On July 18, Scott and Vicki Behenna, parents of Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, informed me that plans were in the works to stage a motorcycle rally to bring attention to the plight of wrongfully-imprisoned soldiers such as her son, whose story has been highlighted in several posts at BigGovernment.com and is now serving a 15-year sentence for killing a known Al-Qaeda operative in self-defense. Today, it appears those plans are coming to fruition.
"FREEDOM RIDE FOR THE LEAVENWORTH TEN" will originate in many states and culminate the morning of Sept. 4 in Leavenworth, Kan., according to the Behennas, and Army Lt. Col. Allen West, a retired Army officer running for Congress in Florida as a conservative candidate, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the event.
"The intent of the Freedom Ride is to bring awareness to how our soldiers are being imprisoned for killing the enemy during a time of war which one news commentator compared to 'giving speeding tickets at a NASCAR race,'" the Behennas said in a recent e-mail. "These soldiers, serving multiple deployments, are provided complex and ever changing rules of engagement and then have to deal with untenable 'catch and release' policies against an enemy the U.S. military generals have yet to figure out how to defeat."
Organizers are also looking for celebrity involvement in the ride to help increase the amount of attention paid to the plight of soldiers behind bars.
For contact information and ever-evolving details about the ride, visit the L10 Freedom Ride web site.
Also, if you're not familiar with The Leavenworth 10, check out the links to web sites below where you can learn more about each of the wrongfully-imprisoned soldiers:
*Marine Corps Sergeant Hutchins, the only non-Army member of the group, was freed pending the outcome of his appeal. See this story for more details.