Military Resistance 9I8: Shameful Anniversary

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Military Resistance: [email protected] 9.11.11 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 9I8

Shameful Anniversary:September 11, 2001:

THE 2973 DEAD ABUSED ANDDISRESPECTED BY GEORGE W.

BUSH AND BARRACK OBAMA:4792 U.S. TROOPS DEAD IN IRAQ SOFAR, A NATION THAT HAD NOTHING

WHATEVER TO DO WITH 9/11

mailto:[email protected]







DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish andwe’ll send it regularly.

Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extraimportant for your service friend, too often cut off from access toencouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economicinjustice, inside the armed services and at home.

Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance,Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation “Servicemember”Killed Somewhere Or Other In

Afghanistan Friday:



Nationality Not Announced

September 10, 2011 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan

yesterday.

Foreign Occupation “Servicemember”Killed Somewhere Or Other In

Afghanistan Saturday:Nationality Not Announced

September 10, 2011 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistantoday.

Las Vegas Mom Recalls Soldier ‘WhoWanted To Serve His Whole Life’

Sep. 2, 2011 By Keith Rogers, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

When her son was in a foxhole getting shot at, Suni Erlanger said, he would be cracking jokes "saying something from ‘Forrest Gump’ " because he wanted to put his fellowsoldiers at ease.

"He was one of those kids," the Las Vegas woman said Thursday, reflecting on ArmySpc. Douglas J. Green, the last U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan in August, the deadliestmonth for U.S. troops in the 10-year war.

"Everybody loved him. He was quick to laugh, quick to smile. He was a comedian," shesaid. "When everybody was scared, he’d make a joke. He made everybody feel good."

Green was killed Sunday in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province when he stepped on anhomemade bomb after his patrol had been ambushed by insurgents who had unleasheda hail of small arms fire.

Two other soldiers were severely wounded. He took the full brunt of the explosion, hismother said.

His father, Douglas Green, said his son lived by the motto: "The other fellow first."



His parents and oldest sister spoke about him during a telephone interview from hisfather’s house in Sterling, Va., where the family and friends had gathered to celebratethe life of the 23-year-old infantryman.

"He was my best friend," said his sister, Krissy Green, 24. "He never talked to me about

Afghanistan. He always tried to put the story on me. He always wanted to make it aboutus and not about him."

Douglas J. Green spent much of the last five years at his mother’s Summerlin homewhen he wasn’t with his unit in Iraq or Afghanistan or in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the 1stStryker Brigade Combat Team is based at Fort Wainwright.

Dakota Taylor, who was Green’s team leader in Iraq, said Green was an amazingsoldier. "He didn’t care about himself. He always wanted to help somebody out."

They often went on patrols together to clear houses and provide security escorts duringa tour from September 2008 to September 2009.

"He had a dog in Iraq named Jake that he took care of," said Taylor, of Tuttle, Okla.

"If you were having a bad day, he’d cheer you up."

Douglas Jay Green was born May 30, 1988, in Alexandria, Va. He grew up in Sterlingand graduated from Potomac Falls High School.

He played lacrosse and football and was picked for the role of "the mean guy" in themusical "Footloose," Erlanger said. Green was a homecoming prince his senior year.

During high school, he volunteered with the local fire department.

"Doug wanted to serve his whole life," his mother said. "He was a hero before he wentin the Army, and then he became another hero."

While stationed in Alaska between his two combat deployments "he chose to be a bigbrother to a little boy in Fairbanks. That’s the kind of person he was," she said.

With only two months left on his Afghanistan tour, firefights had intensified around hisoutpost, and he had told his mother he wanted to serve the rest of his enlistment in theUnited States.

"He called me every time he could on his cellphone," she said.

"He was scared. I could hear it in his voice."

His father said Green had intended to use the GI Bill to go to college and pursue acareer in criminal justice.

He was planning to ask his girlfriend, Alicia Swanstrom, to marry him, his mother said.He had written Swanstrom a letter two weeks ago with instructions to play certain songs



at his wake "in case anything happens," Erlanger said, reading from the letter.

The letter offers some "words of wisdom" to "always put yourself in a position to havecontact" with others and to "never judge or put anger on somebody too quickly. Thatperson is fighting a battle you know nothing about."

His long list of tunes includes the Beatles’ "Let It Be," the Beach Boys’ "Don’tWorry Baby," Bob Dylan’s "Times They Are A-Changin’," the Rolling Stones’"Ruby Tuesday," Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believin’ " and Frank Sinatra’s "Summer Wind."

"Just listen and interpret what you will," he wrote, adding that he wanted his waketo be about celebration, not mourning.

