“All the reasons we were given were false, so it was people dying and people suffering for lies”
Kelly Dougherty participated in the invasion stage of the Iraq war and is one of the founding member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She spoke to Traveling Soldier’s Sgt. Martin Smith (ret’d) at the March 19th rally in Fayetteville, N.C. home of the 82nd Airborne.
Smith: Can you tell me your name, rank, and service?
Dougherty: My name is Kelly Dougherty. I was an E5 Sergeant in the National Guard and then the Colorado Army National Guard for eight years and I was released last August, 2004.
S: Did you serve in Iraq?
D: Yes, my unit was in Iraq for approximately eight months and then Kuwait for another two. I was in a military police company.
S: Why are you here today?
D: I’m here today to show my support for the peace movement and to show to the public and to our government that we want an end to the occupation of Iraq.
S: What made you come to that conclusion?
D: I didn’t believe the reasons that we were being given to go to war in the first place, and then when I got there and saw the horrible impact that the war and the occupation was having on the population of Iraq and on our own soldiers and all the reasons we were given were false to go to war, so it was people dying and people suffering for lies.
S: What did you see in Iraq?
D: I saw that the people were living in extreme poverty. Their situation wasn’t getting better when we were there. They’re just getting more desperate. Just things like an overt hostility on the U.S. soldiers’ part towards the Iraqi people, and house raids. I know we raided people’s houses even when we weren’t sure if it was the right person. We searched people’s vehicles. There were unintentional things like Iraqi children and families getting run over by our cars. And then just the continued poverty and the unemployment of the people.
S: What would you say to someone that’s thinking of joining the military today?
D: You can probably count on going to Iraq and maybe talk to a veteran or someone who’s been there, because if you just rely on your recruiter, they’re just trying to sell you a sales pitch, and they’re not telling you the whole truth.
S: Have you heard of the movement to kick military recruiters off of campuses?
D: Yes, and I think that’s good, because schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places to become militarized, especially on high school campuses. I think that the recruiters shouldn’t be on high school campuses, because basically what they’re doing is just preying on the lack of opportunities for young people, particularly low income and minority students.
Kelly Dougherty participated in the invasion stage of the Iraq war and is one of the founding member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She spoke to Traveling Soldier’s Sgt. Martin Smith (ret’d) at the March 19th rally in Fayetteville, N.C. home of the 82nd Airborne.