USMC retreats on bad discharge

The U.S. Marine Corps launched another offensive this May—this one not a landing on some foreign beach but a legal attack on its own anti-war Iraq veterans. Given the results of the first skirmish in Kansas City, Mo., on June 4, the USMC already seems to be deciding that it might retreat rather than find itself fighting another losing battle with a popular army.

Instead of deciding on a less-than-honorable discharge for PFC Adam Kokesh, a board of three Marine officers admitted that military rules shouldn’t apply to members of its Inactive Ready Reserve and recommended a “general discharge,” barely a punishment. Kokesh will still appeal to get his honorable discharge restored.

The hearing arose following an action by a group of about a dozen members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), who performed street theater in a few cities to bring the war home. Dressed not in complete official uniforms, but in outfits resembling uniforms, they acted out the kind of roundups of the civilian population that occur daily in Iraq. Anti-war activists played the role of Iraqi civilians.

It caused quite an uproar to see Marines pushing civilians down on the street, covering their heads with bags, terrorizing them. Someone in the Pentagon must have disliked having it known that Marines in Iraq were acting like Nazi SS troops did in occupied Poland in 1942. The officers decided to take steps to try to stop the veterans from exercising their right to free speech. (See www.ivaw.org for more information and videos.)

The USMC brought charges against Kokesh, and charges are pending against Staff Sgt. Liam Madden and Cpl. Cloy Richards, in effect, for speaking out against the war.

While the charges cannot lead to imprisonment, getting a less-than-honorable discharge has serious consequences. Since Richards is disabled, he would lose monthly disability payments and also could lose the free medical care now available to him. The troops could also lose or even be forced to repay educational benefits.

If the Marine Corps succeeds in enforcing less-than-honorable discharges, it could intimidate other veterans. But bringing charges like these in a broadly anti-war atmosphere can also boomerang on the brass.

One surprising result of the Marines’ charges is that the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a veterans’ group that almost always backs U.S. government policy, made a statement supporting the Marine veterans’ right to speech and to protest. This VFW position is a sign of widespread disgust with the Iraq experience, even though the VFW says it backs the war.

The veterans involved acted more angry than intimidated. They went on a special bus covered with anti-war slogans—called the Yellow Rose of Texas Bus for Peace—from Washington to Kansas City from June 1 to 3 and gave interviews to the media all along the way. At each stop they drew more attention to the existence of a solid group of anti-war Iraq veterans. They also said that the Marines who are still on active duty and still in Iraq support them.

Madden, who received an honorable discharge from active duty Jan. 20, was a co-initiator of the “Appeal for Redress” and is known among aware GIs. The “appeal” effectively calls for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Issued first last Oct. 23, it is now signed by nearly 2,000 active-duty troops—60 percent of whom have spent at least one tour of duty in Iraq.

Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, who initiated the appeal with Madden and is now chairperson of the Appeal for Redress Task Force, sent out a statement to active duty troops on May 31 calling for the formation of a defense committee of active-duty troops and National Guard for “Madden and all those within the ranks who face reprisal and/or retaliation from the brass anywhere in the world for speaking out against an unjust war.”

The statement notes that the “disloyal statement” Madden is charged with making stems from his saying on a college campus that the U.S. has committed “war crimes” in Iraq.

“Madden maintains he could never be disloyal being he served on the ground in Iraq for seven months and served his country for five years. Furthermore, Madden maintains if the uniform can be worn for imperialist adventures, surely it can be worn for peace and justice,” wrote Hutto.

Besides spreading publicity and raising money to support Madden and others, a goal of the defense committee will be to “mobilize a grass-roots movement from the bottom-up calling for an end to retaliation/reprisals, an end to the Iraq War and democracy within the ranks.” (www.appealforredress.org)

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