"Have fun, get drunk and keep your heads up."

Green will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Sept. 14.

He is the 75th U.S. military personnel with ties to Nevada to die in the nation’s warsoverseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and thePentagon.

His awards include the Bronze Star Medal for valor, the Purple Heart Medal, the ArmyCommendation Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

In addition to his parents and sister, he is survived by his stepfather, Don Erlanger;stepsister, Paige Erlanger; and stepbrother, Seth Erlanger; all of Las Vegas;grandparents June and Douglas Rusta of Henderson; and grandfather Jay Chabrow of Las Vegas.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations in the name of Douglas J. Green todefendingfreedom.org, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Las Vegan PhilRandazzo "to support these honorable service men and women who are willing tosacrifice everything for the ultimate prize of freedom."

MORE:

Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin’

[In Memory Of Spc. Douglas J. Green]Come gather ‘round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soon

You’ll be drenched to the bone



If your time to youIs worth savin’Then you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’.

Come writers and criticsWho prophesize with your penAnd keep your eyes wideThe chance won’t come againAnd don’t speak too soonFor the wheel’s still in spinAnd there’s no tellin’ whoThat it’s namin’For the loser nowWill be later to winFor the times they are a-changin’.

Come senators, congressmenPlease heed the callDon’t stand in the doorwayDon’t block up the hallFor he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThere’s a battle outsideAnd it is ragin’It’ll soon shake your windowsAnd rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin’.

Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don’t criticizeWhat you can’t understand

Your sons and your daughtersAre beyond your command

Your old road isRapidly agin’Please get out of the new oneIf you can’t lend your handFor the times they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawnThe curse it is castThe slow one nowWill later be fastAs the present nowWill later be pastThe order isRapidly fadin’And the first one now



Will later be lastFor the times they are a-changin’.

“We’ve Got Enough Of A Lid OnIt That They’re Not Going To BeAble To Come Back Hard”

Lt. Col. Thomas Savage “SpokeDays Before Thursday’s Bombing

In A Key Town”“A Bomber In A Car Packed WithExplosives Had Attacked Next To The

Marine Battalion Headquarters”“A Third Marine Lay On A Stretcher With

His Eyes Closed, His Face Pale, His

Trouser Legs Cut Away To AidTreatment”

“We have to make sure the enemy fears the corn, and not the other way around,”[Marine Capt. Casey] Brock said.

[So, according to Captain Brock, up to now the corn fears the enemy. If insurgents have been wantonly grabbing and roasting ears, and/or ripping off leaves, that fear is justified. Teaching the corn to attack, or at minimum poploudly when insurgents approach and send in their nine, thus making insurgentsfear the corn, would indeed be a significant step forward in counterinsurgencywarfighting.]

[Note to USMC enlisted: trash-talking publicity-hounding Lt. Cols and Captains arehazardous to your health. T]

September 9 By Associated Press [Excerpts]

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Afghanistan —



The jarring blast near the American base sent up a cloud of smoke that drifted silently inthe breeze.

“Not good,” a U.S. Marine said. Minutes later, vehicles raced through the gates with thewounded, three Marines and half a dozen Afghans.

Some lay bloodied on stretchers as medics worked on them. Soon, a pair of helicoptersswept in and scooped up the injured, including a bomb sniffer dog, for delivery to amilitary hospital.

Word spread.

A bomber in a car packed with explosives had attacked security forces in the Sangindistrict center, next to the Marine battalion headquarters in an area of southernAfghanistan that has seen some of the war’s hardest fighting.

Three Afghan police and four civilians were killed.

By targeting the seat of local government Thursday, insurgents in Sangin apparentlysought to show they can dictate the tempo of the conflict, despite heavy pressure sincelast year by successive Marine battalions.

The U.S. military describes such acts as a sign of desperation by an enemy thathas lost sway over communities it once controlled.

[Feb 10, 1968: Saigon, Vietnam: The U.S. military describes the Tet Offensive as asign of desperation by an enemy that has lost sway over communities it oncecontrolled.]

The challenge of breaking the Taliban grip is especially formidable in Sangin, which liesin the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand province.

The district acts as a regional transit hub and is a conduit to a major dam that provideselectricity.

Here, insurgents oversee opium-bearing harvests of poppy with the profits filling fill their war chests.

Sangin also has one of the highest concentrations of concealed bombs in Afghanistan.More than 100 British troops died there during several years of operations.

“We’re kind of waiting for what the next step is,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Savage,commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which occupies Jackson, aformer British camp.

“We’ve got enough of a lid on it that they’re not going to be able to come backhard.”

