Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone, brings us inside the movement of military resistance to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since 2006, a majority in the United States have opposed the continued occupation of Iraq, and increasing skepticism surrounds the escalation in Afghanistan. But how do the soldiers who carry out the American occupations see their missions?
Fragmented reports of battalions refusing orders, of individual soldiers refusing redeployment and taking a public stand against the occupations have trickled into the mainstream reportage over the last five years. But how deep does the current of resistance run? What makes soldiers decide to go AWOL, file for conscientious objector status, and even serve sentences in military prison for their acts of refusal?
Dahr Jamail's comprehensive study of the today's military resisters sheds new light on the contours of dissent within the ranks of the world's most powerful military.
Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who has covered the Middle East for more than four years. Jamail writes for the Inter Press Service and many other outlets and is a regular guest on Democracy Now! His ongoing coverage of the occupation and soldier’s resistance can be read at: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/
"Jamail's human portrait of the men and women who turned away from the project of empire should serve as a beacon." —Chris Hedges
"Dahr Jamail is one of very few journalists who have displayed the courage—physical, intellectual, and moral courage—to tell the truth about the invasion of Iraq. In this outstanding book, he describes the often secret resistance within the US military." —John Pilger
“Based on his experiences as an investigative reporter in Iraq and in his frequent conversations with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Jamail vividly portrays issues of conscience for military personnel during wartime. As a woman veteran, I thank him for exposing sexual assault and rape in the military—including the warning that of women seeking help from the Veteran’s Affairs, one in three has been sexually assaulted while in the military. Jamail’s work provides indispensable help in our understanding of the costs of war to our own military as well as to countries the United States occupies.” —Ann Wright, Retired U.S. Army Reserves Colonel and U.S. diplomat who resigned in opposition to the Iraq War
