[antimedia] antimedia: When I read about something....

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Posted by antimedia:
When I read about something....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1168226555.shtml


   ....like [1]this I get very angry. So angry that I have to calm down
   before I can even write about it.
   When you enlist in the military, you are making a choice. No one
   forces you to sign on the dotted line. Part of your agreement is that
   you will obey orders and do as your told. Nothing would destroy a
   military faster than to allow each individual to make independent
   decisions about whether or not they will obey an order. Making
   political decisions to publicly oppose the lawful orders of your
   commanders is not part of the contract when you sign up.

     Mark Dearden chooses his words with extreme precision. And not just
     with the deliberateness of a 36-year-old with a BA from Brigham
     Young, an MA in public health from Tulane and an MD from George
     Washington University. Dearden is also an active-duty lieutenant
     commander in the Navy who joined in 1997 and is still considering
     the possibility of a lifetime military career. "So this was a very
     difficult decision for me to come to," he says in a quiet,
     thoughtful voice. "I don't take this decision lightly."
     Nor should he. Just a few weeks ago Dearden took the dramatic step
     of signing a petition to Congress--what's being called by its
     organizers an Appeal for Redress--opposing the war in Iraq and
     calling for the withdrawal of US troops. When the Appeal is
     delivered to Capitol Hill in mid-January, all the names of its
     almost 1,000 uniformed endorsers will be seen by members of
     Congress, if they care to look. But with his Nation interview,
     Dearden is now going public. And while the military cannot take
     reprisals against those who have supported the Appeal, many of the
     signers agree that there are an infinite number of ways they can be
     punished, including internal evaluations, denial of promotions and
     harsh assignments or postings. "I'm expressing a right of people in
     the military to contact their elected representatives, and I have
     done nothing illegal or disrespectful," says Dearden, now an
     anesthesiology resident at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.
     After two tours in Iraq attached to a Marine battalion, including
     participation in the initial 2003 invasion, Dearden says that
     signing the Appeal gave him "closure" on what he describes as very
     tough deployments. "It gave me peace," he says.

   Frankly, I have no respect whatsoever for a man or woman who, while on
   active duty, would publicly oppose a ongoing war. You knew when you
   signed up you were committing to following orders. If you didn't,
   you're an idiot. And if you re-enlisted you have no excuse at all.
   But to think that less than a thousand people in the military
   represent "a mandate", as this article states, is laughable. Yes, they
   deserve credit for serving, but so do vast majority of the military
   men and women who disagree with them.
   To have an effective military force requires discipline. Men have to
   follow orders instinctively or people die. There is no time or room
   for second guessing, for introspection or for questioning the decision
   of a superior. That's what the military justice system is for. But
   these idiots seem to think that the military is a democracy where
   every military person gets a vote. That's nuts. And as a vet, it
   disgusts me. (Hat tip to [2]Jason.)

References

   1. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070108/cooper/4
   2. http://iraqnow.blogspot.com/2007/01/nation-on-active-duty-dissidents.html