Posted on 11/05/2006 8:29:24 PM PST by SlowBoat407
Norfolk-based sailor uses Web to channel opposition to war
By LOUIS HANSEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 5, 2006
NORFOLK - Jonathan Hutto graduated from Howard University with a degree in political science and a résumé of social activism.
He worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International after college. He whipped up grass-roots protests against police departments and college administrators.
One day in 2003, broke and seeking direction, Hutto enlisted in the Navy.
The Navy couldn't have known it then, but they know it now: They had signed up a sailor strongly opposed to the Iraq war.
Seaman Hutto pleated his uniform, memorized naval history and won sailor of the quarter among his junior enlisted shipmates.
Then he appeared on CNN, the BBC and in the pages of The Washington Post and The Navy Times.
But he wasn't reciting the Sailor's Creed.
Hutto was organizing again. This time, against the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
"We're not trying to embarrass the military," Hutto said during an interview last week at a local restaurant. "At the same time, we live in a democracy."
Hutto, 29, lives and works aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. When he enlisted, the Navy trained him as a photographer. He writes for the ship newspaper and anchored its shipwide television broadcast.
Off-duty, he shifts between the campus of Old Dominion University and the cafés and bookstores in Ghent. Armed with a laptop and cell phone, Hutto leads a group of volunteers in an online campaign against the war.
Supported by antiwar military family and veterans organizations, Hutto and a handful of other service members created a Web site called An Appeal for Redress. Activated in October, it allows active-duty and reserve troops to e-mail their representatives in Congress for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Their message: "Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home."
Hutto said the site has attracted about 1,200 responses. Volunteers have verified messages from about 700 service members, he said, from the lowest ranks up to O-6 - Navy captain or full colonel in the other services. Soldiers have been the most vocal, followed by the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Hutto and Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, a campaign co-founder, said response has been mostly positive, although some e-mailers accuse them of being anti-American.
Rodney Green, an economics professor at Howard University in Washington, mentored Hutto when he was elected student body president as a junior in 1997.
Hutto fought and beat the administration's effort to close off a public street in the middle of campus, he said.
Green, who protested the Vietnam War while serving in the Army, was at first surprised Hutto enlisted. But on the other hand, he said, "He's a leader."
Hutto declined to apply for officer candidate school, and enlisted instead.
From boot camp to the ship, Hutto said, "It's been drilled into you - you don't have any rights." Or, as he said one veteran sailor told him, "The only right you have is to get to work and get fed."
"I never really accepted that," Hutto said.
Hutto believed the service would teach him focus and discipline and would help him pay back his student loans. He opposed the war when he joined the Navy, but kept it private.
In June, Hutto organized a lecture at the Norfolk YWCA by University of Notre Dame professor David Cortright, an antiwar activist and author of "Soldiers in Revolt."
A few active-duty service members then met for a late-night discussion at a Norfolk home. Cortright, Hutto, Madden and about 10 other service members talked about the war.
In the quiet confidence of a private home, dressed in civilian clothes, the group came to a painful but certain consensus: Iraq was bad and getting worse.
They wanted to know what else they could do.
Although the men worried about their careers, paychecks and families, Hutto and Madden were willing to become the public face of troop dissent.
"Nothing will really happen until people speak up," said Madden, a 22-year-old stationed at Quantico who served one tour in Iraq. Madden opposed the war before and during his deployment, but kept his feelings to himself.
Cmdr. Chris Sims, spokesman for Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force, said Hutto has not violated Department of Defense or Navy regulations. Sailors may freely speak with the media when off duty, he said.
Others are angry.
The terrorists "love this attention," said Tom Miller, a Navy veteran and Michigan resident whose son, Army Capt. Tom Miller II, was killed in August 2005 by small arms fire in Iraq.
"My son was so patriotic," he said. "Where are we going to fight these people, these terrorists?"
After the Web site was publicized two weeks ago, Hutto's supervisor pulled him aside and laid out the Navy's ground rules: The campaign had to be done on personal time, out of uniform and off base.
Hutto, who studied military rules and consulted lawyers before launching the campaign, agreed.
Said Green, "He's always been clever that way."
Hutto is a finalist again for sailor of the year, yet he still raises some eyebrows with the photos of Malcolm X, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Che Guevara at his desk aboard ship.
The campaign has "struck a good nerve," Hutto said. "Democracy, to me, has to be across the society."
I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on television, but this smacks of mutiny to me. He is attempting to get active duty military to disobey the orders of their superiors. Remove him from his duties and court martial him. Shut him down.
A few weeks ago, O'Reilly had Michael Brown - the son of Ron "The Bagman" Brown - and asked him what should we do to fight the WOT. Brown answered we should do as Al Gore said, go after the terrorists where they are. BOR pounced - asking him does that mean we start invading country after country. Do we then go into Pakistan, the Philippines, Iran, Checnya, etc. He had no answer and realized he was caught.
You will never get an answer because they have not thought it through. I think most of them are incapable of thinking it through. I have seen The Path To 9/11, am reading The Looming Tower, and saw Obsession this weekend. The result? It is giving me nightmares. I am truly terrified for the future of this country and my grandchildren. I am confused why people cannot recognize the danger. It is turning me more and more towards prayer.
Your allowed to do as you wish if your a DimRat in the military but the standard changes if your an evil republican service person!
P.S. Same sh!t............ different day
Exactly.
He didn't get drafted. He joined with a clear agenda = it would seem in cahoots with anti-US groups - he joined with clear 'malice aforethought', as it were.
Give him the boot - or the brig.
When I served, "Oscar," was still in use.
A real C.O. would issue a "Code Red" on this guy.
((PING!))
Get a load of this loser.
Sounds like this guy would be an excellent replacement for Oscar.
http://www.tr.surfor.navy.mil/News_Stories_html/stories_html/NEWS_Story208.htm
"USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) has named it’s newest Sailors of the Quarter (SOQ). The SOQ is Personnel Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Lori Williams, the Senior SOQ is Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Bryan Fox, the Junior SOQ is Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (SW) Jenny Landaeta, and the Blue Jacket of the Quarter (BJOQ) is Mass Communications Specialist Seaman (AW) Jonathan Hutto....
Hutto, a native of Atlanta, joined the Navy two years and six months ago, and has been a member of TR’s Photo Lab for two years.
“Being selected as BJOQ gives me a strong sense of accomplishment,” Hutto said. “It feels good to have the vote of confidence in my abilities from my chain of command.”
As assistant 3M coordinator for Admin Department, Hutto spends a lot of his time performing maintenance and making sure Admin Department’s spaces are in top shape. Hutto hopes to make third class petty officer off of this past advancement exam, and wants to earn his surface warfare qualification."
After two and a half years..."hopes to make third class petty officer "
If Pelosi gets Speaker he'll make flag rank in no time...
How could someone with Amnesty International connections get into the military?
This guy is a classic example of the Enemy Within!!
I would transfer him to Antarctica. Let him sow miscontent with the penquins.
My point exactly.
when I pray at night before I go to bed, after I finish thanking Him for the blessings I have, I ask Him to look after the President and the troops, and to continue blessing my country. Sometimes, when no solution presents itself to seemingly insoluble problems, personal or political, the only thing left to do is turn it over to Someone who can handle it.
It's how I make it through the day.
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