{"id":12848,"date":"2009-07-21T06:10:33","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T11:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=12848"},"modified":"2009-07-21T08:12:37","modified_gmt":"2009-07-21T13:12:37","slug":"mejia-on-carl-webb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=12848","title":{"rendered":"Mejia on Carl Webb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of you may remember the investigation we did on Carl Webb<\/a> a month-and-a-half ago. Webb made several comments on the internet that urged members of the military to sabotage equipment and otherwise disrupt military operations while stationed in Iraq. We had Webb’s military records and proved that he wasn’t eligible for membership in IVAW. That post has yet to be disputed with any evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n

Webb has become a point of contention among members of the IVAW for quite sometime because some members of the IVAW don’t like being associated with other members who advocate killing US troops. The latest to resign because of Webb, is Jeff Peskoff<\/a>, a member of this forum. <\/p>\n

Since the Board of Directors of the IVAW has been hesitant about doing anything about a rogue member advocating treason and sabotage from the safety of his keyboard in Austin, TX, Peskoff finally got a statement last night on Facebook from Camilo Mejia, IVAW’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. That statement follows;
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Carl’s statements have not been causing controversy for a few months; they have actually been causing controversy for a few years now. The first time I heard Carl-related controversies was actually in Arcata, CA (what do you know!), and it was from Tim Goodrich – This was (I believe) in May of 2005, before we even had a BOD, at a time when the leadership of IVAW was in its infant stage. Carl’s statement back then was also along of the lines of supporting the Iraqiresistance. Although the satements were without any direct mention of killing American troops nor sabotaging American vehicles, they were enough for many people to ask for his head on a platter. Then, as now, my position was that I do not think Carl should be expelled from IVAW.<\/p>\n

Here is why:<\/p>\n

Suppose for a moment that we did not posses the most powerful military the earth has ever seen. Suppose also that our streets were occupied by the most powerful military the earth has ever seen in what is known to the entire world as an illegal, criminal and immoral occupation, and that a million Americans had been killed by these occupaying troops and that four to five million Americans were displaced inside as well as outside of the United Sates as a result of said occupation, and that eight million Americans were in need of emergency medical assistance, and that just about every American personally knew someone who had been killed, maimed, or tortured by these occupaying military.<\/p>\n

In this theoretical scenario, how many IVAW members (who would be regular civilians living under this occupation I have just described) do you think would advocate for and support armed resistance against the occupiers? How many young Americans would enlist in the ranks of the armed resistance and, incapable of meeting this formidable military face-to-face, place bombs on the roads, and sabotage the vehicles of the occupaying military? Let’s go back in time to the revolutionary war, when the minute men engaged the British army from the distance, from behind the concealment of trees, instead of face-to-face in a more European, gentleman-like kind of way. The British called them terrorists, because they fought the best way they could against the most powerful military on earth at that time. These revolutionary Americans are heroes because they fought for the self-determination of this country against the British army. No body gives them any shit for doing that – they had the right to defend themselves, and their land, by any means necessary, and with all the means available to them, including “acts of terrorism” and “sabotage.”<\/p>\n

Back to Carl’s controversial statements:<\/p>\n

Why is it so easy for us to call this occupation criminal and immoral and yet so difficult for us to afford Iraqis the same rights we feel entitled to? If we may call the US occupation of Iraq illegal and criminal, and we can support our own right to fight an occupation, then why can’t we support the right of Iraqis to do the same? And why do we want to crucify Carl for saying exactly what I have just said here?<\/p>\n

I don’t want American troops to be killed, nor our vehicles to be sabotaged. And my approach to the issue is to demand immediate and absolute withdrawal from Iraq so none of that takes place. Our concentration, as an organization, should be to stop the violence and to promote peace, but that does not give us the right to tell our members they cannot support national liberation movements (Don’t we support the national liberation of Iraq?), even when those movements implicate that resistance fighters will kill and sabotage our troops when our troops are engaged in illegal and criminal occupations. What Carl says is nothing more than a differnt face of the same IVAW coin, the ugly face that no one wants to see or acknowledge. No, it’s easier to ignore the analysis, to not ask the hard questions of what occupations mean to the occupied, and to what degree they are allowed to fight the same way we would be allowed to fight, were we ever in their shoes. No, it’s easier to claim “there has been a violation of the code of conduct” by this “non-combat black radical who didn’t even serve in Iraq.” I am sorry, but I have to go there as well. I think the same statements would be tolerated if Carl’s skin was white, his eyes blue, his politics mainstream, and if he served in Iraq. The notion that there isn’t a racist factor in this equation is simply laughable. The attitude here is not one of reflection, or analysis. No one is asking for dialogue or debate. No the attitude here is more along the lines of “let’s throw this black, non-combat radical out of our organzation” for forcing us to think hard about “our own position!” I’m sorry, I cannot support that! And I will fight this resolution to remove Carl from IVAW with every intellectual cell I have in my brain, with every word I am able to speak and write, with my principles and convictions, because I understand that the issue goes far beyond Carl himself and into the heart of a very comfortable and hypocritical position many IVAW members have assumed, which I find quite racist against not only Carl, but also against Iraqis themselves.<\/p>\n

