Iraq War Affects NMSU Students and Faculty 

by David Boje - October 2002 (updated Feb 2 2003).  Professor of Management and Vietnam Vietnam

I was drafted and reported for Vietnam in April of 1969. My dad jokingly put the "Uncle Sam Requires you to Report for Active Duty" notice under my pillow. I awoke to the reality, I was going to war. In an orientation session before we took at TWA flight from Oakland CA to Vietnam, I recall the briefing. The lady said, "this is not a war, it is an insurgency. You are going over to Nam to defend your country."  I soon learned the horror of war. From my barracks in Saigon, I could see the helicopters land with the bodies of fellow Americans strapped to their side. The bodies were stacked on the airport runway 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 58,000 young men and women died. Names of men and women (boys and girls) I served with are on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC. I can not bear to go there. I was lucky - I lived, the GI bill paid for my bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. degree. I shook off posttraumatic stress syndrome, defined as diving for cover whenever you hear a car backfire or see a stranger approach. Many of my mates did not make, or came back with stress they never shook off, and most of them turned to drugs. 

Over the years, I have tried to find out why. Was there some purpose to the war? I learned the Gulf on Tonkin was a staged bit of theatre, a fictional battle that never took place, a way to persuade a nation that some little country was a threat to the greatest power on earth. US military budget is 6 times any other nation in the world, and more than the top military budgets of 27 nations; FY 2003 budget is $396.1 billion. I learned arms sales is a trillion dollar industry, and the USA has the biggest market share.  I learned that if an administration wants to take a country to war, it will just do it, and manufacture whatever theatre is necessary. I learned that beneath the rhetoric of Viet Cong as bogeymen and the Domino theory of the fall of communism were all the President's men who sent a nation into war for no good reason, defoliated a country, and infected our own troops with Agent Orange. When I sent to Vietnam I was 21 years old, and naive about American empire and the war machine. I found people there, not communists, not bogeymen.  I learned that two presidents Johnson and Nixon had told boldfaced lies to the American people. I learned that old politicians, rich enough to keep their children out of the draft or in cushy national guard clubs, will send the bodies of the poor and middle class children into the fire. If I had it to live over again, I would have been a peace activist. Now I am. - D. Boje, Feb 2 2003. 

Here are some facts students and faculty should know about the latest war:

1. Is the Draft into Military Service Back? Just the facts: We May Be in for a Serious Draft! The Universal Military Training and Service Act of 2001, H.R. 3598 introduced by Rep. Smith (MI) and Rep. Weldon (PA) would make military service an "OBLIGATION FOR YOUNG MEN" (Sec 3a) between the ages of 18-22.
   www.warresisters.org/draft.htm  - If you are 18 to 22, you can earn $340 per month: Males would be drafted, but women could volunteer; No deferment or postponement of induction for basic military training to complete your college education under this Act - Yes, the Bush Administration plans to reimplement the draft - How else will they get enough bodies to send into World War III that could result from the Iraq war planned for Feb-Mar 2003 -html version of HR 3598; pdf version of HR 3598; Talking Points 

2. Preparations to NET students into Pending Draft by Surveillance of your NEW MEXICO Motor Vehicle records - Here is the Bill, EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2003.

HOUSE BILL 89 46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003 INTRODUCED BY Thomas A. Anderson

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; AUTHORIZING THAT PERSONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED FOR AN INITIAL APPLICATION OR RENEWAL OF A DRIVER'S LICENSE OR IDENTIFICATION CARD MAY BE FORWARDED TO THE SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM; ENACTING A SECTION OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE CODE. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. A new section of the Motor Vehicle Code is enacted to read:

"[NEW MATERIAL] CONSENT TO REGISTRATION WITH THE SELECTIVE SERVICE
SYSTEM--APPLICABILITY.--

A. A male United States citizen or immigrant who is under the age of twenty-six shall consent to his registration in compliance with the requirements of the federal Military Selective Service Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 453 et seq., when applying to receive or renew a driver's license or identification card.

B. The division shall forward in an electronic format the necessary personal information required for registration of the applicants identified in Subsection A of this section to the selective service system. The applicant's submission of the application shall serve as an indication that the applicant has already registered with the selective service or that he is authorizing the division to forward to the selective service the necessary information for registration. The division shall notify the applicant on the application that his submission of the application will serve as his consent to be registered with the selective service system if he is required to do so by federal law.

C. The provisions of this section shall apply to male United States citizens and immigrants under the age of twenty-six who are applying for issuance, renewal or duplication of an instruction permit, a driver's license, a provisional driver's license, a commercial driver's license or an identification card on or after the effective date of this act. If under the age of eighteen, applicants will be registered by the selective service system upon attaining the age of eighteen as required by federal law."

