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A former Army Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was cleared of spy accusations is now a Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Sen. Barack Obama. Former Capt. James J. Yee was among the delegates who were elected by precinct representatives Saturday at the party's 9th Congressional District convention at North Thurston High School. Others chosen at the gathering were Zach Smith, a former supporter of ex-Sen. John Edwards who is now pledged to Clinton, and Natalie Stevens, an alternate pledged to Obama. Yee, a West Point graduate, was accused in 2003 of being part of a spy ring...

Four Army aviators were killed when two helicopters crashed in the aviation training area southwest of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said base spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield...

NEWARK — The fourth annual American Muslim Voice peace convention brought many speakers of various backgrounds to provide a blueprint for protecting civil rights in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era. Visitors at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark on Sunday evening cheered and listened to guest speakers, such as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield and Ron Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at University of California,Berkeley. The conventions theme was building a beloved community, which included topics such as Fighting for the American Constitution and America, One Nation under God? These topics were discussed by a group of panelists...

A new poll to freep. This one doesn't usually get hit by Freepers and they do occasionally report on poll results on the local news. Do you think 1st Lt. Ehren Watada should face a court martial for refusing to go to Iraq?

Published on Friday, August 11, 2006 Army interrogator to return to military custody SEATTLE The Associated Press Shortly after returning from Iraq last year, Army Sgt. Ricky Clousing gathered a few belongings and left Fort Bragg in the middle of the night, leaving only a note quoting Martin Luther King. Less than six months in Iraq, seeing the "daily physical, psychological and emotional harassment of civilians," had left him confused and disenchanted with the United States' role in the war, he said. "My experience in Iraq really made me second-guess my ability to perform as a soldier and also forced...

AWOL soldier to surrender at Fort Lewis01:43 PM MDT on Friday, August 11, 2006Associated PressFORT LEWIS, Wash. -- An Army sergeant who went AWOL from Fort Bragg out of disgust with the Iraq war says he'll turn himself in Friday at Fort Lewis. Lawyers for 24-year-old Ricky Clousing of Sumner have tried to negotiate a discharge without success. At an anti-war conference Friday morning at the University of Washington, Clousing announced he would turn himself in later at the Army base. Clousing spent six months in Iraq and says he became confused and disenchanted with the U.S. role in Iraq....

UPDATED 3:58 P.M. A public appearance by an Army lieutenant who refuses to go fight in Iraq was postponed Wednesday after his commanders told him he couldn’t attend his press conference during duty hours. Lt. Ehren Watada’s supporters in the anti-war movement held their mid-day event at Associated Ministries in Tacoma anyway, and played a video recording of the 28-year-old Stryker soldier’s statement against the war. They said he would appear at 6 p.m. Watada says he won’t obey orders to deploy to Iraq with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is leaving later this month for its second...

SEATTLE - As thousands of Fort Lewis Army troops prepare to head back to Iraq, one of their officers is making a stand. A lieutenant says he is going to refuse to go, saying it's an unjust war. Anti-war groups are rallying to his defense. Lt. Ehren Watada of the Stryker Brigade writes, "I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to ‘stay the course.’ I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. "I wanted to be...

SEATTLE (AP) -- An Army lieutenant in Washington state is expected to go public Wednesday with his refusal to deploy to Iraq. Attorney Eric Seitz tells Seattle's K-O-M-O Radio that Lieutenant Ehren Watada (wah-TAH'-dah) opposes the war and first asked to be re-assigned and also asked to be allowed to resign his commission. Seitz says after both requests were denied, Watada told his superiors he wouldn't go to Iraq. Two anti-war groups say the soldier will announce his refusal at a news conference in Tacoma. A Fort Lewis spokeswoman had no comment.

All the major training is done. The vehicles will be loaded onto ships later this month at the Port of Olympia, and by the end of next month, the Army’s first Stryker brigade will be on its way back to Iraq. Nearly half the 4,000 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were with the unit the first time it went over in November 2003. Their experience, and that of the two Stryker brigades that succeeded them, have informed preparations different from the last time, the Fort Lewis-based soldiers say. “Before, we went over thinking we knew what was...

