THEY ARE STANDING UP

Troops read a statement against operations in Iraq during an
Appeal for Redress press event January 15, 2007, in Norfolk, Va.
The petition will be delivered to Congress on Tuesday.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of approximately 80 active duty troops from various branches of service gathered in a church in Norfolk Virginia to speak out against the war in Iraq.

“It is time for U.S. troops to come home,” said Marine Corps Sgt. Liam Madden. He said active-duty troops have the right to speak out, and he said his opposition to the war is not driven by politics.

“It’s not political when people heed the call of their conscience,” said Madden, 22, who is stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base and who served in Iraq with Okinawa’s 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as a communications specialist. “Not one more of my brothers should die for a lie. This is my generation’s call to conscience.” The remarks drew cheers and a standing ovation.

“We’re not anti-war,” said Navy Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Hutto, 29, who enlisted in 2004 and is assigned to the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2005-06. “We’re not pacifists. We’re anti-Iraq war.”

The group’s message, he said: “There is an organized, constructive level of dissent with the ranks on this war.”(emphasis mine)

Members of the active duty military can engage in protected communications with their congressional representatives and they can participate in anti-war activities, so long as they do not wear their uniform while protesting, and they do not criticize their commanders. They are also prohibited from speaking out on base or during duty hours.

Madden, Hutto and the other active-duty members who came to Monday’s rally are signatories to an online petition to Congress sponsored by Appeal for Redress, a group for active-duty, Reserve and Guard personnel started last fall by Hutto and Madden that calls for an end to the war and the “prompt” withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq.

Hutto said they’ve gathered about 1,000 signatures, mostly from enlisted service members and nearly half from the Army, in ranks ranging from E-1 to O-6.

The group planned to present the Appeal for Redress on the steps of the Capitol today. Dennis Kucinich was to be on hand to accept the petition for presentation to the House.

What we are seeing here is unprecedented in an all-volunteer service. The president pays them no heed at the peril of his presidency, not just his legacy.

Update: The following is from the speech Sgt. Liam Madden delivered on the steps of the Capitol today as 1028 Appreals for Redress were presented to Rep. Dennis Kucinich and the congress.

"We will not tolerate the rhetoric that we must support the troops by funding a war that puts them in harm's way," Madden said. "If you are funding a war that puts them in harm's way, you are not supporting them. You are endangering their lives for a war that cannot be justified, has not been justified and will not work."

The actual text of the Appeal for Redress reads, "I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price."

Troop Movement

Next week, The Nation will publish a report on a movement of Active Duty, Guard and Reserve personnel who have organized a movement calling for withdrawal of forces from Iraq.

A mere seven weeks ago, An Appeal for Redress appeared on the internet, and since then nearly a thousand military members, includign a sizable number of officers, have signed their names to the petition.

During the Viet Nam war, you may recall that approximately 1300 active duty personnel signed a letter to the New York Times, but this...This is unprecedented in an all-volunteer military. During Viet Nam, the percentage of draftees in uniform was substantial. But these people speaking out today are all volunteers, and that fact gives their act of speaking out a degree of gravity that should be attention-grabbing even for the 30% drinking the Kool-Aid.

Every single signature on the Appeal for Redress is that of a volunteer. Many of those volunteers joined up after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Now they find themselves getting shot at and attacked by IED's in a country that had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11.

Many are feeling not merely misled, but that they were flat-out lied to. They don't like it any more than anyone else does. Hell, they probably like it even less, because the lies could cost them their lives.

But don't take my word for it. Read these words from a 20-year-old USAF E-4:

I supported the war when I joined because I thought it was justified. Only after my own research and the truth coming out did I learn how wrong I was, how - for lack of a better word - how brainwashed I was.

Now I know the war is illegal, unjustified and that our troops have no reason for being there.

When I saw an article about the Appeal in the Air Force Times I went online right away and signed it and have encouraged others to do the same.

There is an unspoken, tacit agreement between a volunteer military force and it's government. Those who serve agree to do so without question, and in return, it is understood that their government will only enter into conflict when there is no other option remaining. The government agrees to respect and honor the troops who serve and not take them for granted, abuse their trust or their patriotism and not start wars of choice. The government agrees to abide by international laws and treaties. (We have to honor those, we are not only not alone on the planet, we are trying to have a civilization here, after all.)

In other words, the government agrees not to make war criminals of the United States military forces! Or at least that was the deal before the aWol Bush administration. Now, not so much is guaranteed.

What that man has done to the military and our ability to defend ourselves and respond to disasters is reason enough for the House of Representatives to draft articles of Impeachment for this president, Vice President and several members of the cabinet.