Savage spoke days before Thursday’s bombing in a key town that has becomerelatively secure.



After the explosion, Afghan soldiers at Jackson leaped into pickup trucks to collect thewounded.

Back at a base clinic, they used a blanket to haul one injured Afghan whose eyes dartedwildly. Other men lay inert. A U.S. medic turned one over to check his back for unseen

wounds.

The shrapnel wounds of two Marines were described as minor.

A third Marine lay on a stretcher with his eyes closed, his face pale, his trouser legs cutaway to aid treatment.

On patrol one day, Lance Cpl. Patrick Hawco of Tivoli, New York, described the conflictas a “small unit leader fight” where troops of lower rank make spur-of-the-momentdecisions that, drawn together, have a wider impact on the course of the war.

In the Marines’ case, a decision to walk down one alleyway instead of another, or to stop

for tea with a tribal elder, is a matter of instinct and experience.

At this time of year, the corn harvest is approaching. The stalks rise green and strong upto 12 feet, towering over the Marines as they zigzag on paths through the dense fields,their body armor soaked in sweat.

Marines can’t use their high-tech optics in the corn, but sometimes they move into it toset ambushes.

“We have to make sure the enemy fears the corn, and not the other way around,”[Marine Capt. Casey] Brock said.

[So, according to Captain Brock, up to now the corn fears the enemy. If insurgents have been wantonly grabbing and roasting ears, and/or ripping off leaves, that fear is justified. Teaching the corn to attack, or at minimum poploudly when insurgents approach and send in their nine, thus making insurgentsfear the corn, would indeed be a significant step forward in counterinsurgencywarfighting. T]

Troops Invited:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men

and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.





“Explosions Rocked One Of The LargestAmerican Military Bases In Afghanistan”

BAGHRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 10: A U.S. soldier takes cover after the base came under attack by indirect fire on September 10, 2011. Explosionsrocked the facility, one of the largest American military bases in Afghanistan, a daybefore the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. (Photo byJohn Moore/Getty Images)...

Resistance Action

09/08/11 Reuters & Sept 9 (Reuters) & RIA Novosti & Sept 10 (Reuters)

HELMAND - An attacker detonated a car bomb inside the Sangin district governor’scompound at a police headquarters in southern Helmand province on Thursday killingseven people, the Helmand provincial governor said in a statement. Six were wounded

A roadside mine killed five Afghan army soldiers in Nadir Shah Kot district of easternKhost province on Thursday.

GHAZNI - Insurgents on a motorbike shot dead the police chief of Aband district inGhazni city, southwest of Kabul on Saturday, said Mohammad Hussain, a police officer.

KUNAR - Four Afghan soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle inManogai district of eastern Kunar province on Friday, Shereen Agha, an armyspokesman in the east, said.



FUTILE EXERCISE:ALL HOME NOW!

Pfc. Michael Cagle, 20, of San Carlos, Texas, with the U.S. Army’s 25th InfantryDivision, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based inSchofield Barracks, Hawaii, during a mission Sept. 5, 2011 in the village of Asmar,Kunar province, Afghanistan. [Note frightened corn. T] (AP Photo/David Goldman)...

A U.S. Marine from Charlie Company, 1/5 Marines, during a patrol in Sangin, Helmandprovince, southern Afghanistan, Sept. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)...

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCEEND THE OCCUPATION



MILITARY NEWS

NOT ANOTHER DAYNOT ANOTHER DOLLARNOT ANOTHER LIFE

The remains of Army Pfc. Jesse W. Dietrich, 20, of Venus, Texas, at Dover Air ForceBase, DE \Aug. 29, 2011. Dietrich died August 25, 2011 in Kandahar province,

Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small armsfire. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)...

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TOHALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP

THE WARS

NEED SOME TRUTH?CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/





Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the governmentin Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do morethan tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars and allother forms of injustice inside the armed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties enlisted troopsinside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon tohelp organize resistance within the armed forces.

We hope that you’ll build a network of active duty organizers.

An Unlikely Hero:

The Marine Who Found Two WTCSurvivors

[Thanks to Clancy Sigal, who sent this in. He writes: “I’M FED UP WITH 9/11 STUFFAND FAKE ‘TERROR THREATS’ BUT NOT OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS.”]

Sept. 10, 2002 By Rebecca Liss, Slate Com.

Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

In a 2002 piece reprinted below, Rebecca Liss recounts the story of one "crazy brave" Marine who rushed to Ground Zero and worked through the night to help rescue two survivors trapped in the rubble of the Twin Towers.



******************************************************************************************

Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after thetowers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts.

Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers.

