The Iraq war will begin its fifth year this week, and recent proposals on Capitol Hill have raised the profile of groups that claim to represent servicemembers’ views on the the state of the conflict. AppealForRedress.org and AppealForCourage.org are among them.

AppealForRedress.org’s site includes this statement: “Many active duty, reserve, and guard service members are concerned about the war in Iraq and support the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual servicemembers can appeal to their Congressional Representative and U.S. Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation.”

AppealForCourage.org’s site includes this statement: “Most servicemembers fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and emphasis by some in the media on negative aspects while ignoring positive ones act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties.”

The organizations are seeking signatures for their respective “appeals for redress” (the links to the separate appeals appear immediately below). In the two columns, the writers are speaking for themselves as citizens and not in any official military capacity.

¶ Read the text of the appeals from from AppealForRedress.org and AppealForCourage.org.