Posted on 12/18/2006 1:42:46 PM PST by radar101
Army prosecutors have sent subpoenas to journalists in Oakland and Honolulu demanding testimony about quotes they attributed to an officer who faces a court-martial after denouncing the war in Iraq and refusing to deploy with his unit.
The Army's subpoenas, which the journalists said they received last week, put them in the uncomfortable position of being ordered to help the Army build its case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who faces up to six years in prison if convicted.
"It's not a reporter's job to participate in the prosecution of her own sources,'' said Sarah Olson, an Oakland freelance journalist and radio producer. "When you force a journalist to participate, you run the risk of turning the journalist into an investigative tool of the state.''
But Olson, who received her subpoena Thursday, acknowledged she has no legal grounds to refuse to testify, since she is being asked only to confirm the accuracy of what she wrote about Watada and not to disclose confidential sources or unpublished material.
Normally, she said, "no one, myself included, has any problem verifying the veracity of their reporting.'' The ethical problem in this case, she said, is that she would be aiding the prosecution of one of the dissidents and war critics who regularly trust her to tell their stories to the public.
Watada, 28, faces a court-martial in February at Fort Lewis, Wash., where he is based. He is charged with missing a troop movement -- because he refused to deploy -- and with conduct unbecoming an officer for his quotes in articles in June on the Web site truthout.org and in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. In the news reports, Watada criticized President Bush and the Iraq war.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Watada used his Military ID photo for the papers in Honolulu. The guy is a rock star over there and shoots his mouth in a big way.
Well if the press quoted him it must be true. Would the press lie to us and make up stuff just to help with a story?
Come on.
Shoot him.
WHOA....this is RICH!!!!!!!! What a dilemma for a socialist.....what a dilemma! Thanks for the ping, Bay. How ya feeling?
The Roman legions, at least in the Republic and early Imperial periods, were made up of volunteers. Roman citizens only and, until Marius' reforms there were property qualifications for the right to be Roman soldier! They didn't need punishment battalions. Of course, if a unit did run away, it would be decimated: every 10th man would be executed per l'encouragement l'autres.
Shoot him.
I think the prosecution is trying to get evidence for Article 88. Contempt Toward Officials, for some of his statements to the left wing press. They need to legally establish that he made the published statements.
They'll simply lie and say they made the statements up.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out
Another interesting point about the Roman military is that there was no standing army during the Republic, troops were only raised as needed. It could be for an extended campaign that would take several years, but at the end of the campaign, the legions would be disbanded - a major social issue was land for the demobilized veterans in the late Republic after the property qualifications for military duty were lifted. Our society could use some Roman virtue about now. Too damned many free riders on the few who serve voluntarily.
Perhaps you're right, he's not just your average scumbag. Too bad they can't have an old fashioned drumming out where they strip all of his insignia and buttons off and run him through a gantlet before hauling his ashes off to Leavenworth. Makes me feel dirty just to think he wore the same uniform....
When the offensive ended in early May in bloody disaster, it caused the ranks of the French army to mutiny. Whole regiments refused orders to advance or to head for the front. On May 15 the French government dismissed Nivelle and replaced him with Pétain, who set about to restore discipline. France suppressed details about the mutiny at the time, but later estimates suggest that 49 soldiers convicted of mutiny were executed. In personal visits to more than 100 French divisions, Pétain calmly assured the troops that there would be no more offensives like the one Nivelle had launched. Although the incident could have been disastrous for the French, the German intelligence service gained no reliable information about the mutinies until after Pétain had restored order.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569981_9/World_War_I.html
Also sounds like something from the Red Army, circa 1918 - 1989.
The unfortunate reality is that besides jail time, which will most likely be short, he will suffer few consequences for his actions. He will most likely find employment with some leftist organization, or go into the corrupt Hawaii dem system to do something.
I think Wannabe was what we (at VMI) used to call a "Hotsy Totsy Rotcee Nazi" .... but he he might have been OCS. Only thing for sure is he not a trade school or military college product. (Of course, there's always Conroy, whose 'come to Jesus' meeting with himself was over 30 years late, who was a military college (Citade) product, but he was the exception rather than the rule)
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