They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop.They were discovered by Dave Karnes.

Karnes hadn’t been near the World Trade Center. He wasn’t even in New York when theplanes hit the towers.

He was in Wilton, Conn., working in his job as a senior accountant with Deloitte Touche.

When the second plane hit, Karnes told his colleagues, "We’re at war."

He had spent 23 years in the Marine Corps infantry and felt it was his duty to help.

Karnes told his boss he might not see him for a while.

Then he went to get a haircut. The small barbershop in Stamford, Conn., near his home,was deserted.

"Give me a good Marine Corps squared-off haircut," he told the barber.

When it was done, he drove home to put on his uniform.

Karnes always kept two sets of Marine fatigues hanging in his closet, pressed andstarched. "It’s kind of weird to do, but it comes in handy," he says.

Next Karnes stopped by the storage facility where he kept his equipment—he’d needrappelling gear, ropes, canteens of water, his Marine Corps K-Bar knife, and a flashlight,at least. Then he drove to church. He asked the pastor and parishioners to say a prayer that God would lead him to survivors. A devout Christian, Karnes often turned to Godwhen faced with decisions.

Finally, Karnes lowered the convertible top on his Porsche. This would make it easier for the authorities to look in and see a Marine, he reasoned. If they could see who he was,he’d be able to zip past checkpoints and more easily gain access to the site. For Karnes, it was a "God thing" that he was in the Porsche — a Porsche 911 — that day.He’d only purchased it a month earlier — it had been a stretch, financially. But hedecided to buy it after his pastor suggested that he "pray on it." He had no choice but to

take it that day because his Mercury was in the shop. Driving the Porsche at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour, he reached Manhattan—after stopping at McDonald’s for ahamburger—in the late afternoon.

His plan worked.

With the top off, the cops could see his pressed fatigues, his neatly cropped hair, and hisgear up front. They waved him past the barricades.



He arrived at the site—"the pile"—at about 5:30. Building 7 of the World Trade Center, a47-story office structure adjacent to the fallen twin towers, had just dramaticallycollapsed. Rescue workers had been ordered off the pile—it was too unsafe to let themcontinue. Flames were bursting from a number of buildings, and the whole site wasconsidered unstable.

Standing on the edge of the burning pile, Karnes spotted another Marine dressed incamouflage. His name was Sgt. Thomas.

Karnes never learned his first name, and he’s never come forward in the time since.

Together Karnes and Thomas walked around the pile looking for a point of entry farther from the burning buildings.

They also wanted to move away from officials trying to keep rescue workers off the pile.Thick, black smoke blanketed the site. The two Marines couldn’t see where to enter. Butthen "the smoke just opened up." The sun was setting and through the opening Karnes,for the first time, saw clearly the massive destruction. "I just said ‘Oh, my God, it’s totally

gone.’"

With the sudden parting of the smoke, Karnes and Thomas entered the pile. "We justdisappeared into the smoke—and we ran."

They climbed over the tangled steel and began looking into voids. They saw no one elsesearching the pile — the rescue workers having obeyed the order to leave the area."United States Marines," Karnes began shouting. "If you can hear us, yell or tap!"

Over and over, Karnes shouted the words. Then he would pause and listen. Debris wasshifting and parts of the building were collapsing further. Fires burned all around. "I justhad a sense, an overwhelming sense come over me that we were walking on hallowed

ground, that tens of thousands of people could be trapped and dead beneath us," hesaid.

After about an hour of searching and yelling, Karnes stopped.

"Be quiet," he told Thomas, "I think I can hear something."

He yelled again. "We can hear you. Yell louder." He heard a faint muffled sound in thedistance.

"Keep yelling. We can hear you." Karnes and Thomas zeroed in on the sound.

"We’re over here," they heard.

Two Port Authority police officers, Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin, were buried inthe center of the World Trade Center ruins, 20 feet below the surface.

They could be heard but not seen.

By jumping into a larger opening, Karnes could hear Jimeno better. But he still couldn’tsee him. Karnes sent Thomas to look for help. Then he used his cell phone to call his



wife, Rosemary, in Stamford and his sister Joy in Pittsburgh. (He thought they couldwork the phones and get through to New York police headquarters.)

"Don’t leave us," Officer Jimeno pleaded.

He later said he feared Karnes’ voice would trail away, as had that of another potential

rescuer hours earlier. It was now about 7 p.m. and Jimeno and McLoughlin had beentrapped for roughly nine hours. Karnes stayed with them, talking to them until helparrived, in the form of Chuck Sereika, a former paramedic with an expired license whoput pulled his old uniform out of his closet and came to the site.

