p2pnet - rss feed: Reporters’ Army subpoena threat
p2pnet.net News:- “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.”
That’s the wording on The Appeal for Redress site, offering, “a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation”.
Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada was the first officer to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq, independent journalist Sarah Olson interviewed him and now the Army is demanding that she testify during his courts-martial.
“There are couple of basic concerns,” Olson told p2pnet.
“The first is simply that it’s my job to report the news, not testify and participate in this way at a military court. When you do that, you become a tool of the government and it threatens dissenting voices.
“What we need is more debate, not less, and this sends a very scary message to people interested in free speech and a free press.”
Another writer, Dahr Jamail, is also on the prosecution witness list and both he and Olson are fighting what they see as a threat to the First Amendment rights of journalists, saying the Army’s attempt to force them to take part in the military court threatens press freedom and chills free speech.
Watada faces one charge of missing troop movement, and four of conduct unbecoming an officer, says the Free Press Working Group, adding:
“Each of the later four charges relates to Lt. Watada’s public explanations of his refusal to deploy to Iraq. If convicted of all charges Lt. Watada faces six years in prison, four of which would be for speaking to the press.”
Since his refusal to go to Iraq, more than 100 soldiers have signed the Appeal for Redress, says The Washington Post, going on:
“The unusual appeal — the first of its kind in the Iraq war, organizers say — makes use of a legal protection afforded by the Military Whistle-Blower Protection Act, which provides that members of the military, acting in their capacity as citizens, can send a protected communication to Congress without reprisal.”
Appeal for Redress messages will be delivered to members of congress on Martin Luther King, Jr, Day in January, 2007.
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
Free Press Working Group - Journalists say free press threatened by Army subpoena, December 28, 2006
The Washington Post - Grass-Roots Group of Troops Petitions Congress for Pullout From Iraq, October 25, 2006
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