Defend the Hempstead 15

We, the Undersigned, call on presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to publicly denounce and call for investigation into the brutal and inappropriate treatment by police of members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and other antiwar demonstrators outside the third and final presidential debate. Additionally, we call on them to publicly express support for the civil rights and freedom speech of veterans. Furthermore, we call on the candidates to answer the questions that members of IVAW had come to the debate to ask of them.

At 7:00pm on October 15, 2008, the night of the debate, IVAW members led a contingent of several hundred peaceful protesters to the main gate of Hofstra University.

The IVAW had sent a request the previous week to the debate moderator that they be allowed to ask their own two questions of the candidates at the Hofstra event, but this was ignored. The letter stated that, in the absence of a response, several uniformed members of IVAW would nonviolently request and seek entry to ask their questions on the night of the debate.

As the members of IVAW, marching in uniform and in formation, followed by several hundred antiwar antiwar demonstators and supporters approached the intersection in front of the Hofstra campus gates, they were confronted by an army of mounted police and riot cops.

Ten IVAW members were arrested, apparently for no more than insisting on their right to be heard. Mounted police then pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk, recklessly pulling their horses around and at times backing them into the crowd. The police continued to drive protesters back, pinning the crowd up against a fence.

Riot cops reached past the IVAW members at the front of the crowd, grabbing protesters behind them and dragging them into the street. A mounted cop leapt, with his horse, onto the sidewalk and trampled protesters, including Nick Morgan, a former Army Sergeant who was trampled, knocked out, and had his face crushed by the hoof of a horse.

Witnesses report that police left Morgan unconscious on the sidewalk for up to ten minutes before arresting him. Nick, disoriented and bleeding from the head and face, was initially refused medical treatment. When Morgan was escorted onto the bus in handcuffs, he didn't know where he was, or why he was arrested. Police initially refused to bring him to the hospital, despite his potentially life threatening condition. It was only when other members of IVAW repeatedly demanded he be allowed to see a doctor that Nick was finally allowed into an ambulance.

At the hospital Morgan received stitches, and it was discovered, after an x-ray, that his right cheekbone was clearly displaced and pushed back into his skull. Morgan was brought back to the police station from the hospital, still incoherent and in great pain. He was left chained to a bench for five hours without further medical attention. In addtion to Nick Morgans serious injuries, several other protesters were hurt by the police officers reckless use of horses.

While in custody, other IVAW members were verbally harrased. They repeatedly asked officers for their names (they weren't wearing badges) or to contact lawyers--they were refused on all counts.

In total, 15 veterans and antiwar activists were arrested and several others were injured, merely for attempting to raise questions that were glaringly absent from the debate, but shared by millions of Americans: that of the ongoing illegal, disasterous, costly, and deadly war in Iraq and that of the inadequate treatment of veterans when they return home from the war. Outrageously, the Hempstead 15, as they have come to be known, are charged with disorderly conduct and failure to obey a lawful order, and face arraignment in Long Island on November 10, 2008.

Silence in the face of such obvious and disturbing police misconduct tacitly condones the brutal supression of the free speech of antiwar veterans and civilians. Refusal to address the questions posed by the members of IVAW indicates disregard for concerns of antiwar veterans, their families and supporters, and the many millions of Americans who are horrified by the political priorities in this country, support the funding of benefits for veterans and an end to this war.

(See Addendum A for IVAWs questions for the candidates).

Addendum A: IVAW Questions for the Candidates


Senator McCain, on July 9th 2008 you were quoted saying "I've received every award from every major veterans organization in America but the reason why I have a perfect voting record from organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and all the other Veterans Service Organizations is because of my support of them."
However, there are non-partisan Veterans Organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) who've noted that you've consistently voted against important issues such as increased VA funding in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. This summer, another Veterans Organization, Veterans for Common Sense filed suit against the VA and discovered that approximately 1000 Veterans under their care are attempting suicide each month, with an average of 17 succeeding every 30 days. Government surveys conclude that over 300,000 21st Century Warriors are currently suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while only 67 thousand have been diagnosed with PTSD, and less than half of those are collecting disability benefits. Doctors and Nurses at the VA are struggling to treat the 2 million American Troops who've deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. What promises are you willing to make, as a Veteran, as a Senator, as a Presidential Candidate, to the Veterans of the United States to prove that you will ensure the VA is fully funded, staffed, and capable of preventing Troops from suffering as they are now, after they've served our great nation overseas?

-Sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith
Operation Iraqi Freedom III Veteran

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Senator Obama, you have said that the War and Occupation of Iraq is illegal. If by your words, it is illegal, then it is not only the right of service members such as myself to refuse deployment and participation in Iraq, it is also our responsibility. Sir, as President, are you willing to go by your own words and back them up, and support servicemembers refusing to participate in what you have, in your own words, termed an "Illegal Occupation"?

-Sergeant Matthis Chiroux
Operation Enduring Freedom Veteran