'Yearly Kos soldier' appeared in uniform at earlier antiwar event

Avatar http://rawstory.com Posted by admin 331 days ago



A uniformed Army reservist whose appearance at the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago provoked a controversy over politicization of the military has attended at least one previous antiwar event in uniform, RAW STORY has found.

Sergeant David Aguina, an Army Reservist who has reportedly served two tours in Iraq, appeared in uniform at the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago. In a question and answer session after a panel on 'The Military and Progressives,' Aguina attempted to challenge the argument that President George W. Bush's troop escalation in Iraq was failing. One panelist, VoteVets.org Chairman Jon Soltz, publicly warned Aguina that he could face a dishonorable discharge for appearing at a political event in uniform.

For Aguina, it wasn't the first time he'd made an appearance in uniform opposing an end to the Iraq War.

"David Aguina, a soldier who has completed a tour of duty in Iraq, appeared at Chandler Park in military dress to support the war," reported the Western Courier, a student newspaper at Western Illinois University where Aguina is a student, in late March 2007.

Aguina apparently told antiwar activists gathered at the March event, "What the terrorists did to [a peace activist who was abducted in Iraq] just shows what the terrorists think of all these people right here. They would do the same thing to any of them."

RAW STORY wrote Sgt. Aguina via e-mail on a social networking site Tuesday, but has not yet made contact with him.

Some liberal and progressive websites alleged that Aguina's appearance at YearlyKos had been arranged by conservative media or political organizations, including possibly by commentator Michelle Malkin.

"I was just informed that the guy in uniform this morning...was a plant from the Right Wing....one Michelle Malkin to be specific," wrote Lorelei Kelly at Democracy Arsenal on Friday.

But Malkin strongly denied the charge in an e-mail to RAW STORY on Tuesday afternoon.

"I had no idea who the soldier was and have never spoken with him before, communicated with him in any way, or 'provided instruction, coaching or funding of any kind, including payment-in-kind,'" she said. "We don't know him. We didn't send him."

While guest-hosting the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Monday night, Malkin announced that Aguina would be sitting for an interview with Bill O'Reilly, the show's full-time host. O'Reilly stridently criticized the YearlyKos Convention in the weeks before it occurred. He will likely be drawing from conservative weblog accounts of Sgt. Aguina's appearance, which paint Soltz as censorious.

"For all his preparation, he was still taken by surprise when one of the panelists, John [sic] Soltz, founder of the anti-war group Votevets.Org, took him to task and silenced him on the grounds that Aguina was wearing his uniform while expressing his political opinions," wrote Rick Moran in a blog post at Pajamas Media, which first posted the video of Aguina and Soltz's exchange. The article noted that he had been 'unceremoniously thrown out' of the event.

A co-worker of Soltz's contested the characterization of his actions at the conservative sites.

"The sergeant in uniform was completely out of line as far as the military is concerned," wrote Brandon Freedman, a Senior Adviser at VoteVets.org, in a diary at DailyKos. "The fact that he did what he did reflected on the entire Army and I think that’s what upset Jon the most."

Freedman also reported a similar message from retired General Wesley Clark, who ran for President in 2004.

"Clark is said to have told the sergeant that, while he respected the sergeant’s opinion, political activism while in uniform was both inappropriate and illegal—and to do it at the much-publicized YearlyKos Convention would put the soldier in an unnecessary and precarious legal position," he wrote. " He told the sergeant firmly but politely that it would be in the soldier’s best interest to leave."

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