November, 10 2010, 07:18am EDT
AWOL Soldier Refusing Deployment Because of Severe PTSD
Jeff Hanks has refused to return to
Afghanistan due to the injuries he has sustained as a soldier in the
Army's 101st Airborne Division. Having already served deployments in
Iraq and Afghanistan, Jeff was due to receive medical evaluation and
treatment by the Army during a mid-September leave. But his command
effectively canceled his appointments in order to send him back to
Afghanistan. Feeling he had few options, Jeff made the difficult
decision to break the law and go AWOL in order to get the care he so
desperately needs. He will turn himself in to his military co
WASHINGTON
Jeff Hanks has refused to return to
Afghanistan due to the injuries he has sustained as a soldier in the
Army's 101st Airborne Division. Having already served deployments in
Iraq and Afghanistan, Jeff was due to receive medical evaluation and
treatment by the Army during a mid-September leave. But his command
effectively canceled his appointments in order to send him back to
Afghanistan. Feeling he had few options, Jeff made the difficult
decision to break the law and go AWOL in order to get the care he so
desperately needs. He will turn himself in to his military command at
Fort Campbell, KY this Thursday - Veterans Day - to face the legal
consequences of his actions.
Read Jeff's full story in this article originally published on Truthout.org.
With the help of Iraq Veterans Against the War's Operation Recovery Campaign,
Jeff has gotten civilian medical care, and the moral and legal support
he needs. IVAW is working with Courage to Resist to raise legal funds
for Jeff's case. To make a donation, click here
and type "JH Legal Defense" in the Special Project box, or you can make
a check out to IVAW and put "JH Legal Defense" in the memo line. Send
your check or money order for Jeff's legal defense to: IVAW, 630 Ninth
Avenue, Suite 807, New York, NY 10036.
To forward Jeff's story to your friends and colleagues click here.
Thousands of soldiers like Jeff are
being denied their right to heal by the U.S. military so it can continue
its ongoing occupations. Approximately 20% of the current fighting force are suffering from un-treated trauma. Our Operation Recovery Campaign will to stop the deployment of traumatized troops and hold those accountable who send them back into war.
Operation Recovery's Veterans Day Outreach Week
This week, in honor of Veterans Day,
teams of IVAW members across the country are conducting outreach to
veterans on college campuses and to service members on military bases.
We are surveying veterans and GIs about their experience with trauma and
spreading the word about our right to heal. Our campaign Research Team
is analyzing data and preparing to file Freedom of Information Act
Requests (FOIA) to find out:
- Which military bases are re-deploying the most troops to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan?
- How many service members are being screened for trauma before they are re-deployed?
- How do military protocols for mental health care compare to actual treatment?
This Veterans Day, we are honoring our military brothers and sisters by taking action. Join us by signing the Operation Recovery Pledge of Support to help us reach 10,000 signatures by Thursday.
Can you help us meet this goal? It will take 60 seconds or less to sign the Pledge of Support. Just click here.
Today we are at 5,177 pledges.
We need 4,823 more signatures to meet our goal of 10,000 by Thursday, Veterans Day.
Letting
GIs and veterans know that we have 10,000 supporters standing with us
will send a powerful message that they are not alone.
With your help, we can get there.
Take the Pledge of Support now.
Thank you for standing with us.
Matt Howard, Communications Director 646.723.0989Media@ivaw.org
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Trump Signs Executive Order to Advance 'Deeply Dangerous' Deep-Sea Mining
"The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn't restricted to the ocean floor: It will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it," one campaigner warned.
Apr 24, 2025
Amid global calls for a ban on deep-sea mining to protect marine ecosystems, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to advance the risky practice and "restore American dominance in offshore critical minerals and resources."
"The broad order avoids a direct confrontation with the United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority and seeks essentially to jump-start the mining of U.S. waters as part of a push to offset China's sweeping control of the critical minerals industry," notedReuters, which had previewed the measure aimed at attaining nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, titanium, and rare earth elements.
"The International Seabed Authority—created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the U.S. has not ratified—has for years been considering standards for deep-sea mining in international waters, although it has yet to formalize them due to unresolved differences over acceptable levels of dust, noise, and other factors from the practice," the agency reported.
Trump's order directs Cabinet members including Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick—whose department oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—to expedite the permit process and work on various related reports.
"Authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
Deep-sea mining is opposed by over 30 countries as well as academics and advocacy groups worldwide. Among them is Greenpeace USA, whose campaigner Arlo Hemphill said Thursday that "authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
"We condemn this administration's attempt to launch this destructive industry on the high seas in the Pacific by bypassing the United Nations process," Hemphill declared. "This is an insult to multilateralism and a slap in the face to all the countries and millions of people around the world who oppose this dangerous industry."
"But this executive order is not the start of deep-sea mining. Everywhere governments have tried to start deep-sea mining, they have failed. This will be no different," he added. "We call on the international community to stand against this unacceptable undermining of international cooperation by agreeing to a global moratorium on deep-sea mining. The United States government has no right to unilaterally allow an industry to destroy the common heritage of humankind, and rip up the deep sea for the profit of a few corporations."
No exaggeration, deep sea mining could cause the massive collapse of the entire deep sea ecosystem and food chain. This is an existential risk to every person on this planet. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/c...
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) April 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Ocean Conservancy vice president for external affairs Jeff Watters also blasted the move, saying that "this executive order flies in the face of NOAA's mission. NOAA is charged with protecting, not imperiling, the ocean and its economic benefits, including fishing and tourism; and scientists agree that deep-sea mining is a deeply dangerous endeavor for our ocean and all of us who depend on it."
"Areas of the U.S. seafloor where test mining took place over 50 years ago still haven't fully recovered," Watters pointed out. "The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn't restricted to the ocean floor: It will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it. Evidence tells us that areas targeted for deep-sea mining often overlap with important fisheries, raising serious concerns about the impacts on the country's $321 billion fishing industry."
He highlighted that "NOAA is already being threatened by this administration's unprecedented cuts. NOAA is the eyes and ears for our water and air. NOAA provides Americans with accessible and accurate weather forecasts; it tracks hurricanes and tsunamis; it responds to oil spills; it keeps seafood on the table; and so much more. Forcing the agency to carry out deep-sea mining permitting while these essential services are slashed will only harm our ocean and our country."
"It's not just our country this executive order would harm: This action has far-reaching implications beyond the U.S.," Watters added, warning that by unilaterally allowing deep-sea mining, "the administration is opening a door for other countries to do the same—and all of us, and the ocean we all depend on, will be worse off for it."
As The New York Timesreported:
The executive order could pave the way for the Metals Company, a prominent seabed mining company, to receive an expedited permit from NOAA to actively mine for the first time. The publicly traded company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, disclosed in March that it would ask the Trump administration through a U.S. subsidiary for approval to mine in international waters. The company has already spent more than $500 million doing exploratory work.
"We have a boat that's production-ready," said Gerard Barron, the company's chief executive, in an interview on Thursday. "We have a means of processing the materials in an allied friendly partner nation. We're just missing the permit to allow us to begin."
In response to the late March disclosure—which came during International Seabed Authority negotiations—Louisa Casson, senior campaigner for Greenpeace International, said that "this is another of the Metals Company's pathetic ploys and an insult to multilateralism. It shows that a moratorium on deep-sea mining is more urgently needed than ever. It also proves that the company's CEO Gerard Barron's plans never focused on solutions for the climate catastrophe."
"The Metals Company is desperate and now is encouraging a breach of customary international law by announcing their intent to mine the international seabed through the United States' Deep-Sea Hard Mineral Resources Act," the camapigner asserted. "This comes after the Metals Company has spent years exerting immense pressure on the International Seabed Authority to try and force governments to allow mining in the international seabed—the common heritage of humankind."
Casson stressed that "states, civil society, scientists, companies, and Indigenous communities continue to resist these efforts. Having tried and failed to pressure the international community to meet their demands, this reckless announcement is a slap in the face to international cooperation."
Less than a week later, the Norwegian deep-sea mining company Loke Marine Minerals declared bankruptcy—which Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, a campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic, noted came "on the same day that we shut down a deep-sea mining conference in Bergen."
The Norwegian government in December halted plans to move forward with deep-sea mining in the Arctic Ocean, which Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, had called "a testament to the power of principled, courageous political action, and... a moment to celebrate for environmental advocates, ocean ecosystems, and future generations alike."
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