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Thumbs up for Travis Clark
Defense Yes, Attack No
When Plantation resident Travis Clark joined the Marine Corps in 1996, it seemed like a good option. Then 19, he couldn't afford college and the country was in a state of relative peace, Clark said. He signed an eight-year contract, which required him to serve five years of active duty and stand by for a possible call-up during the next three years.
As the years passed, his views began to change. He started reading works by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. His active duty stint ended in August 2001, and he now volunteers as special events coordinator for the anti-war group Peace South Florida.
If he's called up before his military contract ends in the summer of 2004, Clark said, he won't go.
"I can see violence used if there was an invading army invading my people," Clark said. "But I'm not going to go into someone else's country and force them to defend themselves."
Like Clark, many resisters say they vowed to defend the country, not to take part in what they consider a war of aggression. Veterans for Peace, a national group with 3,000 members, wrote a letter to the military's top commanders on Feb. 13, urging them not to fight.
"We believe the war against Iraq that the U.S. government is planning and preparing for is in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and customary international law," the letter reads. "The judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg noted, `Resort to war of aggression is not merely illegal, but criminal.'"
When Plantation resident Travis Clark joined the Marine Corps in 1996, it seemed like a good option. Then 19, he couldn't afford college and the country was in a state of relative peace, Clark said. He signed an eight-year contract, which required him to serve five years of active duty and stand by for a possible call-up during the next three years.
As the years passed, his views began to change. He started reading works by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. His active duty stint ended in August 2001, and he now volunteers as special events coordinator for the anti-war group Peace South Florida.
If he's called up before his military contract ends in the summer of 2004, Clark said, he won't go.
"I can see violence used if there was an invading army invading my people," Clark said. "But I'm not going to go into someone else's country and force them to defend themselves."
Like Clark, many resisters say they vowed to defend the country, not to take part in what they consider a war of aggression. Veterans for Peace, a national group with 3,000 members, wrote a letter to the military's top commanders on Feb. 13, urging them not to fight.
"We believe the war against Iraq that the U.S. government is planning and preparing for is in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and customary international law," the letter reads. "The judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg noted, `Resort to war of aggression is not merely illegal, but criminal.'"
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