PACE LED A QUIET MUTINY OF THE JOINT CHIEFS
Reports Show Growing Military Discontent With Bush and Rumsfeld
by leveymg
Sat Mar 25, 2006The wave of public discontent by U.S. military leaders and rank-and-file troops with Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld continues to grow.
News accounts show an emerging consensus at all levels within the American armed forces opposing the Administration's Iraq and torture policies. This comes at a time that President Bush indicated that US forces will remain in Iraq at least until the end of his own Presidency.
Discontent among American troops in Iraq bodes ill for any plans by the White House to expand the war to Iran.
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In a report of Bush's press conference Tuesday, The International Herald Tribune stated:
"At a time of mounting public uncertainty about Iraq, President George W. Bush insisted at a news conference Tuesday that the violence there had not evolved into a civil war, but he acknowledged that the war would not end during his tenure and that a decision on complete American troop withdrawal would fall to "future presidents." http://www.iht.com/...
This will surely reinforce already deep and widespread opposition within the American military to a prolonged Iraq occupation. A recent survey done by the Stars&Stripes newspaper shows that 72% of the troops on the ground in Iraq want U.S. forces withdrawn within one year. Other reports coming from sources within the armed services show that the military opposes Administration policies on several key issues, including the right of soldiers to express their opposition on political issues while in uniform:
- The Stars&Stripes on 3/24/06 and 3/17/06 published several highly critical LTTEs, including a letter asserting the right of enlisted personnel to criticize the President in his role as Commander-In-Chief. Given the deep taboo on the subject, this is simply extraordinary. Here's a sampling:
The right to speak up
I took the advice of the writer of "Contempt violates directive" (letter, March 20) and looked up the Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 to which he referred to in his argument that enlisted people could not express their views on politics. Unfortunately for him, he failed to examine his own evidence.
In Paragraph 4.1.3., Enclosure 3 of the directive, Paragraph E3.2.6. expressly states that "a member on active duty may write a letter to the editor of a newspaper expressing the members personal views on public issues or political candidates, if such action is not part of an organized letter-writing campaign or a solicitation of votes for or against a political party or partisan cause or candidate."
The second reference referred to Title 10 U.S. Code Section 888. The section states "any commissioned officer" ... not enlisted members ... "who uses contemptuous words."
Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Kratzer
Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany###
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