No Drone" action month. Chapters across the nation held actions, protesting the use of drones.
NATO
VFP has called for the dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a "NATO has always been a war-making institution lacking in accountability to the peoples of the nations it claims to represent." VFP states that NATO has waged wars of aggression against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. VFP states that NATO maintains nuclear weapons in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. They back Russia's protest that Russia is threatened by missile base construction on its borders. VFP cites Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Mubarak as examples where NATO did not address human rights abuses by dictators who supported NATO, and charges that NATO supports "Israel's expansionist agenda".[27]
Agent Orange
VFP works with other Vietnam veterans, Vietnamese-Americans, and the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC)[31] to secure justice and compensation for the Vietnamese victims of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange and other herbicides that were sprayed over more than 1/8 of the land of southern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the American portion of the Vietnam War.[citation needed]
After revelations[when?] of the massacres of civilians by U.S. soldiers during the Korean War, VFP sent several fact-finding delegations to investigate these allegations and bring the hidden history of that war before the public.[19] They continue to work for an end to that conflict through their Korea Peace Campaign.[citation needed]
VFP sent fact-finding delegations to Colombia and educated Americans about US military involvement, the murder of union leaders by para-militaries and other human rights abuses, including the use of harmful chemical defoliants in the War on Drugs.[citation needed]
Government monitoring and infiltration
According to FOIA documents obtained by the ACLU in 2006, VFP was among the peace groups targeted by FBI monitoring and infiltration by the FBI and local law enforcement terrorism task forces that targeted environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups.[32]
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