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Gov't Threatens Vets for Protesting War - 6/1/2007 4:36:11 PM

selfbnd411

Posts: 598
Joined: 7/23/2005
Status: offline

I guess you're only allowed to speak about Iraq while wearing the uniform if you support Bush's policies. Remember when Bush staged a teleconfrence with active duty soldiers in Oct 2005?

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8D7I5C83&show_article=1
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01324309.htm

Anti-war Iraq vets face punishment over protest
01 Jun 2007 19:02:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - The Marine Corps came under fire from a leading U.S. veterans group on Friday for threatening to punish three Iraq combat veterans over their roles in an anti-war demonstration.

The three former Marines, all honorably discharged from active duty, were told they could face disciplinary action for wearing desert fatigues at a March protest in Washington to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Supporters of the ex-Marines say one of them has also been accused of making disparaging remarks about President George W. Bush.

"Someone in the Marine Corps needs to exercise a little common sense," Gary Kurpius, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a statement.

"Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same democratic right we're trying to instill in Iraq is not what we're all about," he said.

A Marine Corps spokesman had no comment on the VFW statement.

Two of the ex-Marines -- 25-year-old Adam Kokesh of Washington and Liam Madden, 22, of Boston -- could lose their military benefits if given an "other than honorary" discharge from reserve service as a disciplinary action.

The third Iraq veteran -- 23-year-old Cloy Richards of Salem, Missouri, who was wounded in combat -- will avoid losing his disability benefits after agreeing not to wear his uniform at future protests, the Marine Corps said.

The Marine Corps contends the men fall under regulations that govern the public conduct of armed service members because they belong to an emergency reserve of former active-duty troops.

But Kurpius, whose organization represents 2.4 million combat veterans, suggested the Marine Corps could be overstepping its jurisdiction.

"We all know that people give up some individual rights when they join the military, but these Marines went to war, did their duty," said Kurpius, himself a Vietnam War veteran.

Kokesh is scheduled to appear before a disciplinary board in Kansas City on Monday. He also has been accused of showing disrespect to a superior officer by responding to a Marine investigator with a profanity.

No proceedings have yet been scheduled for Madden.