Here's a cause worth supporting: an Iraq war veteran walking across Utah in support of our troops and against the war. As he put it, After a year in Iraq, I owe it to my fellow soldiers to bring them home.
The soilder's name is Sgt. Marshall Thompson, and this is what he plans to do:
The goal is to walk from the Utah/Idaho border to the Utah/Arizona border in 26 days, that’s one day for every 100 soldiers who have died in Iraq. The trip will cover almost 500 miles and I’ll have to average about 20 miles a day.
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I chose to walk Utah in particular for two main reasons. One, it’s my home state and it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. If, for some crazy reason, you’ve got to walk 500 miles, it would be nice to do it in the natural wonder of Utah. And two, Utah is often called “the reddest state in the nation.” It seems to be a stronghold for those who advocate simply staying the course. I hope the walk will soften hearts and open minds to the idea of a responsible and timely withdrawal of troops. Plus I’d like the politicians to realize that even in good old Utah, people are demanding change.
I don’t know if the walk will get the troops home. If nothing else, however, I’ll know that I did everything I could to save the lives of my brothers and sisters in Iraq.
If you live in Utah or simply need something to do in October that involves walking, and can afford to find your way to Utah, for a great cause, make sure to join Marshall Thompson -- his planned walking schedule is here.
This is the type of peace action, I think, that needs to be highlighted and brought to the attention of the national media. In the past the DailyKos community has had tremedous success in bringing variuos causes to the attention of the press, perhaps we can do the same for Marshall.
Marshall was on Democracy Now this morning, which is how I heard of his cause, why he's doing it and what motiviates him. He struck me as thoughtful and a voice worth having join the debate. Here's some of what he said:
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: Well, I got back from Iraq about two months ago, and I knew I’d have to do something to make things right. And so I decided, my wife and I, that it would be a good idea to do a walk through Utah. Utah is my home state, and I love it. It's also the reddest state in the nation. It's kind of a symbol of the last bastion of support for the war. So I thought that if I could walk through Utah in a peaceful manner and show that there's support in Utah for peace, then that just might be what turns the tide.
AMY GOODMAN: What did you do in Iraq?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: I was a military journalist. It was a great job. I got to travel all around Iraq and interview thousands of soldiers. So I really got a good idea of what's going on over there.
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AMY GOODMAN: Were you able to print anything you wanted in the Anaconda Times?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: No, we were not able to print everything we wanted. We tried. We saw our mission as supporting the troops, so we were always trying to give them the good information of what was really going on, because they know what's going on. They're not being fooled by anybody. And so we wanted to be credible with them and print everything that happened. Of course, there is a level of censorship when you're working for the U.S. Army. It’s just the way it goes.
AMY GOODMAN: Like what? Give an example.
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: There were a few times I wanted to do some stories about how, for instance, Turkey was sending special forces over the border to attack Kurdish groups, you know, without permission, violating Iraq's sovereign borders. I was kind of outraged, and I wanted to print that story, but that was one that got squashed.
AMY GOODMAN: By who?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: By my commanders. They're all very well-intentioned, but nobody wants to get in trouble. And that was a story that looked like trouble, and so it did not make it.
AMY GOODMAN: Turkey, a U.S. ally, attacking the country that the U.S. is occupying.
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: Exactly. Plus it was kind of -- they were using the same rationale that we used to go into Iraq, saying, well, they've got a terrorist problem. If they can't handle it, then we’ll go in and help them with it. And so we have no moral high ground there. We couldn't tell them not to do it. And they continue to do it to this day.
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AMY GOODMAN: How did you come to the conclusion that [the Iraq war is] unjust?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: Well, it happened before the war started. I was on the fence. And when Colin Powell addressed the UN, I believed him, like most people did, I think. But then there was something in me that kept bothering me, and it was that the decision to go to war with Iraq was based on fear, fear of something that hadn't happened yet. And those are never good decisions. We can't make fear-based decisions. So I decided that even if they had weapons of mass destruction, that I was going to be opposed to the war.
Then, years later when I went to Iraq, spent a year there, saw what happened, it was only reinforced. And I knew that I was going to have to come home and do something to make it right for my participation in it and just because I feel more responsible for what goes on over there, having been there for one year.
AMY GOODMAN: You interviewed hundreds of soldiers?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: Thousands.
AMY GOODMAN: Thousands of soldiers in Iraq. What is their attitude to the war?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: Most soldiers want to withdraw. That is proven. There was a Zogby poll. 72% of recently turned Iraqi vets want to be out of Iraq by 2006.
AMY GOODMAN: 2006?
SGT. MARSHALL THOMPSON: By 2006. That means this year. And my experience backs that up absolutely. There is a lot of pressure for soldiers not to speak out. There’s fear of court-martials. There’s fear of their commanders getting mad at them. There's a lot of reasons why soldiers don't speak out. But nobody should be fooled. Soldiers know what's going on over there, and they are not happy about it.
You can hear the entire radio interview here -- definetely worth a listen. And make sure to visit Sgt. Marshall Thompson's website, A Soldier's Peace, where you can findout more information about his walk for peace through Utah.