Oct. 29, 2011 - Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old two-tour Iraq veteran whose skull was fractured by a rubber bullet or tear gas cannister fired by police during an Occupy Oakland protest, has become a symbol for the Oakland, Calif., protests and put a spotlight on veterans' solidarity with the Occupy movement.Olsen had joined joined the Occupy Oakland protest after work Tuesday, before clashes broke out between demonstrators and police trying to evict them from a city plaza. Videos of Olsen posted on YouTube show him standing still in a space between police a protesters when he was hit in the head by something and fell to the ground.
When fellow demonstrators tried to come to Olsen's aid, a tear gas cannister exploded in their midst, driving them away from the injured man.
"He joined the military to fight for people's rights, and that's not what he found himself doing in Iraq. And so he came home and started fighting for people's rights here and for his brothers and sisters who were still deployed," said Iraq veteran Aaron Hughes, the central and team leader of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
"There is a massive disconnect between the larger society and U.S. service members. Right now we have high unemployment, homeless and suicide rates among veterans. Scott is just one example of hundreds and thousands of service members who are tired of the rhetoric and want real substantive change," said Hughes, who said he returned to Iraq as a civilian after his tour to fight for peace.
snip "The 1 percent have profited during times of war," Hughes said. "If you're profiting during a time of war, what does that make you? Everyone else is losing, everyone else is struggling financially, service members and vets are just one part of that struggle for survival while the one percent is profiting. We call those war profiteers and I don't know when in our country that's been OK. That's one reason while Scott was out there."
But Hughes insisted that the policemen who attacked Olsen are not to blame. Instead, he said, it is the system that provided the policemen with weapons that is to blame. read more>>>
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