New Hampshire Primary ~ Keeping the war visible

American Friends Service Committee and Peace Action New Hampshire are dramatizing the pro-peace agenda with the help of the Yellow Rose Peace Bus, a slogan-bedecked, full-sized coach driven by Jim Goodnow, a Vietnam Veteran from Texas who will be touring the state until the primary voting on January 8 is completed.

VETERANS WHO SPOKE OUT TODAY INCLUDED:

WILLIAM HOPKINS

An Iraq war veteran, Hopkins said today: "I joined the New Hampshire
National Guard in May of 2001 at a time the World Trade towers still
stood; it was not at all unusual to talk to fellow guardsmen who had
been in for 25 years or more and not been deployed aside from short
in-state relief deployments for ice storms or flooding. ... A few months
after I completed basic training, I watched in horror as the World Trade
Center fell; along with our country, the course of my life changed
drastically.
"I was deployed to Iraq with my company, Cco 3-172nd INF (Mountain),
in March of '04. The deployment lasted eleven months, over thirteen if
you count train-up and out-processing. If you have seen "The War Tapes"
-- that was us. Our missions included convoy
escort, route security, limited urban operations, and cordon for the
Fallujah offensive. I was decorated for valor, for a firefight which
took place north of Baghdad during Ramadan of '04, and finished my term
with the National Guard in May of '07.
"My combat experience is something I think about every day. ... As
for the men of Cco, we all miraculously survived our deployment. Most
months our ammunition expenditures were greater than the entire
remainder of our battalion; we were the only company in our brigade free
of casualties. However the physical and mental injuries sustained in
Iraq still haunt most of us, we had a large number of combat injuries,
and PTSD is a big issue for many of us. While I have lost track of most
of my company, there are guys who have been in and out of prison with
substance abuse and violence issues, there are a handful who have been
unable to hold a job and are now on full disability for PTSD. Chemical
and depleted uranium exposure is also an issue, and one of us is
currently fighting for his life with a brain tumor.
"I was against the Iraq offensive when it began; the evidence
provided suggesting that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction
was flimsy at best, I chose to serve rather than go to jail, and I was
forced to do things that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

PAUL SCHAEFER

A Vietnam War veteran, Schaefer just arrived in New Hampshire on the
"Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus," which will be at major events until
the New Hampshire primary. He said today: "It seems like most of the
candidates are trying to play it both ways on the Iraq war. Will they
remove all the troops? Will they dismantle the military bases? We need a
timetable for withdrawal and to use our resources for reconstruction in
Iraq and for so many things here."

For more information on these and other Veterans' interviews, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167