Ten minutes later, Scott Strauss and Paddy McGee, officers with the elite EmergencyService Unit of the NYPD, also arrived.

The story of how Strauss and Sereika spent three hours digging Jimeno out of thedebris, which constantly threatened to collapse, has been well told in the New YorkTimes and elsewhere.

At one point, all they had with which to dig out Jimeno were a pair of handcuffs. Karnesstood by, helping pass tools to Strauss, offering his Marine K-Bar knife when it looked asif they might have to amputate Jimeno’s leg to free him. (After Jimeno was finally pulledout, another team of cops worked for six more hours to free McLoughlin, who was burieddeeper in the pile.)

Karnes left the site that night when Jimeno was rescued and went with him to thehospital. While doctors treated the injured cop, Karnes grabbed a few hours sleep on anempty bed in the hospital psychiatric ward. While he slept, the hospital cleaned andpressed his uniform.

************************************************

Today, on the anniversary of the attack and the rescue, officers Jimeno and Strauss willbe part of the formal "Top Cop" ceremony at the New York City Center Theater. Earlier the two appeared on a nationally televised episode of America’s Most Wanted. Jimenoand McLoughlin appeared this week on the Today show.

They are heroes.

Today, Dave Karnes will be speaking at the Maranatha Bible Baptist Church inWilkinsburg, Penn., near where he grew up. He sounds excited, over the phone, talkingabout the upcoming ceremony.

Karnes is a hero, too.

But it’s also clear Karnes is a hero in a smaller, less national, less public, less publicizedway than the cops and firefighters are heroes.

He’s hardly been overlooked—the program I work for, 60 Minutes II, interviewedhim as part of a piece on Jimeno’s rescue — but the great televised glory machinehas so far not picked him.



Why?

One reason seems obvious—the cops and firefighters are part of big, respected,institutional support networks. Americans are grateful for the sacrifices their entireorganizations made a year ago. Plus, the police and firefighting institutions are tribalbrotherhoods. The firefighters help and support and console each other; the cops do the

same.

They find it harder to make room for outsiders like Karnes (or Chuck Sereika).

And, it must be said, at some macho level it’s vaguely embarrassing that theprofessional rescuers weren’t the ones who found the two survivors. While thepros were pulled back out of legitimate caution, the job fell to an outsider, whodrove down from Connecticut and just walked onto the burning pile.

Columnist Stewart Alsop once famously identified two rare types of soldiers, the "crazybrave" and the "phony tough."

The professionals at Ground Zero — I interviewed dozens in my work as a producer for CBS — were in no way phony toughs. But Karnes does seem a bit "crazy brave." You’dhave to be slightly abnormal—abnormally selfless, abnormally patriotic—to do what hedid.

And some of the same qualities that led Karnes to make himself a hero when itcounted may make him less perfect as the image of a hero today.

Officer Strauss tells a story that gets at this. When he was out on the pile a year ago, trying to pull Officer Jimeno free, Strauss shouted orders to his volunteer helpers—"Medic, I need air," or "Marine, get me some water."

At one point, in the middle of this exhausting work, Strauss, asked if he could callthem by their names to facilitate the process. The medic said he was "Chuck."

Karnes said: "You can call me ‘staff sergeant.’"

"That’s three syllables!" said Strauss, who needed every bit of energy and everysecond of time. "Isn’t there something shorter?"

Karnes replied: "You can call me ‘staff sergeant.’"

GOT AN OPINION?Comments from service men and women, and veterans, areespecially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New

York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send to [email protected]:Name, I.D., withheld unless you request identification published.





FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a

fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, andstern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, butthunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom theyoppose.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing theArmy from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced thegovernment to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy.-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt



“Working To Rule (WTR), Or The Inside Strike (TIS), Is TheMost Fun I Ever Had At Work”“The Point Of The Inside Strike Is

To Reduce Production ByFollowing Every Rule, EverySafety Precaution, And Every

Quality Procedure To The Letter”“It Satisfied All My Desires To Make

The Bosses Pay For MistreatingWorkers”

“I Loved Taking The Rules The Bosses

Devised And Shoving Them Down Their Throats”

September 6, 2011 By Gregg Shotwell, Socialist Worker

Gregg Shotwell, a retired 29-year veteran of General Motors and Delphi and a UnitedAuto Workers activist, is the author of the forthcoming Autoworkers Under the Gun: LiveBait & Ammo, a collection of shop-floor newsletters he produced while at GM andDelphi.

Here, he explains how workers can flex their muscles even when striking isn’t an option.

************************************************************************

WORKING TO Rule (WTR), or The Inside Strike (TIS), is the most fun I ever had atwork.

