To: US Marine Corps

We, the undersigned, call for an end to the attacks on all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for practicing their right to free speech after discharge. In particular, Liam Madden, who both resides in Boston and cofounded the Appeal for Redress, a statement calling for withdrawal from Iraq that has been signed by 2,000 active duty troops. Liam has been an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. The United States Marine Corps is threatening to change his honorable discharge to a less than honorable discharge, ostensibly for wearing his uniform at a political event and reportedly making disloyal statements despite not currently serving in any military capacity as a Marine. This is a clear attempt to silence a leading voice in the anti-war movement.

The mistakes of the general public as they work to organize themselves politically are more fruitful than the clever plans of political strategists, a German antiwar activist once wrote. (After her parliamentary colleagues voted for a war budget, she said: "There are only two men left in our party - me and Clara Zetkin.")

Rep. Rahm Emanuel is telling Democratic party leaders to "continue to ratchet up the pressure on Bush" on Iraq. Sen. Majority Leader Reid is co-sponsoring a bill that "would cut off funding for the Iraq war within a year and set a hard deadline for withdrawing troops," a move that "will give a bright green light to other members...making it harder to satisfy the party's base with anything less than a hard timeline for withdrawal," writes Lois Romano in the Washington Post.

But check out this video on YouTube. Talk about supporting the troops! Put this woman in charge of strategic communications immediately.

C-SPAN broadcast the entire March on the Pentagon rally (well, most of it), and the broadcast (2+ hours) is still up on the C-SPAN home page. In the meantime, I've been taking excerpts from it and posting it on my blog, Left I on the News. So far I've got three posted - Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney, and Jonathan Hutto and other soldiers from the Appeal for Redress. All of them (and many other speakers) gave really dynamite speeches.

Join Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against The War, Signatores of Appeal For Redress, Code Pink, Military Families Speak Out, and Many Others, in Fayetteville NC on 3-17-07!

Abit of information, and the links below, along with some items from the VFP E-Bulletin, of which at the end is an Open Letter from VFP, and Coalition Organizations, to Reid, Pelosi and the leaders of the Peoples Senate and the Peoples House!

The active duty military personnel who signed the 'Appeal for Redress' are being featured on 60 Minutes tonight at 7PM.  One of those is a soldier whose website 'Soldiers Voices Forum' I've highlighted on deadissue recently.  A bona fide 'Support the Troops' moment if there ever was one, I urge everyone to tune in and to also help spread the word by posting on your own websites, sending out emails, etc.

Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto is one of almost thirteen-hundred active-duty and reserve members of the U.S. Military dead set against the occupation in Iraq. Last month they petitioned congress with an Appeal for Redress, and now they’re ready to tell the rest of the world.

Petty Officer Hutto will join several of his like-minded peers for an interview with Lara Logan of CBS News for broadcast on the Feb. 25 edition of 60 Minutes. While off base and out of uniform the conscientious objectors will discuss their collective decision with 60 Minutes.

More below:

Another interesting and challenging evening at our near-the-crime-scene home last night:

Liam Madden is a 22 year old who grew up in Vermont.  He joined the Marines six months after high school.  He is sweet-looking, polite, just the kind of young man any country would be proud of.  

Liam in front

Our dear dictator in DC is ignoring a lot of people (some smarter than most) when it comes to his Iraq policy – especially where his troop escalation plans are concerned.  CongressCritters – what do they know?  Generals – too far removed from the action.  The people?  Who the f**k cares?

Well add our troops to the list of folks Bush is ignoring – Newsweek tells us that a recent poll by the Army Times shows that only 35% of our troops approve of the way Bush is handling this war in / occupation of Iraq, and now they’re speaking out and calling for a drawdown.

Not just speaking out – they’re contacting their CongressCritters and asking them to get them the hell outta there.

Make the jump...

Last week I posted a Military Times poll showing the lack of military support for the war among active service in Iraq - http://www.militarycity.com/...  Then today, Iraqi veterans and active service expecting to go to Iraq delivered an appeal for redress on the Capitol with more than 1000 signatures and another 1000 supporters that were afraid to disclose their names. Is this the start of the tipping point?

