Standing Fast

Anti-War.com has a good piece talking about the growing number of active duty servicemen and women who are signing a confidential on-line Appeal of Redress calling on Congress to end the Iraq war.

"Last week, a convoy of approximately 20 veterans riding in converted school buses left Fayetteville, North Carolina. They were sponsored by Veterans for Peace, armed with literature and headed for New Orleans, where they are spending this week rebuilding houses in the Ninth Ward. On the way, the group stopped at military bases throughout the South. Their goal? They were passing out copies of the Appeal for Redress, GI rights information, and copies of the videos "Ground Truth" and "Sir! No Sir!"

Veterans for Peace members say they're not trying to pressure GIs to resist war. They want to educate soldiers about their rights. They know from experience that the military frowns on dissent and doesn't go out of its way to educate soldiers regarding constitutionally protected ways to express their opinions on issues like war and peace. Despite popular opinion to the contrary, soldiers do indeed have rights
to express political dissent."

A big factor in ending the Vietnam War was not so much the anti-war movement on the college campuses but the anti-war movement among the GI's in the field. When enough active servicemen and women in Iraq start saying enough of this, that is when Bush signs on to a withdrawal date too.