The board has not ignored the complaints about Carl. We have dealt with each and every one of them, or at least the ones that were formally presented to us. We have just had the sense not to throw him out or punish him based on the allegations that have been brought against him. I am only speaking for myself here, but I don’t think this case is any different. The board has not yet discussed Daniel’s proposal, but we did discuss Carl’s latest controversial statements on our most recent conference call. <\/p>\n

We decided to deal with Carl internally, while issuing a call for unity; unity accross political and philosophical disagreements through respectful dialogue and debate, and in a non-punitive (kick Carl out) way. The board concluded that any statement calling for the splinttering of IVAW is a clear violation of the code of conduct, but such violations are not necessarily grounds for termination of membership, not right away at least. Expelling a member from the organization is one of the toughest choices a board can make, and should only be used as a final option. Are we at that stage yet? How many of the members who want to terminate Carl have asked for an open discussion on the issue? How many have asked Carl for a friendly debate? How many people have asked Carl exactly what he means, and if he For the good of IVAW I really hope the board (this one and the new one coming up in August) and the membership have enough sense to view this as an opportunity for us to come together,and to be made stronger by the diversity of our views, and not as an opportunity to promote intolerance, and further fracture what so many of us have worked so hard to build.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So there you have it – the IVAW advocates for peace, except when it comes to killing US troops. And in the event that you don’t stand for killing US troops, you’re a racist. Carl Webb is a Marxist, Camilo Mejia is a Marxist. Rather than save his organization from the antics of a mooch and a thug like Carl Webb, Mejia “will fight this resolution to remove Carl from IVAW with every intellectual cell I have in my brain”. <\/p>\n

So if I were a member of the IVAW, at this point, I’d be asking myself “what is the value of my membership?” The Board has clearly taken the side of one member over the entire membership, not on an ideological basis (Mejia admits that Webb’s comments are distasteful), but for purely political reasons. And if you don’t agree with the board, you’re a racist. <\/p>\n

Peskoff responds;<\/p>\n

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Enough said Camilo..you can keep going on, but
\nthis is all I needed to hear from you “Then, as now, my position was that I do not think Carl should be expelled from IVAW.”<\/p>\n

That’s great…..Let it be known that the Chairman of the Board at Iraq Veterans Against the War agrees with Carl Webb’s stance that American Soldiers should sabatoge American Troop’s vehicle’s inside a combat zone. Let it also be known that the Chairman of the Board at Iraq Veterans Against the War agrees with the statement “then I go on the record as advocating violence against American troops.” And lastly the Chairman of the Board at Iraq Veterans Against the War also thinks it’s okay to “splinter IVAW so that the reactionary conservative elements can be forced out.”<\/p>\n

Awesome stuff, Thanks Camilo!!<\/p>\n

wow….Now I’m a freakin racist???? what the hell.<\/p>\n

Did I ever mention Carl’s skin color at all? Nope wow….we are all racists now. Thanks Camilo. You lost all creditability when you called us racists. I don’t even remember a single thing you said, and I don’t want to read it again to find out….the only part I can remember is your attack on me for being a racist. Please cite anywhere, anytime, or anyplace you have witnessed me spewing any racism…please!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And Army Sergeant;<\/p>\n

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Hey Camilo, here’s a question or two for you.<\/p>\n

1) Carl has openly stated that he only remains in IVAW to splinter it and to force out the non-revolutionary elements. How is this not divisive?<\/p>\n

2) How can you be such a hypocrite, and have such colossal gall, to say that you defend Carl’s right to say whatever he pleases and be as divisive as he likes, when you attempted to have me thrown out of the organization for my own free speech about you and the ISO? <\/p>\n

3) Why is it racist if Jeff and some others want to kick out Carl who is black, but not racist and sexist when you kicked the only female minority member off the board and tried to have me thrown out of the organization? I’m not blue eyed and blonde haired either, in case you haven’t noticed. Does that make you a sexist?<\/p>\n

Also, Camilo, you may not have been paying attention for the last \/two years\/, but people have tried to have this discussion with him nicely. I know you were not a member of Afghanistance, but some of us were, and saw how jacked up his comments there were too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of you may remember the investigation we did on Carl Webb a month-and-a-half ago. Webb … Mejia on Carl Webb<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,37,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antiwar-crowd","category-ivaw","category-usual-suspects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}