Yep, apparently they are going after West because he SCARED an enemy and save US lives.And in so doing, violated lawful orders governing the handling of prisoners.
Almost leaves me to believe that our military has been infilitrated and they want Americans to die. West should get a medal.
When I was in the Marine Corps, you didn't get medals for violating lawful orders.
It's an outrage what is being done to him.
No, what's outrageous is that he's demanding a free pass on this sort of thing right after he Article 15'd two soldiers for beating the same prisoner.
You do NOT get to pick and choose which orders to obey in the military. It's bizarre to hear "conservatives" advocating that position.
Re "lawful orders"; the operative word here being "lawful".
The integrity of the system is only as true and coherent as those commanding a given action.
If a nuclear device is activated in Iraq, will it be us or them who did it? How will we ever know? Whose decision will it have been? Whose integrity will be questioned then? If a suicide terrorist is the culprit, how would we ever know? If it is one of our suitcase devices, who will have ordered it's activation? Do we even have nukes in Iraq? We had them in Nam. They were stored in Long Binh and nearly compromised during the Tet Offensive January 30, 1968. A First Lieutenant was the Nuclear Weapons Control Officer. What would the rank be for the same officer in Iraq? 03? 04? If LTC West was the man in charge of the Special Atomic Demolitions Munitions (SADM) would he have activated one if ordered to do so? Would that be a "lawful" order. How would we ever know? The "blame game" would certainly be activated.
John McCarthy
Chairman of The Board of VERPA
http://www.verpa.org Web Log:
http://www.jenmartinez.com/vetsturn/ jmac1369@earthlink.net Background:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/hall/Mac.html http://www.geocities.com/larryjodaniel/23.html