Posted on 06/05/2002 2:55:40 AM PDT by Fighting Irish
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Air Force has suspended a colonel who wrote a letter in which he ridiculed President Bush for his response to terrorism, accusing him of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen because "his presidency was going nowhere." The letter from Lt. Col. Steve Butler was published May 26 in The (Monterey County) Herald.
"He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism," Butler wrote. "His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama. His presidency was going nowhere. ... This guy is a joke."
Butler, who called Bush's alleged silence "sleazy and contemptible," had been vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. He was suspended May 29 pending an investigation, Air Force spokeswoman Valerie Burkes said Tuesday.
I recall from the Uniform Code of Military Justice a section where you could be court-martialed for showing disrespect to the President. After all, he's in the chain of command as the Commander in Chief.
It may seem petty to you, but this Colonel made a huge mistake by putting it in print.
The much bigger mistake - the really immense stupidity, is that this idiot actually believes this. No one that incapable of processing information should be allowed anywhere near responsibility for decisions - in any organization.
The officer is not being jailed for saying what he did. If he were, that would be a violation of the First Amendment, if he were a civilian. But, essentially, he will be fired. He has a right (if he were a civilian) to say whatever he wanted about his boss. His boss has a right to fire him. I am about as literal in my definition of the First Amendment as anyone (e.g., I think one SHOULD be able to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater and I think it is ridiculous to have a separate class of speech called "Commercial Free Speech"). But I also think that the First Amendment does not protect one from the consequences of using that free speech.
What is the Defense Language Institute??? Why would airmen need that? If an AF pilot or crewman is talking to foreign nationals, his mastery of their language is the LEAST of his problems.
Remember, though ... the civilian Secretary of this branch under Clinton (Sheila Widdall?) once remarked that the United States Marine Corps was "too macho".
It was originally conceived as a multi-location program teaching linguists German, Italian and Japanese during WWII. There were 20,000 soldier/students learning Vietnamese at the apex of that War at Lackland, Ft. Snelling and various locations. In the 70s, it was all moved to Monterrey. This sounds like a Ron Dellums/Alan Cranston production.
From the web-site:
In recent years, the Institute has taken on challenging new missions, including support for arms control treaty verification, the War on Drugs, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Restore Hope. In the spring of 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission rejected suggestions that the Institute be moved or closed, and recommended that its mission be continued at the present location.
I roomed with a racist survivalist semi-nutcase who was about to leave the Marines as a Sargent and move to Montana. About 2 months before discharge he was cutting up with some coworkers, thinking he was untouchable with one foot out the door, the dropped a photo of President Reagan on the ground and jumped up and down on it. Well, word got out, and he was quickly finned a few hundred dollars and reduced in rank just before they threw his dumba~s out with an Other Than Honorable.
Unless he were in intelligence, or teaching there. It's cross service.
It's the primary inter-services language school of the U.S. Military.
It's the source of military translators, interrogators, voice interceptors, etc. for all branches.
Pilots and crew are not students of DLI.
The student to instructor ratio is low so as to produce a quality linguist.
I've known and worked with hundreds of "Monterey Mary's," most are not liberal.
This is likely due to the very high intelligence needed to become a "Mary."
Posted on Mon, Jun. 03, 2002
Monterey Air Force officer removed for anti-Bush letter
MONTEREY, Calif. - An Air Force officer has been relieved from duties at the Presidio of Monterey after publication of his letter to the editor accusing President George W. Bush of having advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Lt. Col. Steve Butler was serving as vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute when he wrote the letter, which was published in The Monterey County Herald May 21.
The letter accuses Bush of allowing the attacks to occur for political reasons.
The letter reads in part: ``Of course Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama.
``His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative supreme court (if you really want to know why the justices voted like they did, I suggest `Supreme Injustice' by Alan Dershowitz), the economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on. ``
Butler's letter called the president's course of action ``sleazy and contemptible.''
Army spokesman Sgt. Mitch Frazier said Butler ``has been administratively suspended from his position as vice chancellor/student affairs pending the outcome of an investigation.''
``Further details are not available at this time as the investigation is ongoing,'' Frazier said.
Butler could not be reached to comment Monday but his wife, Shelly Butler, said the military had given her husband ``a lot of grief'' over the letter. He was relieved of his duties at the language school and has been assigned to temporary duty at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, she said.
She said he plans to retire in a few weeks after 24 years in the Air Force, including duty as a combat pilot in Desert Storm.
In addition to criticism from the military, she said, ``we got a few phone calls from people we don't even know'' supporting his position. She said his friends also are also being supportive, ``but work-wise, people won't say anything.''
Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice says that ``any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, the vice president, Congress, the secretary of defense, the secretary of a military department, the secretary of transportation or the governor or legislature of any state, territory, commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.''
The last Article 88 court martial came in 1965 when an Army second lieutenant was prosecuted for taking part in an antiwar protest in Texas, according to Lt. Col. Maritza S. Ryan of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
Ryan said the Pentagon ``quietly issued'' memos reminding officers of the Article 88 provisions after President Clinton became embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, setting off a number of articles and letters to the editor from military officers.
The Mercury News
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