Active-duty GIs: the Congress had better listen to them

Jan. 15 MLK Day Appeal for Redress news conference

Active-duty GIs: the Congress had better listen to them

'Appeal for Redress' submits over 1,000 signatures on ending Iraq occupation

By John Catalinotto
Norfolk, Va.

Twenty-five active duty GIs reflected the growing opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq within the U.S. military itself by publicly acknowledging at a news conference Jan. 15 in Norfolk, Va., that they had signed the "Appeal for Redress." This appeal, which has been circulating since last Oct. 23 on a website, is a statement offering a view of the Iraq occupation that differs pointedly from that of Pres. George W. Bush.

The Appeal for Redress, crafted so as to be legal not only under the U.S. Constitution but under military rulings, is simply: "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. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home." The news conference ended with the 25 GIs reading the appeal aloud in unison.

Organizers had chosen the date to connect their appeal with the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr's struggle for justice and peace. Some 35 active-duty troops, reservists, including Iraq veterans, other veterans and the day's speakers filled the stage. Banners hung carefully and neatly on the inside walls of the Unitarian Universalist Church-and one hanging on the outside greeted the 100 people, supporters and media, who filled the church. One banner stage left held the telling message: "Support the troops; listen to them."

And those who came, along with Norfolk's TV stations and some national and international media, listened. They heard, if they listened carefully, that a new movement of active-duty troops was starting to speak with its own voice. They heard a strong section of the civilian anti-war movement pledging to support this new GI movement and to welcome it.

Some of the appeal's drafters and early organizers spoke out at the meeting and clarified their position with a series of non-stop interviews with television and press media and documentary film-makers for four hours. These active-duty troops included Navy Seamen Jonathan Hutto and Javier Capella, Petty Officer Dave Rogers and Marine Sergeant Liam Madden among others.

Hutto and Capella are stationed on the Aircraft Carrier Theodore Roosevelt with a complement of over 3,000 officers and enlisted sailors stationed in Norfolk. Hutto, an African-American man who grew up in Atlanta under the strong influence of that city's movement for civil rights and the strong role model of his activist mother, helped focus the conference on Martin Luther King and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Capella is from Puerto Rico and works together with Hutto on the Roosevelt.

A generation's call to conscience

Madden, from Vermont, who is stationed in the Marine base in Quantico, Va., and has only a week of active duty left in his contract, said, "We need to pay attention to King's words more than one day a year." He read the Appeal for Redress, which the movement drafted in collaboration with J.E. McNeil from the center for Conscience & War in such a way that active-duty troops have the legal right to sign, protected by the Military Whistleblower Protection Act (DOD directive 7050.6).

Madden was adamant that the appeal was not aimed at making a political statement: "Not one more of my brothers should die for a lie. This is not politics. It is our generation's call to conscience."

The organizers said that as of the day before the news conference, some 1,031 signatures of the group had been verified as being from armed forces members, most of them active duty, including over 800 enlisted men or women, from bases all over the world, and 35 from troops in Iraq.

Among the main supporters were at least a dozen members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). This group had up to now concentrated at organizing returning veterans of the Iraq occupation and getting them involved in the anti-war movement. The IVAW speaker said the group now also uses the appeal to reach out to active-duty personnel.

Jabbar Magruder of IVAW, a sergeant still active in the National Guard in California, said he would be joining Liam Madden and others on Jan. 16 to meet with Dennis Kucinich and other representatives in Congress to present the signatures of active-duty service people to them and to visit others on the Hill with their message. Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak Out and Michael McPherson of Veterans For Peace also had representatives supporting the new active-duty movement. Community organizer Tom Palumbo spoke for the local Tidewater chapter of Veterans for Peace.

Phil Wilayto of the Virginian Anti-War Network (VAWN) made a dramatic appeal for the civilian movement to throw its full support behind the GIs and to defend their right to speak out against the war.

"This administration has betrayed our armed forces," said Lt. j.g. Fabian Bouthillette, who was part of a delegation from the Military Project in New York, which is connected with the GI Special web newspaper and has been active reaching out at armories in the city to National Guard troops. "I actually believe that the conduct of this administration is more detrimental to the Constitution than anything else," Bouthillette said. "This was begun on an immoral, illegal basis. And we were lied to."

"We must listen to the men and women" who are in the military and who are taking the courageous move of speaking out against the war, said David Cortwright, author of the book, Soldiers in Revolt. A year earlier, Hutto had read this book of the GI movement during the Vietnam War, which inspired him to begin the Appeal for Redress.

Hutto praised the contribution of those who organized service people during the war against Vietnam, including organizers of Veterans for Peace and of the American Servicemen's Union who were participating. He also thanked local activist Ann Williams, who played a big role in organizing the day's activity, the people from the Unitarian Universalist Church who had worked hard on setting up the hall, and local organizer John Long, who stayed up all night preparing the attractive program.

Hutto, Madden, Rogers and the other outspoken GIs gave nonstop interviews for four hours following the news conference. One of the favorite questions from interviewers was to ask for a comparison between the GI movement today and that during the Vietnam War, which those currently in the service knew through their reading.

Congress shouldn't ignore 'Appeal'

Hutto said, that "some in the GI movement during the Vietnam era were anti-military and anti-authority. We, on the other hand, are just opposing some of the policies of the military. We oppose the stop-loss decision, which keeps people on active duty beyond their contract; we oppose the lies about the war. We are looking for a legal and constructive manner to oppose these policies.

"We don't believe people have the right to slander our movement. On the other hand, if the government doesn't heed the Appeal for Redress" and just ignores the opinion of all the enlisted people, you could expect to see "an even more massive protest" that could in the future move beyond simply raising the issues with Congress.

Before the conference ended, Hutto pointed out that before King made his famous April 1967 anti-war speech from Riverside Church in New York, King himself had come to a realization: if he were going to advise non-violence as a tactic in the movement for civil rights, he would have to start by insisting that the U.S. government—"the greatest purveyor of violence"--desist from its warlike foreign policy.

Hutto then introduced three active-duty GIs who read portions of King's April 1967 talk.

To see and sign the appeal, see www.appealforredress.org .