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...
Demorats in the military? Who would have guessed it?...
Fairly obvious that CBS wants us to lose.
"Immoral." Yup. That's the really important word in that line. Guy's a coward and a maggot.
Gee, I wonder why they haven't interviewed any of the troops who support what we're doing there?
Brig if they're lucky... to start.
We need to check these guys out. No way someone convinced them to speak in Active Duty status.
Why are these anti-Americans still in uniform?
Hutto? What a coincidence. BRB
They started their own website.
See post #15
"They may communicate with Con-gress....NOT, 60 Minutes!!!!"
Exactly. And even the communication with Congress is 'protected'.. Meaning NOT PUBLIC!
Doesn't this kind of crap happen with every war. Big woopie.
COWARDS. Plain and simple.
Traitors...
CBS will be dusting-off that unctuous gas-bag `Uncle Wally' Cronkite before too long to tell us we might as well just pack it in and vote Dhimmocratic before slitting our wrists, and that's the way it is or the way I see it from my yacht, which by the way won't be swerving to avoid any windmills or oil derricks in the bay, little man, and oh what a wonderful feeling to be rich *and* gift to humanity: a liberal, tacking left . . .
I love your sig!
Everyone:
Advertise the site: http://appealforcourage.org
So they face court martial??
All three come from the same tree.
IRAQ: al-Zawraa vs al-Qaeda ~ Mishan al-Jabouri goes on al-Zawraa and attacks al-Qaeda....
And he owns his own TV Network....so all the Jihadi's heard his loud complaints about al-Queda losing Iraq to the Shias....and the US Forces.....
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