It satisfied all my desires to make the bosses pay for mistreating workers.



I loved taking the rules the bosses devised and shoving them down their throats. It’sfun, it’s easy, and it’s simple. TIS.

The machine stops. The boss says, "What’s wrong?" I say, "I don’t know." He asks the job setter, who replies, ""I don’t know."" He asks another co-worker, who replies, "I don’tknow." Then we all look at the boss, and he starts sweating because he knows that we

know that he is the only one who really doesn’t know.

Now who’s boss?

Knowledge is power, and workers can wield it with a hilarious vengeance.

That’s really all you have to do. Just shrug and say, "I don’t know."

That’s why it’s called The Inside Strike.

Instead of withholding labor, workers withhold knowledge, and collect a paycheck justlike the burdensome boss.

“If You Do What The Boss Says, You Can’t Get In Trouble, But RestAssured, It Will Be Something Stupid.

Bosses like to boss, so if you want to work to rule happily, do the bosses a favor andgive them lots of bossing to do.

The boss will like you for it, and everyone will be happy, keeping labor costs down byoutsourcing all decisions to the boss.

What the hell--they’re the knowledge workers, not us. We just follow orders, nothing

more, nothing less.

If you do what the boss says, you can’t get in trouble, but rest assured, it will besomething stupid.

Don’t question it, just do it. For example, if the boss says, "We need parts really bad,"give him what he asked for--"really bad" parts.

I’m joking.

The customer is more important than the numbers. We don’t want one of our brothers or sisters who buys one of our company’s products...Oh, that’s right, no one in our families

will ever buy the corporate mugger’s products again...

Well, we don’t want to hurt any poor schmuck who is foolish enough to buy from asocially deviant company.So maintain quality at all costs.

And the best way to assure that quality decisions are made at every turn is to kickevery decision upstairs, where the highest-paid knowledge worker can make thevery best decision.



Is this the right O-ring? I dunno. Better ask the dude in the suit and tie.

Furthermore, remind fellow union members--wherever your products or services may bedelivered--to inspect all components carefully, and if they find any defects, send themback.

Never forget, we want to "exceed our customers’ expectations."

Which reminds me. Make sure all your friends and families who are customers, or potential customers, call in with complaints or inquiries and hold the line. I’m serious. Putthe company on hold. How often have companies devoured your personal time as if itwas worthless? First, make sure you get a manager on the line and then ask, "Can I putyou on hold?" Then, instead of playing muzak, flush the toilet.

Working To Rule is fun.

And why not refuse voluntary overtime, knowing full well that the company will have to

make up for it?

The overtime you work today will extend the picket line you walk tomorrow, so postponeit. The overtime you turn down will have to be made up later after you get a raise.Which leads us to the next issue: work for profit, not for loss.

We must look at the proposition like reasonable businessmen. If we can’t raise the priceof our product, which is our labor, the only way we can make a profit is by reducing our cost. What is our cost? Our cost is the effort we put into our labor. So work smart. Theless effort one expends, the higher the profit margin.

We should all follow the capitalist ethic and reduce the cost of the product we sell in

order to be more profitable. What capitalist can argue with that? We are on the samepage of the same hymnbook when we reduce costs in order to increase profits for ourselves. The less you give, the more you make. Isn’t that a sound business practice?

One of my favorite WTR stories is about the millwright whose job description requiredhim to inspect ladders for safety. I’ll be damned if he didn’t find a broken weld on everysingle ladder in the shop. He red-tagged every ladder and took them out of commission.

The next day when he came to work, he discovered that management had put all theladders back into service without repairing them. So this time, he not only red tagged theladders, he chained them up and padlocked them.

The next day, management wanted to write him up, but they couldn’t. He didn’t breakthe rules, they did. He followed their rules to the letter.

Working to rule is the best of pranks. One of my pals used to enjoy pulling a fire alarmevery time a supervisor picked up a tool. His coworkers didn’t hesitate to act safely andevacuate the plant.



“The Best Approach Is The Simplest. Get The Bosses To Hold UpProduction”

The best approach is the simplest. Get the bosses to hold up production.

One of my tasks as a machine operator was to gauge certain dimensions of the fuelinjectors we assembled.

One day, I saw some measurements that were drastically out of spec. I notified my jobsetter, who in turn notified an engineer. Then a supervisor with extensive experience asan auditor intervened.

Before long, two more engineers applied their collegiate wizardry. The B-shiftadministrator threw his weight onto the equation. Then another supervisor bellied up tothe bar to add his expertise to the mix. We set the benchmark for participation.

