Soldier of conscience: Iraq vet says U.S. is committing ‘genocide’

There was a time, not long ago, when Jimmy Massey believed in war. For 12 years, he was a self-described “gung-ho” Marine Corps officer, recruiter and boot camp instructor, leading fellow Marines through the most grueling of military indoctrinations. As he once said, “boot camp is designed to dehumanize and desensitize a person to violence.”

Even as he recruited others to go to war, Massey began to question the Marines’ methods, taking advantage of economically depressed youth by misleading them on the benefits of military service. His recruiting career ended when he wrote to his commanding officer, outlining his personal concerns about the enlistment process. In March 2003, Massey went into Iraq as part of the initial U.S. invasion. He was put in charge of a platoon of machine gunners assigned to secure roadways in Iraq. In that capacity, he both witnessed and participated in the killing of many innocent civilians. The impact of that combat turned him against the war.

After complaining to his superiors about the roadside carnage, Massey was shipped out of Iraq and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He also claimed conscientious objector status. He was given an honorable discharge from the Marines in December 2003.

Since leaving the service, the North Carolina native has been touring the country speaking out against the Iraq War and has written a yet-to-be published book on his experiences, called “Cowboys From Hell.” He plans to use the proceeds from the book to start a post-traumatic stress disorder foundation.

Massey is a founding member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), established in early 2004 by Mike Hoffman and Tim Goodrich, who met at a Dover, Delaware, to Washington, D.C., peace march. The organization made its official debut during the Veterans for Peace national convention in Boston in July. Since then, it has joined with other anti-war groups to demand an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

These organizations are leaders in a rapidly growing movement of military personnel who are leaving their posts in protest. Some have fled to Canada or into anonymity. Others, like Massey, are traveling widely, speaking out against the war and U.S. military policy.

Massey took time out to break down the issues with Southside Pride

SSP: What do you tell people in your speeches?

Massey: I talk about my experiences in Iraq, but also about the economic conscript of working class youth into the military. For a lot of kids getting ready to graduate high school, the military looks pretty good, because their families have no money to send them to college. They are at a point in their lives where they don’t have many options and are susceptible to recruiters. The recruiters convince 19- to 25-year-olds who can’t get a good job that they can get job skills in the military.

SSP: What kind of a reaction do you get?

Massey: I have been getting a good response. I don’t tell them not to enlist. I encourage them to make their own choice and give them the information they need to make it. Many of the kids have been already approached by recruiters, so they know what I’m talking about. In some cases, I’m reinforcing what they already knew. I am encouraged by the anti-recruitment campaigns some students are doing on their campuses to counter the recruiters.

SSP: When did you enlist in the Marines, and why?

Massey: I enlisted in 1992. I was a 19-year-old senior in high school in New Orleans. My stepfather had lost his job and didn’t have the money to send me to college, so I dropped out. I was working as a tool head but then I discovered Bourbon Street. I lost my job and apartment and my car broke down. I was homeless—living in a park and on the street for about a month. Then one day, I came across a Marine recruiter while he was pumping gas into his car. He took me to lunch. He told me that I needed self-discipline and said I could get that in the Marine Corps. He challenged me to do that. I called my mom collect and then rode the Greyhound bus to visit her. She had come from the Vietnam War era and was supportive of the military. She didn’t encourage me to join, but she didn’t discourage me either. She just said that once I got in the marines to do what I was told to do.

SSP: What was your military training and experience prior to going to Iraq?

Massey: I went to boot camp at Camp Pendleton where I literally got the shit beat out of me within the first several months. Boot camp is designed to dehumanize and desensitize a person to violence. If you don’t conform, they beat you up. When I had a bad day, I got taken aside and beat up. When you’re in the military, it’s a lot like being in a Mafia family. You don’t step outside the family. If you break away from the family, they’re going to do whatever they can to keep you quiet. After boot camp, I served in the Marines for 10 years in the United States before being sent to Kuwait. I was a recruiter and boot camp instructor. My career as a recruiter ended when I wrote a mission statement to the commanding officers, expressing my personal concerns with the issues of recruitment. But no one listened.

SSP: When were you sent to Iraq? What did you think or expect would happen there?

Massey: I was sent to Kuwait on January 19, 2003, and to Iraq on March 22. I was a gung-ho Marine. I thought we were doing the right thing. We were told that Saddam [Hussein] had weapons of mass destruction. I knew, from reading Iraq history, about America’s history of supporting Saddam as a dictator, that he had treated his people cruelly, and that we were to “take him out.”

