Mother Sheehan has a new comrade in her quest for media attention. If there is a picture of Cindy, look closely and you'll see Geoffrey Millard nearby. Who is this new fella? Millard is an Iraq war vet who served in Tikrit with the New York National Guard. He's also a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and a "full time peace and justice activist". According to one report, "instead of going home to his wife and kid to finish his degree in African American studies, he's travelling around doing the anti-war thing."
According to interviews with Millard, "he injured his leg while serving in Iraq. The Iraqi doctors recommended he be sent home, but his commander refused." Millard has also said "I just can't do my job anymore. I have what's called IT Band Syndrome, plus a number of other things." But according to one intrepid researcher, Millard initially "injured his knee in High School wrestling. He re-injured it while at 11B (Infantry) reclass school in Vermont. He was on Profile for a majority of his time in Iraq." Regardless of where or how he actually injured his knee, it did not stop him from walking with the IVAW and VAW to New Orleans or from the numerous protest marches he has participated in.
Millard is still on active duty with the NY National Guard. One report claims that Millard is "hoping for a medical discharge" because of his knee injury. In an April 2006 article, it's reported that Millard is "now declaring conscientious objection." Either way, Millard is an active duty member of the National Guard that wears his defaced uniform in a disgraceful manner while speaking about his "boss" with as much respect as one would expect from a Sheehanite.
Millard has traveled across the country spreading his anti-war, anti-Bush message. Another perk was getting to attend the World Social Forum in Venezuela. He is a contributing writer for TruthOut. His articles and statements have also appeared in the GI Special on the Iraqi Resistance Website (www.albasrah.com) and in the Workers World News. Millard has appeared at numerous Sheehan events and is currently participating in the "fake fast" media event.
If there was any doubt about Millard and his true agenda, here are some of his more infamous statements...US Soldiers: Iraq Massacre Not Exception
"US soldiers are put into a situation where they are forced to brutalise, forced to racialise, forced to sexualise everyone in order to dominate and control a people."
"The real Iraqis getting bombed are the poor. It's the poor in Iraq who make up the resistance, just like anywhere, because the rich are still going to get their's, whatever."
"Right now there is a ward full of people dying of Gulf War Syndrome in my town in Buffalo, NY. Most of that has been traced to depleted uranium."
"had to "fight for press coverage in my local town of Buffalo" but at the WSF "I just sit in an area and they line up to talk to me."
"We know the struggle of the Iraqi people, because we know what they are going through."
"Chavez made references to Noam Chomsky [in his WSF address]. I found a politican who can read! Unlike our president - I wonder if he is a functional illiterate. The man almost died eating a pretzel."
On Chavez - "this is a man who is starting to look out for the interests of his people, who's telling the corporate interests a big'no'. He's saying that my job is for the people first and foremost."
"Imagine if we had a president who said 'no' to McDonalds, 'no' to Microsoft, 'no' to Exxon, Haliburton and Bechtel. If he said 'yes' to people, 'yes' to poor people, 'yes' to homeless people...where would that leave our society in the US?"
"As long as the US is a military superpower, the world is going in the wrong direction. But the hope of Venezuela is that the people from the grassroots level can oppose all that. If they can do it here, then we can do it in the USA."
Prairie Chapel 12
"I fought in an unjust an illegal war that has left me very much a different person, because I took an oath to that document [Constitution]."
"We lost the White House and we did nothing, we lost the congress and we did nothing, if we allow the ditches to be lost then where will we be able to stand up in order to retake our democracy from these hijackers?"
Americans Who Tell The Truth
"You know what demoralizes the troops? Lies that send you to war to demoralize the troops. They broke their contract with me. I'm ready to fight and die, but not for a lie. Killing civilians demoralizes the troops. Putting a tourniquet on a buddy's arm that you know he will lose demoralizes the troops. Your wife divorcing you because you're no longer the same person demoralizes the troops."
Bard Observer
"This is an illegal and immoral war. We invaded a country that never attacked the US. It violates the UN charter."
"But the elections in Iraq are a fraud. This is not a democracy. They are a fraud because we picked their candidates."
"Instead I joined the army - the biggest gang in the world."
"I was 17 when this happened. It was fun. I got my dick hard. I blowed shit up. I became an explosive expert. What they don't tell you though is that they train you this to kill people."
"The media say we are rebuilding schools, instead of building them. We're rebuilding them because we bombed them. We bombed schools with children inside.... We bombed hospitals with patients in them."
Bring Them Home
"My First Amendment rights aren't being trampled by Al Qaeda. Saddam Hussein never tapped my phone. Right now, the enemies of the Constitution are domestic."
From the Iconoclast Interview
On Hurricane Katrina - "I watched America be destroyed, and I saw all around me what we could be doing there, but instead, we were in Iraq destroying these people."
And I saved the best for last... How does Cindy's new boy toy feel about her?
"We think of her as our mother. For God's sake, for any one of us, she could be our own mom."
"...so that when I give [Cindy] a hug, she's my mother for that moment.... She is one of the most kind and wonderful women I have met in years."
So there you have it... the newest face in the legion of Sheehanites. But don't hold your breath waiting on the media to describe Geoffrey Millard as anything other than a saint. After all, anti-war Iraq vets are sacred.
No comments:
Post a Comment