Dissent by active-duty soldiers is often illegal, with steep penalties for those who break the rules. Mr Bush is legally off-limits for criticism, for example. There are many other restrictions. According to Department of Defense guidelines, "Members of the Armed Forces are prohibited from participating in off-post demonstrations when they are on-duty, in a foreign country, when their activities constitute a breach of law and order, when violence is likely to result, or when they are in uniform..."
Nevertheless, service members are speaking out. Much of the anti-war talk has come from retired officers, who have comparably few limits on what they can say and do. Some - like James Webb in Virginia, Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, and Jay Fawcett in Colorado - are running for federal office as Democrats.
The Economist cautions against seeing a few dissenters as representative of major changes in military politics. Democrats are still the exception, not the rule, among both officers and enlisted. But there may come a day when that is no longer true.
Some active-duty soldiers are arguing against the war despite the potential consequences, the AP reported Tuesday. Their website, Appeal for Redress, asks members of the military to put their names to an appeal that reads:
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.Only a few days after the first articles publicizing the subject appeared, the appeal already has more than 650 signatures. According to the site's founder, Navy seaman Jonathan Hutto, more than 250,000 service members sent letters to their congressional representatives during the Vietnam war. Other organizers of the appeal told ABC news that they expect its popularity to grow rapidly.
The military is speaking out. If the administration does not start listening, it may find its once-solid support among service members melting away. "Officers support the Republicans by a big margin," The Economist reminds us. "But ... their conservatism has its limits."
