Posted on 02/22/2007 12:40:59 PM PST by OCCASparky
Edited on 02/22/2007 3:22:44 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
ACTIVE-DUTY U.S. MILITARY MEMBERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST WAR ON '60 MINUTES'
Thu Feb 22 2007 15:21:11 ET
They say they are not disloyal. They say they are not shirking their duty and that they do not oppose war. But over 1,000 active-duty and reserve members of the U.S. military are against the war in Iraq and have said so in an unusually public way -- by petitioning Congress last month. Several of them appear to explain their actions in a Lara Logan report to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday Feb. 25 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
"I'm not anti-war. I'm not a pacifist. I'm not opposed to protecting our country and defending our principles," says Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, an Iraq war veteran who, along with another veteran, initiated the petition. A 1995 law called the Military Whistleblower act enables military personnel to express their own opinions about Iraq in protected communication directly to Congress. Hutto and others spoke with 60 MINUTES while off duty, off base and out of uniform as conscientious citizens. "But at the same time, as citizens, it's our obligation to have a questioning attitude... about policy," Hutto tells Logan.
Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, who helped Hutto to found the organization they call Appeal for Redress that has attracted 1,000 other military members, is more blunt. "Just because we volunteered for the military doesn't mean we volunteered to put our lives in unnecessary harm and to carry out missions that are illogical and immoral."
These GIs and others Logan spoke with expressed frustration with their efforts in Iraq and believe there is no end in sight to the war. Other Iraqi war veterans still on duty there believe Appeal for Redress misses a larger point. "As an American soldier, I feel like we took an oath to obey the orders of our commander-in-chief and officers appointed over us," says Army Spec. James Smauldon. Said another serviceman in Iraq, Army Capt. Lawrence Nunn, "I know what IÕm here fighting for, to give the Iraqi people some democracy and hope, so I am 100 percent behind this mission. You don't sign up to pick which war you go to."
Another Appeal for Redress member counters, "Our leadership gets to choose the mission. Congress gets to choose the mission," Staff Sgt. Matt Nuckolls says. He's loyally committed to whatever Congress wants him to do but savors the right to question it. "My Congressman is Lacy Clay. I would like to tell him as a constituent of his, 'Is the mission in Iraq really what you want us to be doing?' And then [if] he responds yes, okay, well, we go back to Iraq and keep doing what we're doing."
Developing...
A very salient point. One that all of us -- and all of Congress -- would do well to remember.
Well, let's not forget kids--this is the same network who did an entire profile on "ex-Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet" Steven Southards, who not only was NOT a SEAL, NEVER served in Vietnam, but also was thrown in the brig for continuously going UA.
When a person volunteers for the military,he or she accepts the fact they may go to war.there is no picking and choosing.And thes people didn't exactly sound like military and vets that I know.
Remenber,this is CBS,the network that had paperwork on President Bush that turned out to be fake.
I am a veteran<but I'M behind your efforts 100%ROCK STEADY!!(the motto of the 1/503 Inf.)
Now, why is that name familiar?
Hmmm, 60 Min...OH!
Now I remember.
A few weeks before the last national election, it was SIXTY MINUTES (II) that used FORGED DOCUMENTS to contrive a wacky hit piece against President Dubya, in order to influence the outcome of the election.
So, are we to believe that 60 Minutes has ...
1. Started telling the truth?, or
2. Is driven any less by a romantic attachment to the fifth column? or
3. Hates America any less now than in 2000?
Nope.
It's the same 60 Minutes, synonymous with Dan the Forger, that will undertake any treacherous deed to undermine a Republican President, even if it means spinning the specious, malcontented whinings of the outlier fringe, while mostly ignoring the statistically representative body of opinion within the current and recently separated military.
It's the same 60 Minutes that tortures the military's true sentiments so ruthlessly, so that unsuspecting viewers might believe out-and-out falsehoods about our reasons for being in Iraq.
60 Minutes of downright sedition.
- - A Marine Dad.
I saw a report on this for Hannity's America. And it is absolutely, amazingly predictable. Laura Logan. Then you hear her voice. I want this bottom tier, spokesperson out of America! Out of her profession, out of her network of liberal jackasses.
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