US Veterans Stand With Standing Rock, Call for Action

By teleSUR

23 November 16

U.S. Armed Forces veterans are heeding to calls to stand in support of the Indigenous protesters as much as against the pipeline itself.

ome December, North Dakota Access Pipeline protesters will likely be receiving support from hundreds of U.S. veterans who have committed to their cause, if everything goes according to plan.

Organizer Wes Clark, Jr., best known as co-host of the Young Turks show, has stated that veterans will be willing to take a bullet if need be. The former U.S. Army officer has called the Standing Rock resistance “the most important event up to this time in human history,” as quoted by Business Insider.

Titled “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock,” the Facebook page announces that hundreds of veterans will be joining the protesters from Dec. 4 to Dec. 7. It also gives a link to a GoFundMe page raising funds for their trip, which has so far received more than US$68,000 of their US$200,000 goal.

The Facebook group was formed with a five-paragraph military operation order that clearly delineated the “opposing forces” – “Morton County Sheriff’s office combined with multiple state police agencies and private security contractors,” reported Business Insider.

According to their GoFundMe Page, they are calling for “peaceful, unarmed militia…(to) defend the water protectors from assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force and DAPL security.”

“Everyday becomes more evident that the defenders of America must stand with the Water Protectors. Let's stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home,” it reads.

Though the group plans to don full military gear including body armor, they insist they are a peaceful group and will not bring arms.

“Bring Body armor, gas masks, earplugs AND shooting mufflers (we may be facing a sound cannon),” reads their Facebook page. “(B)ut no drugs, alcohol or weapons.”