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The anti-war activist: Vrnda Noel

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 15, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Vrnda Noel

Vrnda Noel

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After her son returned from Iraq with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Noel helped found the Colorado chapter of Military Families Speak Out (mfso.org), which opposes the war.

* Age: 50

* Occupation: Volunteer veterans advocate

* Home: Denver

My son felt like he needed to get serious about life and do something to contribute to society and humanity. He wanted to become a medic because he felt it would give him good human experience, and he would be able to work with troubled youth when he got out of the military.

I wanted nothing to do with my son going to war. He understood my perspective, but in his mind, there was no other way for him to get college money. He joined at the end of 2001, and he was deployed to Iraq in September 2003 as a combat medic. I was really sad and really upset. I let him know that these were other mothers' sons, and we didn't belong there. And he agreed.

But he had been lied to: He was told they were going to set up aid stations in the town of Ramadi, they were going to help the Iraqis because they needed medicine and medical care. But they didn't have enough supplies to help the people of Ramadi. His first assignment was to treat prisoners after their interrogation, which means torture. It was very heartbreaking for him.

He sent me detailed information of what he was seeing. The one thing that really, really bothered him was if he saw an Iraqi who was hurt, he wasn't allowed to do anything because of the lack of supplies. Tell a guy with noble intentions, who is very patriotic and has a deep desire to help humankind, that's what he's going to be doing - then make him stand there and watch people suffering. That's criminal.

I'm very fortunate, because my son feels the same way about this illegal, immoral invasion of innocent people as I do.

My son's disabled now. The person they sent there is not who I got back. My husband and I talk about this, and we're scratching our heads over what it is about this war that people don't understand. We went to find weapons of mass destruction - that we knew weren't there. We went to free the Iraqi people - and five years later, they're not free, and their life is far worse now than it ever was.

I'm not sure how anybody can justify our being there.

Comments

  • March 15, 2008

    7:56 a.m.

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    StraightTalk writes:

    First of all, Vrnda Noel, with all due respect, you're repeating a lie: "we went to find weapons of mass destruction - that we knew weren't there." That often-repeated statement is false, and you ought to know it. If there were weapons of mass destruction at the time the decision to go to war with Iraq was made, the only one that knew it was false was Saddam Hussein. Ms. Noel, if you want to be believed by clear-thinking people that don't live in a liberal bubble that exists on lies such as these, you need to come up with another message.

    Second of all, I'm sorry for the condition of your son. I'm a Marine, a Viet Nam veteran (1967-1968), and I know the war certainly changed me. I saw many of the things that I'm sure your son saw.

    Finally, all I can say is that if you show him unconditional love and patience, his condition ought to improve. Also, please have him make full use of VA facilities and programs that are available for him.

    Best of luck to your son, and thank him for his service to our country!

  • March 15, 2008

    8:29 a.m.

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    xoxo writes:

    StraigtTalk needs a StraightJacket.

    What planet do you live on ? Ever heard of the Downing street memoos ? Yellow cake from Niger was a LIE ? The WMD Intel was BAKED ! It was false and everyone in the White knew it. Now everyone in the World knows it... except you.

    Perhaps if you do a little research you won't end spewing blithering dribble...or perhaps not, maby you just drank the coolaid.

  • March 15, 2008

    9:07 a.m.

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    max12 writes:

    xoxo Please Please Please educate yourself and don't just retype liberal talking points. And when you do, get real facts, not the dribble that comes from The DNC

  • March 15, 2008

    10:26 a.m.

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    Drax21 writes:

    Don't waste your time xoxo. You won't get the conservatives to admit they were wrong even if you brought Tim Ossman...oops, I mean Osama Bin Laden to the door to explain the whole big lie to them. They are simply too invested in the illusion.

    The neocons are very good at what they do. They took a horrifying national tragedy and twisted the facts to suit the agenda they had laid out long before taking power. The Bushies used very sophisticated propaganda skills to heighten the atmosphere of terror in this country until it seemed to make perfect sense to use the very best army in the world to attack a country that was no threat to us. They made fools and cowards of us all.

    In the interim, these treasonous scum have drained trillions from our treasury, butchered our Constitution, and convinced half the people in America that all of this was necessary to keep our children safe. It would be very embarrassing for folks like max12 to face their own gullibility, so...YOU must be the crazy one.

