Posted on 07/01/2006 4:25:44 PM PDT by RaceBannon
Subject: The WARRIOR FUND; A Legal Defense Fund for our Armed Forces
Mr. O’Reilly;
Do you know about The WARRIOR FUND?
The WARRIOR FUND was established to help defray the legal defense burdens on families of our “accused” members of the Armed Forces. It is sponsored by United American Patriots, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We are a national organization.
So far, we have received almost $ 3,000.00 from Americans all across the nation. And this, just within 10 days of launching the Fund, nation-wide, on our website.
Our goal is to raise a minimum of $ 2,000,000.00. Given that 20+ Marines, Navy and Army personnel are currently under arrest or confinement for alleged charges resulting from direct combat action, 2 million might be woefully short.
I have personally been in touch with several of the families of our young Warriors now facing capital “crimes”. I could go on and on talking about just how badly they’ve been treated and many not even yet charged with any crime(s)!
You (or your staff) can vet us fully by going to www.unitedamericanpatriots.org and see what we are attempting to do.
With the mass media stepping all over itself to see that these young men and women – many just teenagers – get their “full punishment deserved” (aka Guilty Until Proven Innocent), we could certainly use your mass appeal to counter-strike and to help us in this very worthwhile endeavor.
It is not only our Warriors who are suffering untold anguish as they await whatever faces them; their families are bearing the financial hardships with many having to take out second mortgages to pay for legal defense of their sons.
We just found out a few days ago that our men and women in uniform who are incarcerated in the brig at Camp Pendleton have but one method of contacting their immediate families and that is through collect calls. It is costing them $ 18.00 JUST to connect the call, and the clock starts clicking right away. One family has amassed a $ 700.00 phone bill and another family cannot afford the airfare from up east to even visit their son at Pendleton.
Our stand is “Innocent UNTIL proven Guilty” but that doesn’t appear to be the mindset of far too many.
As a combat veteran of Vietnam (with two Purple Hearts) I know what goes through the souls of those who are “up front and personal” with an unseen enemy.
Our Defense establishment is running AWAY from these Warriors as fast as they can. The American people, we believe, have little to no idea of what is really at stake here.
It has been said that “military justice is to justice...as military music is to music”.
Please, use your influence to help us get the real truth out?
Sir, I am available to you 24/7 if you would like additional information.
Herbert W. Donahue Jr.
Major USMC (Ret)
President, United American Patriots
WWW.UnitedAmericanPatriots.Org
Bump.
Such crap these "representatives" push.
Shameful.
Update on the Pendleton 8
Story:
Life is routine in the Camp Pendleton brig
CAMP PENDLETON ---- For seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi man in April, conditions inside the Camp Pendleton brig are improving.
The men are no longer shackled, as they were when they were first incarcerated in mid-May.
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/09/news/top_stories/21_06_397_8_06.txt
Only if they do that for the families of ALL constituents who are incarcerated pending trial by a federal authority. Otherwise they'd be treating some unconvicted defendants as more innocent than others.
Huh, Durbin is not up for re-election yet.
By: North County Times Opinion Staff -
Our view: Admissions by half of Pendleton 8 reveal crimes that sabotage already nearly impossible mission
Patriotic Americans should be shocked and appalled at what three Marines and one Navy corpsman have admitted to doing in Hamdania, Iraq, on April 26. War is hell, but the crimes this half of the so-called "Pendleton 8" have admitted to are not justified by the familiar "fog of war." By their own admission, these men have helped sabotage the already difficult mission they were tasked with, for winning in Iraq has always meant winning over Iraqi hearts and minds.
Two Marines -- Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson and Encinitas' own Pfc. John Jodka III -- and Navy corpsman Petty Officer Melson Bacos pleaded guilty to participating in a plan to snatch an Iraqi man from his home, beat him and murder him. Another Marine, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., is expected to plead guilty next week. Jodka, Jackson and Shumate have said they didn't realize the man kidnapped, beaten and killed -- Hashim Ibrahim Awad -- was not the suspected insurgent their unit originally targeted. Bacos told military judges that the group planned to kidnap and kill an Iraqi that fateful night whether or not they found their initial target.
Many atrocities committed on the field of battle can be explained away by the "fog of war." But a premeditated plan with such lethal and unjust results hardly qualifies.
In plea agreements to testify against the remaining suspects -- their fellow Marines, a decision that must rattle the famously loyal Corps -- Jodka, Jackson and Shumate have identified platoon leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III as the mastermind behind the plan. Hutchins and the other three accused Marines are expected to go to trial in early 2007.
Many folks have admirably rushed to defend the Pendleton 8 since they were thrown in the brig last spring. Supporters have lined the streets leading into the base, bloggers have lobbed conspiracy charges against the Marine brass and prosecution. Many of us have anguished over the impossible task given these Marines and the rest of the American-led coalition in Iraq.
But we must also pause to consider what these men have now admitted to in military court: Planning to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent, and instead kidnapping, beating and at least allowing an innocent Iraqi to be killed and staging the scene of the crime to make it look like their innocent victim had been planting a roadside bomb.
The U.S. military effort in Iraq appears to have little hope of achieving any definition of success we would have accepted in March 2003, when we invaded Iraq. Our military and especially our Marines have valiantly struggled and fought -- and suffered and died -- over there. But it is our unflagging support of the Marines and humble appreciation of their sacrifice that compel us to condemn what these men have admitted to.
Actions like theirs imperil other Marines, for they help foment the very insurgency that plants the roadside bombs that explode beneath U.S. vehicles. Actions like those admitted to by four of the Pendleton 8 undermine the proud reputation of the U.S. Marines, a reputation that is unparalleled in its glory. Actions like what transpired in Hamdania on April 26 make a nearly impossible mission all the more difficult.
What I can tell you right now is:
The families of the Sailor and 3 youngest Marines have insisted on getting their kids out of the brig or with the lightest sentence possible. Hence the plea bargains.
However, the 3 Marines of that group have refused to provide testimony against the remaining NCO's of the group because they know they were forced to lie in their statements.
The 4 remaining NCO's, to a man, insist on going to trial and have refused to take plea bargains.
NO plea bargain was offered to Sgt Hutchins. He is the only one facing the death penalty in this case.
You didn't hear about any of this because it was still confidential in the trials of these men.
Right now, keep watching this space. I stand by my statements of their innocence, and you can expect a surprise at one of the remaining trials of the NCO's.
Trust me. :)
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