We examined the parts and checked the gauge, again and again. The positive side of allthis strutting and fretting is that for once, we were a unified team, showing more concern

for quality than production counts.

Despite the dearth of common sense, that must signify something.

Then Brother Mahoney (who didn’t know the drill) strolled by, and we asked him to lookat it. His mind was clear as a blackboard in July. He checked two parts on the gauge andsaid, "There’s nothing wrong with these parts."

The lights came on. The depth and breadth of my stupidity was astonishing. I felt like thepied piper of scrap. I had read the gauge wrong.

A decimal place can mean the difference between a home run and a bunt. If you’re not

a baseball fan, try it on your paycheck, you’ll see what I mean.

The point is: I misled a whole group of experts.

I told them what to see, and they saw it. They knew better, they were experienced, butthe power of suggestion channeled their perception like blinders. If Pat Mahoney hadn’thappened by, we might still be spelunking in the murky caverns of Shotwell’smathematically challenged brain, waylaid by a decimal place.

The point of The Inside Strike is to reduce production by following every rule,every safety precaution, and every quality procedure to the letter.

And always withhold knowledge. Smile and say, "Now what, boss? What should Ido next?"

Work To Rule is fun and creative. It’s surprising what a twist of a screw can do, or thenot-twisting of a screw can undo.

The less you do, the better.



When the wolf comes for your lunch, you don’t have to unwrap it for him, heat itup, put it in a clean bowl and spoon-feed him.

If you feed the wolf, he will be back for more tomorrow and every day thereafter.Don’t feed the wolf.

Point him down a bunny trail.

It’s fun and easy.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Hysterical Egyptian MilitaryDictatorship Thrashing About

Blindly Trying To Keep InControl:

Adopts Stupid New RestrictionsOn Tourists Nobody Understands



But Which Will Cripple TheEconomy:

“Tens Of Thousands Of Youth-LedActivists Descended Again On

Cairo’s Tahrir Square To DemandThat The Military Roll Back Mubarak-

Era Security Rules”“Protesters And Security Services Were

Engaged In An Hours-Long ViolentConfrontation Reminiscent Of The Early

Days Of Egypt’s Revolution”

Members of Egypt’s Al Ahly soccer team were among those waving flags, setting off fireworks and chanting antigovernment slogans Friday during a protest at Tahrir Squarein Cairo. Associated Press

Protesters and security services were engaged in an hours-long violentconfrontation reminiscent of the early days of Egypt’s revolution.



As the protesters’ outrage increased, they attacked the nearby Giza governorateheadquarters of the central security services.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011 By MATT BRADLEY, Wall Street Journal [Excerpts]

CAIRO—Egypt’s interim government will stop giving entry visas to most visitorsat the country’s airports, its latest broadside against perceived threats fromabroad, as violent antigovernment protests erupted Friday.

The abrupt policy change, which is likely to further cripple the nation’s crucialtourism industry, came as tens of thousands of youth-led activists descendedagain on Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand that the military roll back Mubarak-erasecurity rules.

Protesters then moved on to the Israeli embassy, where they tore down parts of aconcrete security wall and, for the second time in the past month, scaled the high-riseresidential tower housing the Israeli embassy and removed the Israeli flag.

Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to beat back thousands of rock-throwingdemonstrators at the embassy.

Protesters and security services were engaged in an hours-long violentconfrontation reminiscent of the early days of Egypt’s revolution.

As the protesters’ outrage increased, they attacked the nearby Giza governorateheadquarters of the central security services.

Hundreds of military police officers watched the violent confrontation from nearby backstreets.

The new visa rule, announced Thursday night, came with no explanation and few detailsexcept that tourists travelling in organized tour groups will be exempt from the measure.

All other visitors will need to seek visas from Egyptian embassies in their homecountries.

Unlike previous government statements — which appeared to be tailored topopular consumption by casting blame for continuing protests and unrest onshadowy foreign interlopers — the latest provision came with few hints as to itspolitical motives.

The new measure is likely to further damage a tourism industry already hurt by political

instability that stands to shrink by $3 billion by the end of 2011 from $12.8 billion lastyear, according to estimates by Egypt’s ministry of tourism.

The obscurity of the onerous new rule left tourism officials and business analystsscratching their heads.

Hisham Zazo, a senior assistant minister of tourism, said he "assumed" thecivilian cabinet as well as the country’s military were motivated by "legitimate



reasons" that probably included security concerns, but he didn’t know exactlywhat they were.

Speaking of the new visa rules, Wael Ziada, the head of research at EFG-Hermes,Egypt’s largest investment bank, said, "There must be a reason why they didthis."