(For more info, go to http//www.nisbco.org/stopdraft.htm  ). For similar measure and public reaction in New Hamshire to http://www.afsc.org/../nero/nh/alert3602.htm 

3. Is the Registrar's Office of NMSU become a branch of INS or FBI? We do not know. We do know that  220 University administrators have already released, otherwise confidential information about foreign students to the INS and FBI.  Is this a way to kick foreign students out of school? Will it raise your tuition, one more time? Giving confidential records to INS and FBI is a violation of civil liberties, your right to privacy, it is racist, and it is what the Nazis did in Germany to the Jews. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, student records are confidential. Parents have control of the records until a student turns 18, then they can only be disclosed with the student's permission. It used to take a subpoena -. Sign Petition; Get more info; CNN report. 

4. Is Campus Police working with the FBI? Universities across the country are being recruited to work with the FBI to provide surveillance of students. See  University police new recruits in terror war: They follow suspects for FBI January 28, 2003 BY ADAM GORLICK . And see McCarthyism Watch: FBI goes to Campus - to interrogate professor (Dec 17 2002).  Campus police are being recruited to track and surveillance foreign students and professors. 

5. There is no credible evidence that Iraq has threatened to attack the US. There is no evidence of connections to al-Qaida. Iraq did not use weapons of mass destruction in the 1991 Gulf War; so why would they risk retaliation by US and UK? Iraq did use mustard gas against Iran in Iran  1981  to 1988; Guess where they got it? Guess which was the only country to vote against a UN resolution on  21 March 1986 to stop use of said chemical weapons?  Iraq has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since 1993. Where is the evidence they have amassed such weapons or intend to use them now?  Iraq dismantled its nuclear capabilities in 1998, which were deemed insufficient for military use; Guess which country called a halt to the UN inspections? There is no evidence that said capabilities have been rebuilt. A preemptive war invasion of another country is against International Law - See Cambridge Student Fact Sheet; Columbia College Anti War Resolution; Ohio State University; See 33 International Relations Scholars point question the Administration's data. 

   Saddam Hussein is a murderous despot, but no one has provided credible evidence that Iraq is cooperating with al Qaeda. Even if Saddam Hussein acquired nuclear weapons, he could not use them without suffering massive U.S. or Israeli retaliation. The first Bush administration did not try to conquer Iraq in 1991 because it understood that doing so could spread instability in the Middle East, threatening U.S. interests. This remains a valid concern today. The United States would win a war against Iraq, but Iraq has military options—chemical and biological weapons, urban combat—that might impose significant costs on the invading forces and neighboring states. Even if we win easily, we have no plausible exit strategy. Iraq is a deeply divided society that the United States would have to occupy and police for many years to create a viable state. Al Qaeda poses a greater threat to the U.S. than does Iraq. War with Iraq will jeopardize the campaign against al Qaeda by diverting resources and attention from that campaign and by increasing anti-Americanism around the globe. Source 33 International Relations Scholars

6. First Iraq Oil, then New Mexico Oil grab by greedy oil Corporations. HEYCO oil company, for example, wants a gas pipeline built from Texas into the heart of New Mexico's Greater Otero Mesa (Sierra Club). In February 2002 Bureau of Land Management announced plans to open the core of the Greater Otero Mesa to full-scale oil and gas development on a roving 5 percent per lease basis (Otero Mesa Coalition). That means 95% of the value of the oil and gas (estimated at over 2 billion a year throughout NM) will leave New Mexico. Learn more about Big Oil's Energy plan for Otero Mesa and Iraq. There are 10 Oily Dates to Remember, before we send NMSU students to war in Iraq.

   Ten Oily Dates to Remember about Iraq War - compiled by Boje:  2000 Bush Jr., Cheney, & oil corporations planned Iraq invasion before the election (Cheney Energy Report). 2001 - Jan 20  Bush assumes President role in Whitehouse 2002 - Jan & Feb Bush is caught up in Enrongate and a war on Afghanistan, then Iraq keeps media from making Enrongate into Watergate (Boje, 2002a). 2002 - October, US declares war on Iraq 2003 After Iraq War - US installs puppet government Iraq that reissues oil contracts to mega oil corporations; oil cartel nets $1.1 trillion dollars from Iraq reserves 2012 US oil reserves will run out (says BP). 2020 US will import 17 million barrels of oil per day (US Department of Energy).  2131 Iraq oil reserves, now owned by US/UK oil cartel corporations run out (BP). 2045 World oil supply runs dry at current rates of production and consumption.  2046 US decides to develop alternative energy such as fuel cells, solar, and bio mass; Or US economy goes bankrupt from $400 billion cost of this war. See Complete version at 10 Oily Dates to Remember

7. Ask yourself these 10 Questions