Sergeant at Quantico one of first Iraq veterans to formally ask Congress to end involvement.

Date published: 10/26/2006

By MICHAEL ZITZ

Two days ago, Marine Sgt. Liam Madden's superior officers at Quantico didn't know how he felt about the war in Iraq.

They learned yesterday, when Madden was making news everywhere from CNN to Al-Jazeera.

Madden, a 22-year-old Iraq veteran who four years ago was a high school wrestler in Bellows Falls, Vt., has become a central figure in an effort to get American military men and women to speak out against the war.

He and Atlanta native Jonathan Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, are said to be the first Iraq veterans to put their names on an Appeal for Redress set up to allow active military men and women to ask their representatives in Congress to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

Madden, who lives in base housing, said he wasn't ostracized at Quantico yesterday, but he believed Marines there were just beginning to learn about the situation and his involvement.

"It hasn't exploded yet," he said last night after leaving his Quantico office. "But I'm aware that it could."

He said he believes any backlash will be "tolerable," because what he's doing is within the law.

A military whistle-blower protection act allows active military personnel to appeal to Congress without reprisal.

The only reaction yesterday, Madden said, came in the form of half a dozen e-mails he received at work from other Marines, mostly supportive.

"They weren't letters of condemnation," he said, except for one from a Marine officer at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The others, he said, were commending him or asking questions about the Appeal for Redress.

Early last night, 350 servicemen and women had signed the appeal, according to organizers.

The goal is to have 2,000 names on the Appeal for Redress list when the messages are delivered to members of Congress in January.

"I think that's easily attainable," he said. "There's a seed of dissent in the military against this policy, and a core of people who are acting."

He doesn't believe many military personnel are politically opposed to the war, he said. But, he said, he believes a continuing cycle of redeployment has worn the patience of the troops.

"As far as widespread disapproval of the occupation of Iraq, I know no one likes being deployed over and over again and being away from their families for months at a time," Madden said.

Because of that, "I'm pretty sure there's a base of support" for the appeal to Congress, he said.

He said he hopes to see U.S. policy change, but doesn't think there should be an immediate withdrawal of forces.

Date published: 10/26/2006