Poseur's Appeal for Peace

Drudge offers this link that based on an article from The Nation will take you to "The Appeal for Redress from the War." The first link is kind of funny from the military perspective being that some of the entries are obviously poseurs. At the Appeal site, it states that it,

Many active duty, reserve, and guard service members are concerned about the war in Iraq and support the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation. The Appeal messages will be delivered to members of Congress at the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January 2007.

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone.

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.

If you agree with this message, click here.

The Appeal for Redress is sponsored by active duty service members based in the Norfolk area and by a sponsoring committee of veterans and military family members. The Sponsoring committee consists of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, and Military Families Speak Out.

Members of the military have a legal right to communicate with their member of Congress. To learn more about the rights and restrictions that apply to service members click here.

Attorneys and counselors experienced in military law are available to help service members who need assistance in countering any attempts to suppress this communication with members of Congress.

Click here to send the Appeal to your elected representatives.

Well, want to see how accurate their "appeal" is? Click here to see what you have to do to 'appeal." They quote over 1,000. I would take that number with a shot-cup full of rock-salt.

Yep, any shmuck out there can fill it out and claim they are in the military. Anyone who takes this seriously is a fool. Sure a few would be ligit, but I would love to see the whole list bounced off ligit service members.

Yawn.

Some are ligit though. One of the people quoted is,

Navy Lieut. Cmdr. Mark Dearden of San Diego, for example, enlisted in 1997 and is still pondering the possibility of a lifetime career. "So this was a very difficult decision for me to come to. I don't take this decision lightly," he says. But after two "tough" deployments in Iraq, Dearden says signing the Appeal was not only the right thing to do but also gave him personal "closure."

"I'm expressing a right of people in the military to contact their elected representatives, and I have done nothing illegal or disrespectful," Dearden adds.

As you can see here, he is who he says he is. I guess he is a freshly minted LCDR as all I see is LT. Yes, The Nation is lazy in that officers don't "enlist," and LCDR Dearden is a Navy Doctor. That would have been nice information. I don't know why he is so breathless about "illegal or disrespectful." People write their Congressman all the time. Ask any N1. Yawn.

Before you get too excited - this is a classic case of what Greyhawk calls Astroturfing. Click here to get all the information you will ever need to know about Hutto who started it all and his crew. I'll give you a taste.

Jonathan Hutto graduated from Howard University with a degree in political science and a résumé of social activism.

He worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International after college. He whipped up grass-roots protests against police departments and college administrators.

One day in 2003, broke and seeking direction, Hutto enlisted in the Navy.

Greyhawks post has more juicy stuff. MUST READ!! Yea, I know; he is Navy.