Reply #17: Update: NPR has story and audio

[deminks]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6874417&ft=1&f=1001

All Things Considered, January 16, 2007 · Active-duty members of the U.S. armed forces visit Capitol Hill to present more than 1,000 signatures demanding that lawmakers cut off funding for the Iraq war. They say that most of the people who signed the Appeal for Redress have served in Iraq, while others expect to be sent there. Two House Democrats received the petition and promised to urge the entire House to consider it.

One of those presenting the petition was Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, 22, who two years ago did combat duty in Iraq's turbulent Anbar province. Madden dressed in a civilian coat and tie in a chilling wind outside the Capitol to formally present the 1,028 appeals for redress from other active-duty forces — 60 percent of them fellow Iraq veterans.

"We will not tolerate the rhetoric that we must support the troops by funding a war that puts them in harm's way," Madden said. "If you are funding a war that puts them in harm's way, you are not supporting them. You are endangering their lives for a war that cannot be justified, has not been justified and will not work."

Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, a longtime opponent of the war and also a presidential contender, received the documents. "The action taken here by individual service members is an appeal for redress to end the war in Iraq," Kucinich said. "As you know, these troops have risked their careers to deliver this message to Congress."