"If They Don't Have Soldiers To Fight The War, They Can't Fight The War No Matter How Much Money They Have"

By Jason Hurd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Asheville, NC Chapter; WIN Magazine, Spring/Summer 2008

I'm a firm believer that you should exert yourself where you have the most influence.

IVAW's strategy is to undercut military support for the war.

If you think about all the things that support this war — corporations, big oil, Congress, the executive branch — those are all things that none of us can do anything about.

There's too much money.

There's too much political power.

Where we have the largest impact, as IVAW, is on the military community. There's a mutual respect among every veteran I've met, especially every combat-veteran.

Regardless of views on the war, you look at each other and you say, "You've experienced the same things that I've experienced."

I think organizing military bases is where we can have the most impact.

If other organizations could help us get a larger presence around military bases — get us help organizing — I think that's going to have a great impact.

The philosophy is that if they don't have soldiers to fight the war, they can't fight the war no matter how much money they have.

We see what helped end the Vietnam War was that all these soldiers said, "No. We're not going to do this anymore. This is screwed up."

That's what we want to do.

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