From GI Special 107
Active Duty New Jersey Soldier Leads Protest to Bring Troops Home!
by
David Cline
On Friday October 3,
a demonstration took place at the Newark offices of NJ Senators Corzine and
Lautenberg led by Army reservist Frank Mendez, along with 25 family members,
friends and members of Veterans For Peace, to demand the troops be brought
home.
It was Mendez’s 23rd
birthday and he is home on a thirteen day leave from the 310 Battalion, which
is deployed in Iraq. Since 9/11/01, his unit has been on active duty almost two
years, first at Fort Tyler and Fort Drum and now in Iraq.
Mendez stated, “I had
no problem going into this. I knew the mission going in: We were going to find
weapons of mass destruction. Only there weren’t any, then the mission became
bringing democracy to Iraq. But now we’re just in the country sitting on our
butts wasting taxpayers money and wasting our time”
A banner read “God
Bless America—Bring The Troops Home Now” and demonstrators chanted slogans and
displayed signs, receiving numerous thumbs up and horn blasts of support from
the motorists driving by. Only one motorist voiced opposition, shouting “it’s
better to fight in Iraq than here.” Most people walking by signed petitions
calling for a return of the troops and several joined the picket line as well. One
veteran joined VFP on the spot.
After demonstrating
for an hour, a representative for Senator Jon Corzine came down to speak to
Mendez who explained the situation he and his fellow reservists are in and the
many problems they face. Mendez said he represented many of his fellow reservists
who asked him to speak out on their behalf while he was on leave.
Soon after that
Senator Frank Lautenberg came out and spoke to Mendez as well, stating that
originally he had been for the war but now was opposed to it. He said that much
of what Congress had been told were the reasons for war have turned out to be
misrepresentations and falsehoods. He also stated that he did not see how the
Bush administration could get out in less than five years.
As the protest ended,
we presented a VFP “Support the Troops—Bring Them Home Now” lawn sign to the
family. I also gave Frank a “Bring Them Home Alive” button and asked him to
take it back to Iraq and show it to his comrades to let them know that we are
in sympathy with them and against the occupation as well as those politicians
who are responsible for this unjustified military adventure.
Frank Mendez returns
to Iraq next Tuesday. He has shown real courage by speaking out while home on
leave. The more our servicemen and women take actions like this, it will
broaden the antiwar movement and hasten the day when all our troops are brought
home.
October 5, 2003