Last night we were honored to have former Army Journalist and current peace activist Marshall Thompson come speak to Drinking Liberally. Marshall recently completed a 28-day, 500 mile walk from the northern Utah border to the southern Utah border - approximately one day for every American soldier who has died in Iraq.

Marshall started this ambitious walk after spending a year deployed in Iraq where he was witness to many things that further convinced him that this war was causing more problems than it was solving. Marshall went into the war knowing that it was an ill-conceived war, but went anyway to honor the obligation he made to our country. While in Iraq, he blogged at chokeholdiniraq.blogspot.com.

Marshall joined the Army Reserves soon after serving an LDS mission. His first Army mission was to Kosovo, where he didn’t particularly like the overwhelming air power used by the military, which came at the expense of civilians. Marshall reminded us that during that conflict, it was the conservatives that were calling for us to bring the troops home and get out of the war, which today is called “not supporting the troops”. Years later when Marshall got his call to Iraq, his wife Kristen was ready to give birth to their first child, Eliza. Needless to say, his call to duty was not convenient, but it’s not hard to imagine that this was a common thing for soldiers.

Marshall went to Iraq with major reservations. His walk through Utah was not only to bring attention to the fact that we need to bring our troops home, but also to rectify his service in Iraq with himself, his wife and his daughter. He feels that his participation in the war, even though he never had to hurt anyone, means that he has blood on his hands. One of the DL’ers pointed out that we all have blood on our hands, by virtue of paying taxes and having a say in the course of our nation, yet allowing this war to happen.

Marshall seemed especially surprised with the support he received walking through the state that claims the most support for the war. Almost everywhere he went, there were people cheering and supporting him. He ran into veterans of other wars that supported him. He ran into a John Birch conservative that supported him. Even passing through some of the most conservative parts of Utah like Provo and Virgin, he had supporters and very few detractors. The tide is turning against the war, even in Utah, he told us. At this point, the only people who support the war are neo-cons - true conservatives would not support the war.
When asked what he plans to do next, Marshall mentioned a scheduled trip to Washington D.C. mid-November to talk with our lawmakers about the need to get out of Iraq. He also said he’s put out an open call to publicly debate the merits of the war with anyone that wants to. He feels that if we were to take the emotion out of the debate, to distance ourselves from the anger of the terrorist attacks of September 11th; we’d all be able to look at the war and realize that we’re not helping the Iraqi people (and in fact over 70% of Iraqi’s think that the US presence is inciting the violence), we have no plan (which renders the “stay and finish the job” rhetoric pointless), and it isn’t helping us find Osama and the people truly responsible for 9/11.

We’d like to thank Marshall for coming out to speak to us, for conveying his message so powerfully, and for all he’s doing to help bring the troops home. His website, A Soldier’s Peace, can be found here: www.asoldierspeace.com.