White Noise Insanity

...to their representatives here at home to express their displeasure with the Iraq occupation. Hopefully if enough letters are written by our off-duty soldiers or by soldiers who are now home from Iraq, the Congress will freakin listen!!

Here's an article on it:

U.S. troops speak against Iraq war

Service members use protection under whistle-blower laws to encourage Congress to pull American forces out of Iraq.
BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ

October 26, 2006

More than 200 active-duty service members are publicly asking their congressional representatives to end the occupation of Iraq and promptly bring American troops home.

Their action marks the first time since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 that men and women still in uniform have publicly and collectively spoken out against operations there.

They are doing so under the Military Whistle-Blower Protection Act, which says active duty, National Guard and Reserve forces can communicate with their legislators without fear of reprisal.

In a conference call Wednesday with reporters, three of the troops involved in the effort pointed out that they are doing this off-duty, out of uniform and in no way as representatives of the military.

"While we do serve our country, we feel this occupation should come to an end," said Jonathan Hutto, a Navy seaman stationed in Norfolk.

If sent to Iraq tomorrow, Hutto said, he wouldn't disobey an order.

"We're not pacifists. We are not conscientious objectors. We are not encouraging anything illegal," Hutto said. They're just encouraging any service member who feels the same way to go to www.appealforredress.org.

"The way the Web page is set up is the service member sends a letter directly to their Congress member," said J.E. McNeil, an attorney advising the effort and the executive director for the Washington-based Center on Conscience & War, a group that helps protect the rights of conscientious objectors.

The service members submit their name, rank, duty station and home ZIP code. An electronic letter - stating that "staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price" - is then sent to their representative.

"When men and women join the military and put on the uniform they don't give up their rights as U.S. citizens," McNeil said. "Participating as fully as possible in their government, that's what these men and women are doing."

The grass-roots effort began early this year with Hutto as one of the organizers.

Hutto hasn't been reprimanded, but Navy public affairs officers did give him guidance so that he didn't violate the U.S. Code of Military Justice, a Pentagon official said.

"The idea ... originated when I was deployed off the coast of Iraq," Hutto said of his deployment with the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier.

An old professor had sent him a copy of "Soldiers in Revolt," David Cortright's book documenting the U.S. soldiers who opposed the Vietnam War.

"By 1971," Hutto said, "more than 250,000 of these active-duty service people appealed to Congress" advocating an end to that war.

Hutto and Liam Madden, a Marine Corps sergeant from Vermont, then brought Cortright to Norfolk to talk about the Vietnam-era G.I. movement.

"Why do I support this appeal for redress?" Madden said. "It's as simple as I oppose the war in Iraq. I feel it is my duty, not as a Marine, but as an informed citizen, to inform people there is a tool for them.

"The occupation is perpetuating more violence," Madden added. "It's costing way too many human, Iraqi civilian and American service members' lives."

As of Wednesday morning, nearly 2,800 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, with more than 20,000 wounded, according to the Defense Department.

Kathleen Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice, said uniformed service members can express their views on personal time using personal resources.

Duignan, also an attorney, spent six years in the military as a judge advocate general. Her institute is a Washington-based nonprofit that aims to help the public better understand the intricacies of military justice.

"Everybody who wears the uniform is entitled to be equal members in the political process," she said. "You just have to be careful when and how you do it."

If you're a soldier or you have a soldier in your life who is against the Iraq occupation, please have him or her visit the Appeal for Redress website to submit their letter. I've linked to it on the sidebar as well.

We want our soldiers home. Our presense in Iraq is only making things worse over there and the soldiers know it. How wonderful it is that some of our soldiers are using THEIR RIGHTS to speak out against this atrocious occupation. So, the next time you hear Bush saying that our soldiers are over there fighting for our rights, we must remind him that our soldiers have rights too and MUST NOT BE PUNISHED FOR USING THEM!!!!!!!!!!!