FORT LEWIS -- About a dozen Oregon National Guard soldiers say they languished for months at Fort Lewis because the Army lacked a protocol to allow them to return to Oregon to convalesce. The wounded soldiers also waited hours for doctor appointments, were forced to fill out confusing paperwork and faced months of delays regarding their benefits, they told Brig. Gen. Raymond Byrne, acting adjutant general of the Oregon National Guard, yesterday. "I feel that the system is lacking all common guidance," Sgt. William Harris of Bend said. "I don't have anything to fall back on. There's nothing for me...

Pardon the vanity post, fellow FReepers, but my wife and I will be moving to the fine state of Washington in a few months, and we've started the house-hunt with little luck so far. I'll be stationed at Ft. Lewis in one of the Stryker Brigades, which I believe are in the northern parts of the post. I've been given the advice to look at Steilacoom and Dupont for good places to live north of Lewis. Do any of you agree/disagree? Is there a good realtor out there any of you could recommend (we're looking for a rental house). Thanks...

<p>A National Guard soldier captured on videotape telling undercover agents posing as Muslim extremists how to cripple U.S. battle tanks declined to enter a plea at his arraignment on treason charges on Friday, the Army said.</p> <p>Specialist Ryan Anderson, a 26-year-old Muslim convert and gun rights advocate who was arrested last February as his unit prepared to ship out to Iraq, faces a court-martial beginning Aug. 16 at Ft. Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, where his unit is based.</p>

SIERRA VISTA - A 1998 Buena High School graduate was killed in action when an improvised explosive device was set off near a convoy he was riding in northern Iraq Monday. According to the Associated Press, Spc. Michael M. Merila, 23, was returning to his base camp at Tall Afar from the Mosul Airport after he and others escorted soldiers of his unit who were departing on leave. A member of the Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment from Fort Lewis, Wash., Merila, who was known as Matt to his friends, was the first member of the Army's Stryker...

MOSUL, Iraq - A Stryker brigade soldier was killed and another wounded Monday when their Humvee struck a roadside bomb, brigade officials said. The incident near Tall Afar, about 35 miles west of Mosul, marked the first death of a Stryker soldier as a result of hostile action since the Fort Lewis brigade arrived in Iraq nearly three months ago. Eight others have been killed in accidents. The attack was one of two roadside bombings carried out against Stryker troops Monday. In the other, about 9:45 a.m. near a village southeast of Mosul, the explosion caused no injuries and minor...

A grenade was found in the glove compartment of her vehicle. Seems her husband is stationed at Ft. Lewis. This is only the second time I've posted and hope someone will come up with a URL or something better.

US SOLDIER 'ON TERROR CHARGES' A US soldier has been charged with trying to provide information to the al Qaeda terrorist network, US law enforcement official has said. The official told the Associated Press news agency that National Guardsman Ryan G. Anderson was charged with "aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to communicate and give intelligence to the al Qaeda terrorist network."   It was not immediately known what information Anderson was alleged to have provided.   Anderson was being held at Fort Lewis, an Army base south of Seattle.   Anderson, 26, is a tank crew member from the National...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - A National Guardsman was arrested Thursday and accused of trying to provide information to the al-Qaida terrorist network, the Army said. Defense officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 26, signed onto extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives, offering the organization information on U.S. military capabilities and weaponry. It is unclear how the government got wind of his alleged offer, but authorities began monitoring his communications, the officials said. It does not appear he transmitted any information to al-Qaida, the officials said. Anderson, from...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Three soldiers from the Stryker Brigade Combat Team were killed in an accident during a combat patrol in Iraq Sunday night, ABC News reports. A fourth soldier was injured. The accident occurred after an embankment on an unimproved road collapsed, causing two Stryker infantry carrier vehicles to roll over into a canal. ABC News says it was not a result of hostile fire. Heavy rainfall in the area might have been a cause, but the Army is still investigating.

A Muslim chaplain who was stationed at Fort Lewis in 2001 and 2002 is the first known U.S. soldier to be detained in the U.S.-led war on terror. Army Capt. Yousef Yee, 34, was detained Sept. 10 in Jacksonville, Fla., after returning from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, where he was stationed. He has not been charged, but a senior law enforcement source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Saturday that FBI agents confiscated classified documents Yee was carrying and questioned him before he was handed over to the military. The New York Times reported in a story...