  • March 15, 2008

    10:39 a.m.

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    jbowen43 writes:

    What is important is that all americans have freedom of choice and no soldier must participate in an illegal war. At any time a soldier can say "NO". The problem is that because of the lack of courage in the media some never know the truth abut what is going on until lives on both sides have been ruined and lost. The information that Bush was lying was available BEFORE the invasion for those willing to look for it, but if the media was doing its job then everyone would have known the facts. Then of course there is the lying by the recruiters and the system that keeps many people in poverty while chicken hawks like most of the Bushies get rich and never serve. People in poverty find the lure of the military and the false promises to be irresistible.

  • March 15, 2008

    11:05 a.m.

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    dilligaf writes:

    There is a way to stop this criminal war. DO NOT VOTE FOR MCCAIN!!!!!!!

  • March 15, 2008

    4:24 p.m.

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    Chris writes:

    I respect your views on the war, however, I happen to know that your son has lied to you. I know of many of the medics who have sereved over in Iraq, including myself. We are there to treat all medical needs (be they civilian, enemy combatant, freindly forces or our own people). I believe your son lied to you in order to maintain his relationship with you and gain your approval. I am sorry he is suffering from PTSD, however, you should check all the facts before spewing up untruths. Do we treat prisoners, YES, however to blatently say they were totured when you do not know what happened is spewing false truths. I to do not agree with the war in Iraq, however, it is wrong to just blame President Bush, the final authorization came from our elected officials in CONGRESS who were to lazy to read the intelligent reports for themselves and instead voted on a summary of International gained intelligence.

  • March 15, 2008

    5:14 p.m.

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    JDJW writes:

    I would beg to differ with the first comment from StraightTalk. As early as the summer of 2002, Scott Ritter, a UN weapons inspector responsible for overseeing Iraq after the first gulf war (also a former Marine), was on record as saying that Iraq had no viable arsenal, or the capability to produce one. He was very adamant that Iraq did not have an arsenal as of the end of his inspections, and furthermore lacked the infrastructure to build one. I know that both sitting Colorado senators were made aware of this information, however I also know that they chose to ignore it for the story given by the White House. Secondly, the connection between Al Qaida and Saddam's Iraq was proven to be false by the recent report released by the Pentagon. The study was done by the Institute for Defense Analysis through funding from the Pentagon. No conclusive link to Al-Qaida was found!

    There is unfortunately, no reason to gloat, as there is no way to undo the massive amount of damage done by this ill-conceived war. I do pray that it will teach future citizens and leaders, to carefully consider all the facts, before rushing in to a costly battle.

    God bless!

  • March 15, 2008

    10:45 p.m.

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    kathyM writes:

    No matter the reasons for war, it affects everyone it touches. The veterans of WWI and WWII were just as damaged as those who came home from other conflicts. They didn't escape the trauma because those were supposedly "good wars." Nor does it mean our Iraq war veterans suffered more because this is supposedly a "bad war."

  • March 16, 2008

    1:34 a.m.

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    JDJW writes:

    Gene,

    You might need to double check your facts, son.

    This is the sort of thing that disables peoples ability to objectively asses a situation.

    You and I both know you are off-base.

    It's a damn shame you probably won't ever admit it.

  • March 16, 2008

    1:55 a.m.

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    JDJW writes:

    Tommy,

    I checked your links.

    One is dead, the fourth listed.

    The last listed is not from a credible source. I am sorry I don't trust the Indian media.

    The first link is about a nuclear centrifuge that had been buried for twelve years as of the writing of the story. It is interesting to note that Saddam may have been planning nuclear development; however, this story really doesn't prove an imminent danger to the U.S.

    The yellow cake article is also from a less than credible source. I wouldn't stake my foreign policy on the words of one blogger.

    Finally, the third linked article you provided doesn't actually prove anything. It conjectures that a chemical weapons plant may have been found in the north of Iraq. However, the article also notes that the plant's nature is alleged, and may not have been extant prior to the invasion.

    The devil is in the details my friend. Callow minds tend not to notice him.

  • March 16, 2008

    9:36 a.m.

