Washblog

City protestor: Stop the stop-loss
EVAN KNAPPENBERGER

Since June 1, I have been living on a scaffold in downtown Bellingham in protest of the U.S. military's "stop-loss" and inactive reserve policies, which are being used as a substitute for conscription in a political war, under the pretense of a nonexistent national emergency. These policies are destroying our military readiness as well as the lives of our young men and women.

I joined the Army in 2003 at the age of 17. I believed at the time that the war in Iraq was necessary. Since then, I have learned the hard way that the ends never justify the means. I served nearly four years as an intelligence analyst in a combat unit, including Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF `05-'07). I spent 97 nights on tower guard contemplating the effects of this administration's policies on U.S. military personnel and the Iraqi people, and I began to question these policies. In April 2007, I received a general discharge under honorable circumstances.

Now on tower guard in Bellingham, I have had the opportunity to observe the residents of downtown Bellingham for four days and three nights. They are the best and most open-minded anywhere in this country; I will always remember their generosity and kindness. I've received so much support and solidarity from local citizens, as well as from the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center. I have been speaking, observing, and contemplating the area, the people, and the issues affecting it.

I am convinced that the most important issue facing our local and national communities is the perpetration of criminal immorality against the citizens and soldiers of the United States. The single most disturbing aspect of this plague of injustice can be seen in the "stop-loss" policy enforced by the Department of Defense.

When a person enlists into the armed forces, he or she signs a contract stating a specific amount of time to be served on active duty. The remaining time, the difference that makes eight total years, is spent on what is termed "inactive reserve." "Stop-loss" has resulted in extended tours of duty up to 18 months, as well as soldiers being sent to Iraq multiple times after they have already completed their contractual commitments to active duty. In some cases, these people have been living in civilian life for years. There is no mention of "stop-loss" in the armed forces' contract. Furthermore, the contractual connection between "stop-loss" and the inactive reserve stipulation (paragraph 9C) is tentative, and has been challenged nearly a dozen times in federal court.

Stop-loss is being used as a circumvention of the contractual agreements between the federal government and soldiers. The irony of volunteerism-exploitation-politics is not lost on soldiers who signed up fully trusting in the ability of our elected officials to hold accountable the chief executive. If nothing else, those soldiers who have difficulty thinking in terms of morality or integrity do understand injustice: They too are victims of egregious moral fraud! Ask any one of them that has been extended to 2030 or beyond.

Notwithstanding a treatise on the ethics of something political in nature, I argue that the current administration's policy of stop-loss is immoral, destructive, and often overlooked. According to federal codes 12903-12906, inactive reserve is only to be called upon in times of national emergency.

We must hold it as our duty as responsible citizens to "bring to justice" an administration that has broken the contracts of more than 150,000 young patriots as a way of exploiting a political situation. But more than that, we owe our sons and daughters the moral integrity we would expect in a country founded by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. I owe my friends the dignity they deserve in facing the outrageous policy enslaving them on their way back into the maelstrom.

Please join me in my efforts to bring stop-loss to an end so we can begin rebuilding a shattered service and halt the suffering of my comrades-in-arms.

Evan Knappenberger, 1st BDE, 4th Infantry Division, returned from Iraq in December. He is holding a weeklong vigil on scaffolding outside the Federal Building in downtown Bellingham to raise awareness about the issue of soldiers being sent back to Iraq af