[antimedia] antimedia: Military personnel speaking out?....

Sat Oct 28 19:28:35 EDT 2006

Posted by antimedia:
Military personnel speaking out?....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1162078110.shtml

   ....For what I think it the first time in our country's history,
   military personnel on active duty are [1]speaking out against an
   ongoing war. The effort is led (suppposedly) by a Navy seaman who is
   [2]a Photographer's Mate Airman on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore
   Roosevelt. Seaman Jonathan W. Hutto, Sr. says that he decided it was
   [3]time to speak out against the war.

     âWeâve given enough,â said Hutto, who joined the Navy almost three
     years ago. âWeâve sacrificed too much at this point.â
     He said he is not a pacifist, but he has been skeptical about the
     reasons behind the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
     âThis is the crisis we have created,â Hutto said. âWeâre not
     anti-war. But at this point, our position is anti-occupation.â

   The sum total of Hutto's experiences of Iraq is [4]one six month tour
   in the Persian Gulf [5]taking photographs aboard the Theodore
   Roosevelt.
   There are a lot of guys in the military that know a [6]great deal more
   [7]about sacrifice than Mr. Hutto. The [8]vast majority of them still
   [9]support the mission. Hutto's efforts, however, will get vastly more
   attention in the media.
   Hutto, backed by all the major anti-war groups, is actively recruiting
   other active duty personnel to draft a letter to Congress asking them
   to remove our troops from Iraq. The letter states, in part, ""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."
   The idea has its genesis in [10]a lecture that two men, Jonathan Hutto
   and [11]a US Marine, attended in Norfolk, Virginia.

     Madden said he and Hutton (sic) met and learned of the vehicle for
     expressing their views to Congress when they attended a lecture at
     the YMCA in Norfolk by David Cortright, the author of "Soldiers in
     Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War.""

   Hutto claims he first heard of the book, Soldiers Revolt, [12]from an
   old college professor who sent it to him to read. The author, David
   Cortright is a longtime peace activist and [13]college professor who
   served in Vietnam.
   In his book, Soldiers in Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War,
   Cortright argues that there was a active, organized revolt in the
   Army, by active duty enlisted personnel during the Vietnam war.
   Reviews have found his claims [14]"exaggerated" and point out that it
   suffers from an [15]"absence of subjective, first-hand accounts".
   (That's a eumphemistic way of saying, not based upon provable facts.)
   The idea that an active duty sailor could independently decide to
   speak out, despite a military culture that considers it verboten to do
   so, is startling. So who is Jonathan Hutto? A courageous man standing
   against the machine? [16]Not exactly. Hutto is led, [17]supported,
   [18]financed and [19]promoted by longtime [20]anti-war activists,
   chief among them Mr. Cortright.
   Furthermore, Hutto himself has a history of liberal activism. In 1996,
   Hutto enrolled in Howard University, choosing political science as his
   major. He quickly became [21]close friends with [22]a controversial
   classmate, Sinclair Skinner, who admits to being expelled from
   Tuskegee University for his activism. Together, they helped organize
   the Million Man March.

     In the summer of 1995, Skinner helped organize students nationally
     for the Million Man March. He, Eames, and Hutto came under the wing
     of civil-rights legend Lawrence Guyot, who helped all three get
     elected as advisory neighborhood commissioners. Skinner, who served
     six years on the U Street/Lower Georgia Avenue ANC, developed a
     following at Howard. He regularly brought a herd of Howard students
     with him to important community meetings.

   Along with his civil rights activism, Lawrence Guyot has [23]compared
   the GOP to "Nazis" on national talk programs. Guyot himself has
   [24]been an anti-war activist since the 1960s.
   When Hutto graduated from Howard, he worked for the ACLU and then for
   [25]Amnesty International. Hutto has [26]expressed disdain for
   President Bush, stating "[Bush's] agenda is not only anti
   African/African American, but anti-labor, anti-woman, anti-environment
   and anti-human rights?", has called the Iraq war "illegal" and the
   United States "imperialist".
   [27]According to Hutto, he joined the Navy (a very odd decision for a
   longtime anti-war activist) to start a new life.

     I enlisted in the United States Navy in January of 2004.
     After having worked at non-profit organizations and an unsuccessful
     stint at teaching 5th grade post graduating from Howard University
     in 1999, I was searching for a clean slate, a chance to repay my
     student loans and obtain a new lease on life.

   Interesting how Hutto uses the phrase "non-profit organizations" to
   hide the radical nature of his activities. He also fails to mention
   his anti-war activities, in which he was engaged [28]no more than
   [29]one year before enlisting in the Navy!
   Given his background, it's much more likely that he joined the Navy to
   stir up trouble; to act as a provocateur and further his anti-war
   agenda from within the service. Cortright's book seems to have been
   his inspiration for the present campaign. Unlike his previous
   political activities, this one [30]may well run afoul of TITLE: DoD
   Directive 1344.10, "Political Activities by Members of the Armed
   Forces on Active Duty", 08/02/2004.
   Because he chose to manipulate and embarrass the Navy for his personal
   agenda, Jonathan Hutto joins the Hall of Shame.

References

   1. http://newsbusters.org/node/8606
   2. http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/chinfo/paodir/paowhere.txt
   3. http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_23322.shtml
   4. http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=21352
   5. http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=23277
   6. http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1123436490.shtml
   7. http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1107742046.shtml
   8. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-12-26-poll_x.htm?csp=34
   9. http://www.hannity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-62993.html
  10. http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=769
  11. http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/102006/10262006/232208/palm
  12. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35251
  13. http://www.fourthfreedom.org/Applications/cms.php?page_id=147
  14. http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/cortrightrev.html
  15. http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Revolt-Resistance-During-Vietnam/dp/1931859272
  16. http://www.mudvillegazette.com/milblogs/2006/10/26/#006836
  17. http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=769
  18. http://www.ivaw.org/
  19. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14893
  20. http://www.veteransforpeace.org/:%20target=
  21. http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cover/2006/cover0811.html?navCenterTop
  22. http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=833697
  23. http://exposetheleft.com/2006/02/02/lawrencebushnazi/
  24. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=966&category=civicMakers
  25. http://www.marshall.edu/parthenon/archives/20001013/news/amnesty.html
  26. http://www.blackcollegewire.org/voices/021108_hutto/
  27. http://www.williambowles.info/gispecial/2006/0906/260906/gi_4I26_260906.html
  28. http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/45902/index.php
  29. http://www.redandgreen.org/calendar2003.htm
  30. http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/134410.htm