Meet Leonard Clark

Have you heard about Leonard Clark? He's serving in the military, but he's also a vocal dissenter about the Iraq War and how it's being handled. Now, as might be expected, he's being threatened with court martial rather than the pat on the head some of the worst abusers of "might makes right" receive.

So Clark is what... fighting for the freedom of speech he's not allowed to exercise himself? I wouldn't mind quite so much if opinions were stifled in the Army across the board. But the military brass is perfectly happy to have soldiers speak up if they like Bush, think the war in Iraq is wonderful and bringing "peace and democracy" to Iraq.

Last fall, I noticed members of the military were allowed to be on camera to question whether Mr. Kerry would be a good commander in chief. But I certainly didn't see any of them on camera who debated whether Mr. Bush was doing a good job, or Mr. Rumsfeld, for that matter.

Yeah, I understand the whole messy issue of the military saying anything derogatory during a time of war. But I also understand that there's an historically massive bullshit campaing going on. If the rah-rah soldiers can speak, why can't Soldier Clark? Heck, for that matter, if I can speak, why can't Soldier Clark?