It was pretty evident when, eight months before we even left to go to Kuwait, the Marines were training to shut down and take over the Ar Rumaylah oil fields. We had detailed schematics and terrain models of all the oil fields outside of Basra, and once we took care of those, all that was left was the ride into Baghdad.

I also was coming into contact with groups like the War Resister’s League while I was out on recruitment duty. I started reading some of the literature they were handing out at high schools. I became curious and started doing my own research, finding out certain things about America’s involvement in other countries. I knew about our imperialistic and political intentions.

SSP: What happened once you got into Iraq?

Massey: The first time I came under fire, we were moving north in a group when our vehicle was attacked. We jumped out of our vehicle and returned fire. They ran away. It all lasted five or six seconds. I just assumed that they were enemy forces, some kind of gang, sort of like the Crips in America. We were like a bunch of cowboys who rode into town shooting up the place. I saw charred bodies in vehicles that were clearly not from the military.

There wasn’t a whole lot of direct fighting to speak of. There were some firefights —I mean I had bullet holes in the side of my Humvee—but it wasn’t like major combat action. We took the highway the whole way to Baghdad. They had no artillery, no air support. They were weakened by the sanctions. Most of their hardware was leftover from the war against Iran. The first Gulf War had devastated them. I don’t think they had the will or the opportunity to fight.

As far as I’m concerned, the real war did not begin until the Iraqis saw us murdering innocent civilians. There were two incidents that turned me against the war. The first was my experience with recruitment. The second was when I was stationed with a machine gunner guarding the checkpoints that came in and out of Baghdad. We were to give hand signals to moving vehicles and if they didn’t [respond], we assumed they had ammunition that would go off, so we “lit them up.”

(But) they were innocent civilians. We found no weapons, no explosives—nothing. Somehow, I don’t know how he could have done it, but one guy got out of a car we had “lit up” and wasn’t badly wounded. It turns out he was the brother of another man in the car who had been killed. He looked at me and asked, “Why did you kill my brother? What did he do to you?” That hit me like a ton of bricks.

All told, I was involved in five checkpoint “light-ups.” We even once lit up a rally of civilians after we heard a gunshot. They were young Iraqis with no weapons.
There were 30-plus civilians killed over two days at those checkpoints. The military wouldn’t make a distinction between what they call “collateral damage” and murder. I said that if it happens once, it’s collateral damage; after that, it’s murder. The bottom line is that [commanders] don’t see the need to teach culture and humanity to men whose singular purpose is to kill.

I killed innocent people for our government, for what? What is the good coming out of it? I feel like I’ve taken part in some sort of evil lie created by our government. I just feel embarrassed, ashamed about it.

SSP: When you became so concerned about shooting innocent civilians, what did you do about it?

Massey: I went to my commanding officer and said, “If you want my honest opinion, sir, we are committing genocide over here.” He just made my job more difficult, giving me extra work to do. Later, I was basically put under house arrest. There were other Marines who were afraid to speak out who would tell me, privately, that they supported me.

SSP: I read in one of your previous interviews that you developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the war. When did that happen and what was it like?

Massey: While I was in combat in Iraq, I began having the symptoms of PTSD—nightmares, flashbacks, agitation, jumping at any crackling sound. I didn’t know what it was at the time. Finally, I went to see a psychiatrist. At our first appointment, he said, “You’re a conscientious objector.” I said, “How can I be a conscientious objector when I’ve killed people?”

Initially, they tried to trick me into staying until retirement. I told the Sergeant Major “I don’t want your retirement and I don’t want your benefits. We killed innocent civilians and you have to face that responsibility, and I’m going to tell everyone what happened.” I remember his face turned red and he said that there was going to be legal repercussions. I later contacted a lawyer, Gary Meyers, whose practice dates back to the My Lai trials during the Vietnam War. In the end, they backed down. There was no trial, and I was given an honorary discharge.

SSP: Do you still have PTSD?

Massey: Yes, I’m getting treated for it now.

SSP: Tell me about your plans for a PTSD foundation.

Massey: I am currently publishing a book about my experiences called “Cowboys From Hell.” All of the proceeds will go to setting up the foundation.

SSP: What do you plan to do next?

Massey: I keep hanging on to the one thing my grandfather used to say to me: “The truth shall set you free.” I’ll keep talking as long as people listen.