No matter what branch of service one joins, in the service of this Country, they have an Obligation to Stand Up to the Oath taken, against what they may feel are Unlawful Orders, No Matter Who Gives Them.
And especially as NCO's and Officers, if those Orders put their personal into extreme danger, against the Oath to Defend Country and Constitution, it is their Duty to Question those orders.
Military personal have few options to be heard, outside of ranks, but the Appeal For Redress gives them an Avenue to discuss their grievances with their Elected Representative in Congress who Work For Them and Us Civilians.
The Military Personal need our Real Support, just speaking the Words is not the support wanted nor needed!

After reading the recommened piece about the Appeal from Servicemen  I thought that it shouted out for the type of organization that we are great at..the type of organization that shows everyone what blogs are really about

With all the horrific news coming out of Iraq each day, I'm always heartened to hear an encouraging or inspiring story. Like the recent revelation courtesy of The Military Times that over 60% of active-duty troops don't support an escalation. Not that Bush will listen -- but at least the voices of military folks are being heard throughout the country.

So tonight my father clued me in on a recent article in The Nation about a group of active-duty soldiers who will be delivering an "Appeal for Redress" to the Congress on January 15, Martin Luther King Day. The appeal calls on the Congress to promptly withdraw US troops from Iraq. I was amazed I hadn't heard about this yet given how much lefty blog propaganda I consume regularly -- so I'm guessing I might not be alone...

This week in an editorial in "The Nation" Jan 8/15 2007:

"[W]hile the Congressional Democrats are divided on the details of what to do next in Iraq, there's the creeping fear that victims of excessive caution, they have squandered the weeks since the election."

Get Off Your Ass And Reach Out In Person
To Some Troops For The Holidays:
"A Christmas Push For Conscience"

There have been a number of recent posts on the 'Appeal  For Redress Initiative' by Active Duty Military personal. These have been from folks who have found this call for Action, by those still Active Duty, which is Great to see.
Myself, and others, had posted about this right after the origianal call had gone out, you can read mine Here which I had also sent out and posted on a number of boards on 9-24-06.

[A slightly revised version of a post on Fire on the Mountain]

A press release from Common Dreams I got a few days ago suggests that today will see a media push around the Appeal For Redress. Thrilling though the mid-term election (including Ciro's victory last night) was, the victorious Dems don't look like they're going to be driving single-mindedly to get the occupation over any time soon.

Which leaves it up to us.

Like most people in this country, you probably have not heard of the Appeal for Redress. It is critical that the low profile of this oddly named document be raised.

"If People Want To Support The Troops, Then They Should Support Us Coming Home"
"The First Antiwar Movement Organized By Active Military Personnel Since The Vietnam War"

The following is posted in Thomas Barton's most recent edition of Military Project-G.I.Special. You can visit that link to read all of his News Letters, or you can download this recent addition .pdf here: GI SPECIAL 4K7: "This War Is Not Right".pdf. It will also be cross posted at my site where, on the right hand side you can also find the 15 most recent 'G.I. Specials' I still host for Thomas after his site went down, mysteriously, a few months ago, and was down for quite awhile before it mysteriously reappeared.

It makes it a lot easier for US civilians to support the troops when the troops take a stand by publicizing what they want from the civilian sector.  The troops want to vote out incumbent Republicans so that a check on their power can take place.  That's what most Americans want.

Our troops are speaking, and this time directly to Congress.  In campaign 'Appeal for Redress' the numbers of active duty troops signing the appeal is increasing daily, if not hourly.  How many U.S. Troops killed in Iraq this month - 91 - and the month is not yet over. How many other courageous soldiers have demonstrated the courage to 'speak out' publicly via media in recent months?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) More than 200 active duty U.S. armed service members, fed up with the war in Iraq, have joined an unusual protest calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, organisers said on Wednesday.

read more below the fold..link to full story