More “US troops join war protests” stories [Updated]
An article from the Hampton Roads Daily Press;
Several dozen service members joined peace activists today to call for an end to the war in Iraq, part of a nationwide effort that links a growing group of active-duty protesters to the peace movement.
An “appeal for redress” petition, signed by more than 1,000 active duty soldiers and sailors nationwide — many of whom served in Iraq — is to be delivered to Congress on Tuesday.
On a day devoted to honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Norfolk-based Seaman Jonathan Hutto quoted the civil rights leader at a gathering of war protestors at the Unitarian Church of Norfolk.
“Dissent is not disloyalty,” Hutto said, noting that King objected to the Vietnam War and insisted that protestors “were not fools or traitors.”
Invoking the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. to defend their own cowardice, huh? I tend to think that Martin Luther King, Jr. would be more than pleased that the US has freed millions of Iraqis and Afghanis from their respective yokes of oppression, rather than defend the selfish desires of a few.
Roughly 100 people attended the gathering to hear speeches and to rally support for veterans who are speaking out against the war.
“Roughly 100” people? That’s hardly a surge of support in a town like Hampton Roads which is nearly half military and former military. If it was in support of the war, “roughly 100 people” wouldn’t even make the news.
I checked the two complete names in the article against the publicly available records on Military.com’s Buddy Finder. Jonathan Hotto is indeed a member of the Navy, but the other fellow, Jabbar Magruder, doesn’t have a record there, although there is indeed a Jabbar Magruder in California. At the risk of being called “not terribly bright“, I have to assume that Magruder is another wannabe.
“We served in combat and we’ve seen the futility of this war,” said Sgt. Jabbar Magruder of Los Angeles, a member of the National Guard who served 11 months in Tikrit, a town northwest of Baghdad. “The soldiers want to resist. The soldiers want to come home now. We need the citizens to back us.”
Sorry, Jabbar, but 100 people or even 1000 people on a petition doesn’t justify bringing troops home from a legal war.
Oh, and by the way, attending a political rally and representing yourself as a member of the military to lend credence to your cause is indeed a crime whether you’re in uniform or not. Please scroll down to page N-4 and N-5 at this link and read the prohibited activities sections like the one that mentions “no implied government position or involvement”.
UPDATED: I bumped this back to the top because it turns out that my rudimentary research into Jonathan Hutto is juvenile in comparison with the research that the Mudville Gazette‘s Greyhawk has done here, here and here on the little communist and the rest of Petition for Redress crowd.
I’ll just sit silently with my hands folded.
Category: Antiwar crowd
Hey Jonn-an old post, I know, but Jabbar just pointed me here, saying you didn’t believe he exists. He does indeed, and had drill just a few weeks ago. I know, I know, the National Guard aren’t always as easy to find as us active duty crazies. But he’s a servicemember, and an NCO, and even in good graces with his first sergeant. So’m I, for that matter. First sergeants love hard workers.
Jonn wrote: If Jabbar is such a hard worker, why is he “googling” his name and pointing to posts I’d forgot I’d written?
““Dissent is not disloyalty,” Hutto said…”
“Disloyalty is not dissent,” Raoul says.
And treason is not patriotism.
Mudville Gazzette’s research metions activist David Cortright. He was part of Kelly Dougherty’s “Moldy Oldies 60’s Nostalga” panel at Winter Soldier 2.1
Working from only memory, I beleive that Greg Paterson, Revolutionary Communist Party, Not In Our Name puke is involved in “Appeal For Redress”.
Back in Jan ’07 on the day of the big prostests, Paterson was on CBS Radio news saying, “I can’t support the troops. They’re the ones killing people.”
Pretty sure I’ve seen his photo of the Berkeley Marine recruiter protests, wearing a combination of uniform and orange WCW stuff trying to start a fight. He gets his ass handed to him by a young black veteran.