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    timmyg writes:

    Vrda,

    I would like to start off by thanking your son for joining the Army, but he joined for all the wrong reasons, for college is not a valid reason. The military has one purpose and that’s it, and any one that thinks different is wrong especially since we are a voluntary military. You may be wondering about me. I am a Medic who spent ten 10 years in who has deployed to Iraq twice and once to Afghanistan. I totally disagree on what your son said. Our mission is stated clearly as combat medic (or if your son is really a combat medic or he sat at hospital in Bagdad) the mission is that must conserve the fighting strength of US forces. I did not see that prisoner abuse or other thinks he claimed in my multiple tours. I am sorry that your son is sick, but I have to question it because I had medics that served with me that did treat one person and claimed PTSD. With medics it is so hard to disprove, because we do treat the wounded. Another thing you need to take off the Combat Medical Badge (CMB) because you did not earn it. That award is awarded to medic that serves with infantry units who come under fire and treat the wounded. I earned it and see you wear it makes me sick. I saw my friends get ripped apart by IED and RPG and your son complains about prisoners who get bloody noses and are responsible for doing this to American soldiers. All I have to say is the apple does not fall far from the tree.

  • March 16, 2008

    11:09 a.m.

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    Drax21 writes:

    Responding to Tommy regarding his found articles supporting the invasion: Thanks for proving my point. The right-wingnuts are quite good and twisting facts to justify their crimes and your list contains excellent examples.
    The "500 tons of yellowcake" were discovered after the ..first.. Gulf War in 1992; removed and destroyed. Therefore this story is irrelevant to the current conflict.

    The "Chemical Weapons Production" story describes material which could "spread over a wide area" but isn't specific about what chemicals we're discussing. Could it be chlorine, methane...water? The story does admit that NO ACTUAL chemical weapons have been discovered. This story belongs in the same trash bin as Colin Powell's photos of the MOBILE chemical lab.

    The "Russian Foxbats" story includes the note that the aircraft in question were not capable of flying. So...what's your point?

    Tommy, your list is a great example of how far the Right will reach to find lame excuses for their crimes. Liars, thieves and murderers...impeach and imprison the whole bunch.

  • March 16, 2008

    11:27 a.m.

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    mytwosense writes:

    To those of you that are calling this woman's son a liar, did you serve as a medic in the town of Ramadi?

  • March 16, 2008

    5 p.m.

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    Biskthead writes:

    I was in Kuwait in March 2003 waiting to cross over into Iraq. Then MajGen Mattis distributed a letter highlighting the reasons to invade Iraq. It stated on there "Saddam Hussein has tortured, imprisoned, raped and murdered the Iraqi people, invaded neighboring countries without provocation and threatened the world with weapons of mass destruction". I listed to President Bush give his final ultimatum on short wave radio. To most of us, weapons of mass destruction was not the main reason for invading. It was to liberate the people of Iraq. Much the same way Hitler needed to be removed in order to save the people of Europe. Here are the facts: Saddam used weapons of mass destruction. He used chemical weapons against Iranians, Kurds, and Shiites during the Iran/Iraq war, he did imprison, torture, rape, and kill many of his own people, he defied the 17 UN resolutions. I know for a fact that every wounded person, friendly or not, was treated with proper care. Even those who did not deserve it. I am not trying to diminish your son's PTSD issue. It is a very difficult situation to deal with. Bottom line is this: invading Iraq was the absolutely right thing to do. Although things did not turn out as we expected them to, we have given the Iraqi people the chance to change their destiny. Those people who have not known freedom don't know how to use it. It will take time. Just look at the people in the U.S. today. Many don't know how to enjoy their freedom either.

  • March 16, 2008

    5:24 p.m.

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    timmyg writes:

    mytwosense,
    I did serve there as a medic and other places in Iraq. You show me one medic that claims that, and I can can show 100 medics that don't. He did not belong in the Army, he joined for all the wrong things

  • March 16, 2008

    11:40 p.m.

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    nonayerbsns writes:

    Timmy, I am sorry your mind has been corrupted. You can't see the forest for the trees and yet, you claim to know of what you speak. I know for a fact that you don't. Vrnda... I am with you and the little lion soul jah. Peace love and happiness.