US War veterans speak in Cork

cork | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Monday March 06, 2006 09:51 by Cork Antiwar

US soldiers speaking tour of Ireland: Stop the US war & torture machine tour

Two US soldiers - Frank Corcoran (Vietnam Veterans Against War) and Benjamin Hart Viges (Iraq Veterans Against the War). will speak in Cork this Wednesday as part of a national speaking tour organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement.

Details are as follows......

UCC Meeting
Wed March 8th 1PM
"Musrea" room in the Students Centre, UCC

Town Meeting
Wed 8th March 8PM
Spailpin Fanach, South Main Street

Benjamin Hart Viges said, "I am a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. I was with the 82nd Airborne Division as a Mortarman when my unit was deployed to Iraq in Febuary 2003."

"I joined up the day after September the 11th 2001. I saw action in Fallujah and Baghdad. My mortar platoon dropped numerous rounds on the town of Samawa during the start of the invasion. I don't know how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds."

"I was so disgusted by the war that after we came home in January 2004, I filed for Conscientious Objector status and received CO status in December 2004. I'm a Christian, what was I doing holding a gun to another human being?"

Frank Corcoran served with the Marines in 1968 in Vietnam. He said, "I have been a member of Philadelphia Veterans For Peace since 1990, I have also been active in the School of Americas Watch campaign for 10-12 years. I am a cancer victim because of exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. I am an elementary school teacher for the past 20 years. I'm a Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW) board member and a volunteer staff member for IVAW for the past year and a half."

"I wasn't long in Vietnam before my two best friends were killed. It was a long time before I could talk about what happened to me in Vietnam. But now I want to tell his story has much as I can."

"In 2000 I travelled to Iraq to help repair a water treatment plant destroyed by US bombing. I regularly speak at schools to help convince American children
not to join the army when they are older."

This national tour is part of the build-up to the international peace protest on March 18th 2006. On that day every capital city on the planet will hold a demonstration against the US led war and occupation of Iraq. In Ireland the anti-war movement will also be calling for an end to CIA torture flights through our airspace and an end to the use of Shannon Airport by the US Military. This year alone over 300,000 US troops have passed through Shannon Airport. The March 18 demonstration in Ireland will take place at 2pm from Parnell Square, Dublin