Save the USA

It appears that the Corporate media is afraid of the growing movement to truly support the troops by bringing them home, so they are attempting to discredit the “appeal for redress” website and active duty troops on the growing list with their recent article “Activists can’t validate soldiers’ names”

A group claiming earlier this week to represent 65 “active-duty” troops opposed to the war in Iraq acknowledged Thursday it cannot validate the number or the authenticity of all the names it claims to have gathered….

The unconfirmed count was up to 713 by midday Thursday, according to Cortright.

Cortright said that the entries are being validated “by hand,” with less than 10 percent that “look fishy” so far, and said a more accurate report should be available in a day or two.

He estimated that the number of valid entries must be at 500 or 600, if not all of the 713 signatures are legitimate. When filling out the form online, signatories are able to provide ranks and service branches, but are only required to provide a name, nonmilitary e-mail address and a home zip code

In another ridiculous attempt to discredit our empowered troops, Fox News and others blame MoveOn.org for forcing these soldiers to speak out…

Yesterday morning FOX & Friends ran two separate segments claiming that MoveOn.org - through its public relations firm, Fenton Communications - is recruiting active-duty soldiers for political purposes. They based their report on an article that appeared in the New York Sun. The Sun story mentioned MoveOn.org by name twice.

Reporter Eli Lake wrote: “Yesterday, a company that does public relations for the liberal activist political action committee MoveOn.org, Fenton Communications, organized a conference call for reporters and three active-duty soldiers to unveil the soldiers’ anti-war group Appeal for Redress.” Later on, Lake quoted FOX News Military Analyst Ret. Gen. Thomas McInerney as saying “I think it [this campaign to recuit soldiers] is shameful because the timing is so close to the election. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. The soldiers should be ashamed of themselves for being duped into this. It is to be expected from a MoveOn.org-type group. They have no standards.”

Thankfully the NewHounds (we watch FOX so you don’t have to) have put these lies to rest…

I went to the website of Appeal for Redress and checked their sponsoring organizations. They are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out and Veterans for Peace. No mention of MoveOn.org anywhere on the site.

The client list for Fenton Communications does not include Appeal for Redress, Veterans for Peace or Iraq Veterans Against the War but does include Military Families Speak Out. Additionally, MoveOn.org is a client among many, many others.

I searched MoveOn’s site and could not locate this particular campaign at all.

I’m a member of MoveOn.org. I get frequent emails about their various programs. I just checked my past 100 emails and I have not received information on this topic.

It looks as if our troops have hit a nerve, and it is our job as the blogging community to turn up the volume on their requests to bring the troops home from Iraq. Do whatever you can to spread the word, especially to other active duty members of the military. They need and deserve our respect and support. Please follow through on this simple request on the appeal for redress website

Several members of Congress have expressed interest in receiving the Appeal for Redress.

Click here to send the Appeal to your elected representatives.

These troops have so bravely signed up to protect our nation from harm, it is time for us to do our duty to protect them.