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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 200 active duty U.S. armed service members,
fed up with the war in Iraq, have joined an unusual protest calling for
withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, organizers said on Wednesday.
The campaign, called the Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq, is the first
of its kind in the Iraq war and takes advantage of Defense Department rules
allowing active duty troops to express personal opinions to members of
Congress without fear of retaliation, organizers said.
"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," states the appeal posted on the
campaign's Web site at www.appealforredress.org.
"Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S.
troops to infoe home," it adds.
The Web
site allows service members to sign the appeal that will be presented to
members of Congress. Organizers said the number of signatories has climbed
from 65 to 219 since the appeal was posted a few days ago and Wednesday when
it was publicly launched. There are 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Active duty service members are restricted in expressing personal views
publicly. But rules governed by the Military Whistleblower Protection Act give
them the right to speak to a member of Congress respectfully while off-duty
and out of uniform, making clear they do not speak for the military.
In a conference call with reporters, a sailor, a Marine and a soldier who had
served in the Iraq operation said American troops there have increasingly had
difficulty seeing the purpose of lengthy and repeated tours of duty since the
fall of Saddam Hussein.
Their misgivings have intensified this year as the country has edged toward
civil war, they said.
"The real grievances are: Why are we in Iraq if the weapons of mass
destruction are not found, if the links to al Qaeda are not substantiated,"
said Marine Sgt. Liam Madden of Rockingham, Vermont, who was in Iraq from
September 2004 to February 2005 and is based at Quantico, Virginia.
"The occupation is perpetuating more violence," he said. "It's costing way too
many Iraqi civilian and American service member lives while it brings us no
benefit."
The campaign's sponsoring infomittee includes the activist groups Iraq Veterans
Against the War, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out.
Navy Seaman Jonathan Hutto of Atlanta, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia and the
first service member to join the campaign, said a similar appeal during the
Vietnam War drew support from over 250,000 active duty service members in the
early 1970s.
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