Soldiers present signatures opposing Bush war plans

WASHINGTON – President Bush’s plan to send additional troops to Iraq is facing public opposition from a slice of the American population that rarely speaks out: the military rank and file.

A group of service members came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday armed with signatures from more than 1,000 military personnel who oppose the war.

“We will not be silent while thousands die,” said Sgt. Liam Madden, a 22-year-old active-duty Marine and Iraq war veteran who is helping lead the effort to organize resistance to the war from inside the military.

Madden and other service members leading the campaign, which they are calling Appeal for Redress, urged Congress to stop the troop escalation and find a way to begin bringing forces home from Iraq.

When the campaign began three months ago, White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the first signatories as “65 people who are going to be able to get more press than the hundreds of thousands who have come back and said they’re proud of their service.”

The 1,000 signatories still represent a tiny fraction of the military personnel who have served in and around Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

But according to the group, those who have signed the appeal include around 100 officers. Approximately 70 percent of the signatories are active-duty military, while the rest are reservists or members of the National Guard, said Madden, who added that the group will not reveal the names of the signatories to protect them.

The Appeal for Redress reads simply: “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.”

Madden and other leaders of the campaign arrived on Capitol Hill as members of Congress moved closer to challenging Bush’s plans to send 21,500 more troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said senators plan to introduce a resolution opposing the plan today or Thursday, with a vote planned for next week after the president’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said a House vote on a resolution would follow soon afterward.

Democrats also announced Tuesday that newly elected Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, a pugnacious war critic whose son has served in Iraq, will deliver the party’s response to the State of the Union address.

Today, a group of anti-war members of the House, led by California Reps. Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, all Democrats, plan to introduce legislation outlining a detailed plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq over the next six months.