Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Supporting the Troops!

From the LA Times
Calif veterans, some still on active duty, speak out against U.S. presence in Iraq:

Off duty in Baghdad, Army Sgt. Ronn Cantu operates an antiwar website.

When not repairing Black Hawk helicopters for the California National Guard, Jabbar Magruder conducts counterrecruiting sessions with would-be enlistees.

Fresh from TWO tours EACH in Iraq, decorated former Marines Sean O'Neill and Mike Ergo give antiwar speeches at Northern California high schools.

Although their numbers are still small compared with the draft-fueled Vietnam veterans' movement four decades ago, California's Iraq veterans are gaining a voice in opposition to America's continued military presence in Iraq. Recent antiwar demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities have seen the first sizable contingents of veterans from the conflict.

The protesters even include some soldiers — like Cantu, of Los Angeles — who are still on active duty. "I've taken a public antiwar stance," Cantu, 29, recently e-mailed from Baghdad, where he serves in intelligence with the 1st Cavalry Division, "but I didn't shirk my responsibilities."

O'Neill, a 24-year-old Marine veteran from Fremont, said he likes to take the antiwar message to conservative areas of the state "to add legitimacy and to show that it is not just crazed leftists who are against the war."

Sgt. Jabbar Magruder, 24, served in Iraq in 2005 and is still a member of the California National Guard while he attends Cal State Northridge as a pre-med major.

In his civilian mode, he serves as secretary of the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, attends antiwar demonstrations and meets with students on college campuses. He recently traveled to Hawaii to speak to potential military recruits about the Iraq war and was one of nearly 1,000 regular military, National Guard and Reserve members who signed an Appeal for Redress that was delivered to Congress in January.

The three-sentence appeal reads: "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 in Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home."

Now that's what I call "supporting the Troops"!!!!! I happened to run across this by accident but I am sure GLAD I did! I found a website founded by a soldier who is IN IRAQ but OPPOSED to the war, on his website he welcomes pro-war, and anti-war people alike. I LOVE this for more than one reason, but my main reason for LOVING this is because it comes from a soldier WHO is there not a DAMN COMMIE, TYRANT, who will NEVER go there! I plan on leaving a comment on his site later to COMMEND him for taking a VOCAL stance against this LIE Shrub wants us to keep fighting. In the meantime here are some excerpts from some of the people commenting on his site:

From a soldier discussing Paul Rieckhoff's Book Chasing Ghosts and a radio interview with Al-Rantel and IVAW Member Jabbar MacGruder.

Yeah, I read Chasing Ghosts. In one of the threads, I talked about a custom t-shirt I had made that said "Please don't court martial me, I'm against the war in Iraq, not the US Army."

I walked up and down the mall in Killeen, Texas and one woman looked like she was gonna explode. haha

Hey, if she hates it so much, she can take MY place. What got me about that interview was the condescending tone Rantel had after he said goodbye to Jabbar. He said something along the lines of "He obviously hopes he doesn't have to go back."

That's easy to say considering he's in NO danger of going at all.


Here's one from Gordon Sturrock U.S. Army Vet.

Lincoln County Democrats invited our VeteransForPeace Squadron13 bus to march with them in the "Loyalty Days" parade which took place on Saturday May 5th, 2007. The parade organizers were informed ahead of time that a bus would be included in their entry and permission was granted. When we showed up 2 hours prior to the parade start to get our registration number we were met with confusion and bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. Initially a Lincoln County Sheriff showed up and told us that we could not take part in the parade. Unable to counter our insistence that our bus was registered he called for the parade organizer, Patty Louisiana, who would make the final determination. Patty showed up and did her best to explain why we could not be in the parade. On camera she said our message of peace "doesn't support the spirit of our community".
Pro-military, pro-war entries in this parade were abundant. Pro-peace messages were completely absent, so it seems clear that beautiful Newport Oregon is a supporter of the ILLEGAL WAR, the deaths of thousands of young soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens whose only crime was to be living in a country with a wealth of oil.

If anyone wants to check his site out here it is: www.soldiervoices.net

7 comments:

Kitchen Window Woman said...

I am real glad to see that GI's are speaking out. We spoke out during the Vietnam war and brought it to an end. Soldiers are citizen soldiers and should always have a voice but the Pentagon and the White House always do their best to stifle freedom of speech within the military. Silenced soldiers are used to suggest that the army is 100% behind the policies and actions of those in power - to intimidate the public.

I am a member of Veterans For Peace - it is a shame that they were not allowed to participate in the parade.

Undeniable Liberal said...

Good catch and nice rant! Standing ovation!

LET'S TALK said...

You hear that the soldiers are Republicans and all for this war and anyone who talks against it are sending the wrong message to our military in Iraq.

Bush would have an itch fit if he knew how a lot of our military felt about this war.

kitchen window woman is right, to intimidate the public, this President and most conservatives try to make us believe that our soldiers are all for this war and now they are trying to keep them silent.

Progressive Texas Chicano said...

The house of cards is crumbling quite nicely. We should see full scale revolt by summer's end (when you factor Iraq and the price of gas...)

People, GET READY!

Pursey Tuttweiler said...

Funk Town,
Keep up the good fight. I cannot give up hope, with more and more people, including the soldiers opposing this war, surely it will end soon. Americans need to march in droves. I am tired of attending marches where a paltry 200 people show up when 67% of the votes in my city went to John Kerry. People are afraid to protest, afraid they will get arrested, lose their jobs, etc. We need to get over that fear and get out in masses.

Tom Harper said...

There's a Veterans' Memorial park where I live, and every Saturday there's an anti-war demonstration there. The other day there was a letter to the editor saying that it was insulting to veterans to have an anti-war demonstration at Veterans' Memorial Park.

I wrote a letter saying that some of the regular demonstrators there (myself included) are veterans. I also wrote that there are probably more veterans among the demonstrators than among the rednecks who drive by with their middle fingers sticking up.

My letter hasn't been printed yet, but I'm holding my breath.

Who Hijacked Our Country

Ziem said...

When your own troops speak out against you and your policies, EVERYONE should listen.

Just ask Benito Mussolini....