Uniformed Resisters in the First Gulf War

For International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, observed annually on May 15, we tell a story about soldiers refusing to serve in the First Gulf War. Thirty years ago this month, at the conclusion of that war, Private First Class Sam Lwin and 24 other Marines were charged with desertion. They were among tens of thousands across the U.S. Armed Forces who applied for conscientious objector (CO) status or otherwise resisted participation in a war that they came to realize was wrong. Lwin, a Burmese-American student and Marine reservist of Fox Company, led 7 others in his unit to resist the military, ultimately joining a mass exodus of the military in which soldiers deserted at higher percentages than even in the Vietnam War. The story of why these soldiers resisted, how, and with whose help is lesser known but deserves greater recognition.

The First Gulf War had a few causes, but the most immediate was a disagreement about oil pricing in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that came to a head in mid 1990. Iraq, still devastated from the nearly 8-year long Iran-Iraq war that had only concluded a couple years earlier, desperately needed oil price stability to recover. Kuwait also held some significant Iraqi debt which, if they were to disappear, would hasten Iraq’s recovery. When Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah of Kuwait again refused to comply with OPEC production quotas, selling more oil than was agreed upon and thus dragging the price of oil down for the rest of OPEC, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq threatened a military response in early July 1990. The invasion began early the next month.

An international coalition largely led by the United States quickly formed to denounce and repel the Iraqi invasion. One major concern was that, after a rapid conquest of Kuwait, Iraq could invade and wrest control of the massive oil fields in U.S.-allied Saudi Arabia. Within days of Hussein’s invasion into Kuwait, the U.S. soldiers were sent into Saudi Arabia. Although the initial objective of Operation Desert Shield, as it was known, was “wholly defensive,” mission creep led U.S. forces to start bombing Iraq within months, starting in mid January 1991. 

The military coalition that formed against Iraq justified intervention in the regional conflict with a number of reasons. Under Hussein, Iraq had a documented history of human rights abuses, including the use of chemical, biological weapons, and torture. Iraqi human rights abuses continued in Kuwait. But after the Iraqi invasion into Kuwait, the Kuwaiti government exaggerated and even invented alleged Iraqi atrocities, specifically targeting the international and American public with this propaganda through the Hill & Knowlton public relations firm. The PR campaign successfully rallied the public against Iraq. Thus, much of the U.S. public was primed to view Iraqis as monstrous, and themselves as heroic liberators. This rhetoric strongly informed the U.S. military’s vision of itself as well.

The resisters within the U.S. military saw things differently. Although Saddam Hussein’s aggression was worth denouncing, many soldiers did not find it heroic to defend a foreign dictator across the world just to keep some oil fields in friendly hands. Many, including Sam Lwin, enlisted with the military as teenagers uncertain about their life paths or how they might pay for college. For many, and especially for POC in the military, patriotism was less of a motivator than the desire for status, funding for education, and a decent paying job in the face of few other options. Others joined genuinely wanting to do good in the world, but over time realized that, in the words of Major General Smedley D. Butler, “war is a racket” meant to benefit a small few. As West Point graduate, former Army career officer, and CO David Wiggins, MD put it, “I had been taught that anything below officer was for inferior types -- minorities, bums, criminals in lieu of jail… Their lives were pretty insignificant, and it was no great loss if a few of them died defending our freedom.” When soldiers applied for conscientious objector status, many faced various threats, docked pay, incarceration and isolation, and psychiatric evaluations. Many POC soldiers experienced racism during Boot Camp, but racist harassment increased significantly for those who came out as COs.

As the possibility of a U.S. military intervention around Kuwait increased, Marine Corps Private First-Class Sam Lwin began to seriously consider what it would mean to participate in such a violent venture. He filed for CO status a few weeks before his unit was called to report for duty, and when his application was ignored, he went AWOL. He reached out to the War Resisters League (WRL) which counseled him and hundreds of other COs around the country seeking help in getting out. Throughout the ordeal, Michael Marsh of WRL worked with Lwin and 29 other COs to have their status recognized and to reduce any penalties that may arise -- and Marsh was just one out of dozens of WRL counselors working with COs. Lwin was a student at The New School at the time, and when he told his fellow students about his predicament, the students formed a grassroots group to support and defend Lwin’s conscience. Hands Off Sam!, and later just Hands Off! as the group expanded, was composed of dozens of New School students who helped publicize Lwin’s story, stood with him as he protested before the Marine armory in the Bronx, and packed the court rooms for his and his fellow COs’ court-martials. These groups successfully convinced judges that the Marine Corps’ treatment of COs like Lwin was systemic, abusive, and illegal. Sam Lwin initially faced 7 years in prison; his civilian support had the sentence reduced to just four months. 

It is often the case that soldiers with doubts about their military participation do not attempt to resist until a fellow soldier does. Sam Lwin was the one who suddenly revealed the possibility of resistance to his 7 other fellow Marines in Fox Company -- without Lwin standing up for his conscience and thus demonstrating that that was even an option, the fates of the 7 other Marines could have been very different. But on the other hand, as Sam Lwin’s story makes clear, soldiers within the military who come to realize their conscientious objections often have a very difficult time having their concerns acknowledged by their superiors. This is especially true in times when the military is actively engaged or preparing to engage in a conflict, a disturbing trend considering the fact that the U.S. armed forces have not seen peace in over 18 years. And with President Biden’s $13 billion dollar military budget increase over Trump’s budget, the American war machine does not seem to be slowing or shrinking. COs within the military often need the assistance of civilian groups to successfully resist. So, for the sake of fellow soldiers who may be inspired by a CO’s resistance, for the sake of a world constantly threatened by the whims of its largest military, and for the sake of the COs themselves, let us do more to promote and honor those who refused to participate in war. 

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Sources

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Cohen, Mitchel. “Thousands Said ‘No’ to Gulf War.” Fifth Estate. Summer 1991 (accessed 12 May 2021). https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/337-late-summer-1991/thousands-said-no-to-gulf-war/ 

Esch, Betsy. “Honoring Our Gulf War Resisters.” Marxists.org. (accessed 12 May 2021). https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/976.html#r9 

Gonzalez, David. “MIDEAST TENSIONS; Some in the Military Are Now Resisting Combat.” The New York Times. 26 November 1990 (accessed 12 May 2021). https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/26/world/mideast-tensions-some-in-the-military-are-now-resisting-combat.html 

“Marine War Objector Given 4-Month Term.” Los Angeles Times. 24 May 1991 (accessed 12 May 2021). https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-24-mn-2367-story.html

Wiggins, David. “From West Point to Resister.” Nonviolent Activist, vol. 9, no. 1, 1992, pp. 3–5. ​