Mr. Ziada said it was "too early to speculate" on the cabinet’s reasoning, and cautionedagainst jumping to conclusions about its impact.

Adding to the confusion is that security checks are not normally part of the visa awardingprocess, said Mr. Zazo, who speculated that the military may plan on adding aninvestigative component to the visa-issuing process.

But he wasn’t sure.

Egypt’s tourism industry is essential to its overall economy, accounting for about7.3% of Egypt’s total gross domestic product in 2011, according to the World

Travel and Tourism Council.

Besides having some of the world’s most iconic ancient ruins, rapid development of "sunand sea" destinations have attracted millions of tourists to the Sinai Peninsula andMediterranean Coasts over the past 10 years.

The industry also provides around 6.3% of the country’s jobs, the councilestimated. But the industry supports many more people in Egypt’s vast informaleconomy.

For those on the bottom rung of the tourism business, the announcement came as asurprise on Friday.

Essam Farag has worked in the shadow of Egypt’s famous Giza pyramids for the past15 years, renting out rides on one of his four horses.

Business has never been this bad, he said. In previous summers, he used to makeabout EGP300 ($51) per day. He now counts himself lucky if he can pull in half thatamount.

"If it’s based upon any political reason, like counter-terrorism that would makesense," said Mr. Farag, 32.

"But if the decision was just randomly made, I’d be totally against it. It would be

like the Mubarak regime."

Hysterical European CapitalistLeadership Thrashing About



Blindly Trying To Keep InControl:

Greek Government StaggersToward Debt Default As Violent

New Mass DemonstrationsThreaten:

“Popular Dissent In Greece Is

Seething”“Northern Countries Are Balking At AnyMore Aid, And The Greek Public Is

Balking At Any More Cuts”

"The protests this year seem likely to be much bigger than in any past year," saidone police official in the city.

"But the situation in Greece is very difficult, so there are more things to protest

about."

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011 By CHARLES FORELLE in Brussels and ALKMAN GRANITSASin Athens, Wall Street Journal

Sixteen months after a landmark bailout and seven weeks after a fresh deal to pull itback from the brink of collapse, Greece remains in danger of descending into a messy,destabilizing default.

In a vertiginous trading session Friday that also saw the surprise resignation of a topEuropean Central Bank official, Greek woes once again unnerved investors.

The euro slumped sharply against the dollar, falling under $1.37. Bourses in Paris andFrankfurt suffered big losses, led by banks, who would bear the brunt of a meltdown inEurope’s periphery.

Greece is being buffeted on several fronts.

It is in danger of missing budget-cutting targets that its euro-zone rescuers insist are theprice of continued aid. Participation by banks in a crucial debt-restructuring plan may be



less than planned. And euro-zone countries are mired in a debate over whether Greecemust provide collateral to secure its bailout money.

There is little room for anything to go wrong.

Without more aid, Greece will run out of cash within weeks, senior Greek

government officials say.

Meanwhile, popular dissent in Greece is seething.

Mass protests are expected to greet Prime Minister George Papandreou inThessaloniki, Greece’s second city, where he is slated to give a speech Saturdayat the international trade fair, defending the harsh fiscal cuts his government haspledged.

More than 5,000 police have been mobilized to barricade the city center. All traffic isbanned.

The protests come amid a wave of walkouts planned by workers of all stripes—taxiowners, teachers, tax collectors—in the coming days to decry the budget measures.

Authorities from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund—Greece’srescuers — are leaning on the government to push forward.

To comply, Athens is considering unprecedented public-sector layoffs.

"Everyone is turning the screw," said David Lea, an analyst at Control Risks, anindependent risk consultancy.

"There is a gradual loss of confidence across Europe in Greece’s ability to deliver on its

reforms."

There is, too, a loss of confidence in European leaders’ ability to sort out themess.

Europe’s failure so far to rescue its first patient has had immense consequencesfor the 17-nation euro zone, despite the fact that Greece’s economy is but a tinyfraction of it.

Bigger deficits, lower deferments from private credits and lower receipts from theprivatization program all have the same consequence: Either more aid is needed, or Greece needs to slash its budget further.

Hence the dangerous stalemate.

Northern countries are balking at any more aid, and the Greek public is balking atany more cuts.

Meanwhile, Thessaloniki is preparing for massive unrest this weekend.



Police are erecting metal barricades to prevent protestors from storming thegrounds of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair, where Mr. Papandreou willdeliver his speech.

"The protests this year seem likely to be much bigger than in any past year," saidone police official in the city.

"But the situation in Greece is very difficult, so there are more things to protestabout."

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