[Marxism] Active duty GI's join antiwar movement

[Louis Proyect]

Knight Ridder Washington Bureau
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service
October 24, 2006 Tuesday

WASHINGTON DATELINE

Some active-duty troops voice their dissent from U.S. policy in Iraq

By Drew Brown, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON _ Liam Madden opposed the war in Iraq even before he deployed 
with his Marine unit in late 2004. But he came home convinced more than 
ever that the war was wrong.

"The more informed I got, the more I opposed the war," said Madden, 22, a 
Marine Corps sergeant in Quantico, Va. "The more people who died there, the 
longer we stayed there, the more I opposed the war. The more I know, the 
easier it is to support withdrawal."

Madden is one of about 118 members of the U.S. military who plan to 
petition Congress asking that U.S. forces be withdrawn from Iraq and 
brought home, said attorney J.E. McNeil. McNeil is advising the grassroots 
group of active-duty service members, who organized the petition drive 
through a Web site (www.appealforredress.org).

In a rare display of public dissent, Madden and another serviceman plan to 
go public Wednesday with their disapproval. Members of the military are 
more limited than civilians are in how they can express dissent.

Although a number of troops, including at least one officer, have been 
brought up on charges for refusing to serve in Iraq, and dozens more have 
deserted, this is the first time that serving members of the U.S. military 
have publicly petitioned Congress to end the war. The action comes less 
than two weeks before the Nov. 7 elections, in which the Iraq war is a 
major issue.

President Bush says he plans no major changes in strategy, and top U.S. 
officials in Baghdad said Tuesday that they are sticking to plans to hand 
over most security responsibilities to the Iraqi government over the next 
12 to 18 months.

Organizers are planning to deliver the petitions to Congress by the Martin 
Luther King Jr. holiday in January.

"The long-term goal is to end the occupation of Iraq," Madden said. "The 
short-term goal is to spread the word that service members who feel like we 
do have a tool to have their voice heard, and it's their duty as a citizen 
of a democratic society to participate in democracy."

The message that Madden and other troops are sending to their congressional 
representatives is brief and to the point.

"As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I 
respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt 
withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq," it says. 
"Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for 
U.S. troops to come home."

The grassroots movement of active-duty service members is based in Norfolk, 
Va., and is sponsored by several anti-war groups, including Iraq Veterans 
Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and Military Families Speak Out. 
Service members can submit their appeals online, giving their names, duty 
status and service branches.

McNeil, the attorney, said troops who speak out against the war are 
exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

Under military regulations, troops are free to speak their minds as long as 
they're not on duty, not in uniform and aren't saying anything that's 
disrespectful to their chain of command or the president, she said.

"They've got to be clear that they are speaking for themselves and not the 
military," said McNeil, the executive director of the Center on Conscience 
and War, based in Washington. The organization was formed by Quakers and 
other church groups in 1940 to protect the rights of conscientious objectors.

The Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1995 allows servicemen and 
women to communicate grievances directly to Congress without the threat of 
penalty or reprisal.

Eugene Fidell, a Washington attorney and president of the National 
Institute for Military Justice, said the service members are within their 
rights to speak out against the war to members of Congress. However, he 
said they must be careful about what they say in public and the 
circumstances under which they say it.

Eric A. Seitz, a Honolulu attorney who has handled military cases for more 
than 40 years, said: "The kinds of resistance and opposition and outrage 
that military people are now beginning to express has been simmering for 
quite a while. But it's about to just burst out in huge waves."

Seitz is representing Lt. Ehren Watada, an Army lieutenant at Fort Lewis, 
Wash., who's being prosecuted for refusing to serve in Iraq.

If dissent continues to build, more soldiers might refuse to fight, Seitz said.

Pentagon officials might "think they can continue to prosecute a war, but 
when the troops stop fighting, that's it, they're out of luck," he said.

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