Who speaks for you?

Do you support the release of those abuse photos that courts are trying to wrest from the Obama Administration? The Philadelphia Independent Media Center says you do;

Yup, you’ve been lumped in with three organizations, the IVAW, Geezers for Sitting on Our Hands, and some rinky-dink organization I’ve never heard of before – Veterans for Common Sense.

Here’s why they think the photos should be released;

Iraq War veteran and Board Chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War Camilo Mejia stated, “Being open about our mistakes by releasing these pictures is not only a way to ensure this dark episode in our history will not be repeated, but also a crucial step in our healing process as a nation.”

Veterans for Common Sense Executive and Gulf War veteran Director Paul Sullivan stated, “These documents must be made public and they must be turned over to a special war crimes prosecutor. Never again should our nation’s leaders order torture with impunity.”

President of Veterans For Peace and former Navy Corpsman, Mike Ferner said, “The biggest threat to our service members and our Republic is that we forget what has happened and do it again,” He continued, “Withholding these photographs makes it more likely that the people of our country can push these horrendous acts to the edge of our collective memory. This will not serve our nation well.”

These three tiny veteran organizations obviously don’t have veterans’ or active duty service members’ best interests in their hearts. Yet, the Philly Indy makes it look like they represent all veterans’s opinions in their headline.

Camilo Mejia has been dealt a deadly blow in the recent past by our own TSO when he blogged at The Sniper (before I lured him away with the promise of free monkey porn and bottomless bags of Skittles). Also, our buddy, Denis Keohane at Obiter Dictum wrote quite extensively about Mejia. Does he speak for you?

We know the stars of Vets For Peace (known here as Geezers for Sitting on Our Hands), but Veterans For Common Sense is a new one to me. As near as I can tell, VCS is made up of five members, three of whom are veterans. Apparently, they’re a couple of Gulf War Vets who are upset that they can’t get into IVAW. Their mission statement says;

Our mission…is to raise the unique and powerful voices of veterans so that our military, veterans, freedom, and national security are protected and enhanced, for ourselves and for future generations.

How would releasing those photos protect and enhance our military, veterans, freedom and national security?

By the way, VCS claims they’re funded in part by the Plowshares Fund, which boasts the actor Michael Douglas and Chuck Hagel on their board – real intellectual heavyweights right there.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War