Vermont soldier returns home, continues call for Iraq troop withdrawal

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

Posted November 22, 2006

BELLOWS FALLS — A Vermont soldier at the center of a national effort to help military personnel call on Congress to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq, says war opponents must “step outside their comfort zones” if they want political leaders to take action.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt Liam Madden will be in Rutland Saturday at the Unitarian Church to talk about his role in filing an "Appeal for Redress” that urges members of Congress to support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. His speech will follow a screening of the award-winning film Sir No Sir, a documentary about military resisters during the Vietnam War.

Madden, a 2002 graduate of Bellows Falls High School, is currently stationed in Quantico, VA, after serving in Iraq's Anbar province from September 2004 until February 2005. He currently has two months left on duty and does not plan to re-enlist.

To date, nearly 1,200 U.S. servicemen and women have signed these appeals, which state: “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. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.”

Of those 1,200 people, 700 have been verified as active-duty military, Madden told the Guardian. The movement started with just 65 soldiers less than a month ago.

The idea for the redress appeals originated January when Seaman Jonathan Hutto of Atlanta, GA, was deployed to Iraq.

An old buddy of Hutto’s, who was a member of the G.I. movement to resist the Vietnam War back in the early 1970s, sent him a 30th anniversary copy of Soldiers in Revolt written by David Cortright. The book chronicles the movement within the military during the Vietnam War who advocated to end that war and bring the troops home. One of the avenues they used was appealing to political leaders in Washington.

By 1971 more than 250,000 of these active duty servicemen appealed to Congress. Reading this gave Hutto an inspiration to speak out.

An “appeal for redress” is a legal means by which service members can appeal to members of Congress to urge an end to a U.S. military occupation. Under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, active-duty military, National Guard and reservists can send a protected communication to a member of Congress regarding any subject without reprisal.

Madden, who has not read Soldiers in Revolt, joined the military shortly before political leaders laid the groundwork to invade Iraq. It was during boot camp that he saw the writing on the wall. “At that time I saw direction that the country was heading in and it seemed, basically, like a lot of propaganda. I saw the media start focusing on Iraq as a threat when it seemed contrived,” Madden said.

So, unlike some members of the military who became disillusioned while stationed in Iraq, Madden went overseas with his eyes wide open and his mind already made up — he was opposed to the invasion. Being there only drove the point home further.

“I was already opposed, and with my experience there it made me say, ‘This is a failure,’” Madden said. “It’s really all information that was available to any citizen that helped form my opinion. Granted, when I was in Iraq some progress was made — elections happened, the government was formed and there was the battle in Fallujah. But, in my opinion as good as those were [they] didn’t help improve the stability of the country … the country was still falling further into chaos.”

When he returned stateside he remained opposed to the war, and he felt he couldn’t stand idly by and hope for it to end.

“My view of American history is that no progress is made without people going out of their comfort zones, and I just saw this as an opportunity to bring this struggle out in the open,” said Madden.

Madden is hopeful that spreading the word among other active-duty military members will ensure that members of Congress don’t lose sight of the need to get U.S. troops out of Iraq.

“I’m realistic, I know that we’re not going to bring home all the troops overnight —logistically that is not possible,” said Madden.

To critics of withdrawal who claim that if the troops leave the country will fall into chaos, he is not convinced that will happen.

“I still feel American troops aggravate the violence there and what is happening there right now is not something our presence can solve solely militarily,” said Madden. He also said U.S. troops should not be in the position now, or be asked, to referee warring ethnic factions. He said he would not be opposed to having another security force on the ground in Iraq, but said it should be a mix of forces from the region, along with Iraqis, rather than U.S. troops.

“I feel our presence is not only unwanted but right now its ineffective and it really makes the argument that we should be getting out of there,” he added.

For those who already share his view of the Iraq War, Madden has a simple message: “For the people who see the war as immoral and illogical their goal is to inform the people who don’t yet see it that way. It’s really a matter of information and education, and once the context is out there I think people will make up their own minds.”

He said other ideas would be to boycott companies that support or facilitate the war, and he urges everyone opposed to the war to be sure to hold politicians’ feet to the fire. “One of the bit things that should come out of the fresh faces in Congress is there needs to be an investigation about a lot of things connected to the prelude to the war. It doesn’t need to be a witch hunt, but it should be a legitimate questioning of what led us to go to war in the first place,” he said.

He also thinks members of Congress should consider cutting money that supports the war.

“One of the reasons we’re still there today is that people were saying ‘I don’t support the war’ and then they voted to pay for it because they say they ‘support the troops,’” said Madden. “That’s a fallacy in my mind. If they’re not funding the war, the troops can’t be there.”

Despite his opposition to the war, Madden doesn’t regret his time as a Marine. He joined because the thought it would be a “great opportunity to grow up and experience things — a great first chapter for the book of your life.”

And, he said, for the most part that was true.

“It is a great start and I was able to meet great people and experience great things and see places I wouldn’t have seen otherwise,” said Madden. “I wasn’t ready to make life decisions and knew I wasn’t going to be successful in college and the Marines helped me out a lot. I have nothing against the Marine Corps.”

It’s the political policies, he said, that are the problem and need to be fixed. And, Madden believes that taking a strong stand now against the occupation of Iraq will send a message that people do not support pre-emptive invasions.

Event Information

Time: 6:30 p.m., Saturday

Place: UU Church of Rutland, West Street

The event is sponsored by Central Vermont Peace and Justice and the Vermont chapter of the American Friends Service Committee. For more information, visit www.centralvermontpeace.org