Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Yeager on July 07, 2006, 01:42:25 PM
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Heres an update on Watada, the Army Officer who refused to leave for Iraq with his unit. He is also charged for speaking with contempt against the President (a no-no in the armed forces, apparently) and for conduct unbecoming an officer.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=watadacharged6m&date=20060706&query=watada
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good for him!!! funny how his lawyer states that his comments are covered under the first amendment... must be a civilian lawyer. ha ha... one must understand that once you sign the contract your rights are a tad more strict than your everyday billybob on the street.. i hope that he gets all 7 of those years.
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Quote from Jarhead (The Book) :
"''You signed the contract (key point). You have no rights, you can't speak out against your country.''
Cut and dry - enjoy Leavenworth.
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Actually it's officers and officers alone that cannot speak with contempt towards the president.
I was in during the Clinton years and many officers where pissed that the commander in chief (whom they disliked to begin with) committed purgery and spoke out about it. More than a few where repremanded for it. Officers are held to a higher standard as far as what the say and how they act.
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He screwed up by the numbers and got a civilian lawyer who didn't know enough to tell him to keep his freaking big mouth shut. A Military lawyer would have told him what kind if sheite storm he was opening up as soon as he decided to have a press conference. Stupid stupid move there to try and have a "trial" by media. He won't be getting a civilian jury he could try to sway with the poor pitiful me sob story, he'll be getting a military jury in his Court Marshall. I hope he figures on not having to look for work for several years. Perhaps we could arrange for him to serve his jail time in iraq.
He was supposed to be an adult when he took his oath of office, he'd better be ready to be adult about his hard time in Leavenworth.
The one good thing about it is I'd bet his platoon is real happy not to have to put up with him overseas.
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Originally posted by Gunslinger
Actually it's officers and officers alone that cannot speak with contempt towards the president.
I was in during the Clinton years and many officers where pissed that the commander in chief (whom they disliked to begin with) committed purgery and spoke out about it. More than a few where repremanded for it. Officers are held to a higher standard as far as what the say and how they act.
Its kinda ironic...Officers can be bounced from the service for adultery...yet the President does it and the press tries to portray it as no big deal. A personal opps. :furious
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Originally posted by LePaul
Its kinda ironic...Officers can be bounced from the service for adultery...yet the President does it and the press tries to portray it as no big deal. A personal opps. :furious
That's basically what they where pissed about.
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That and if you commit perjury it's a felony. That would be finis to a military career. A felon couldn't keep a security clearance and a secret clearance in the minimum for a senior Officer. After all there are standards that must be upheld in the military.
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Originally posted by LePaul
Its kinda ironic...Officers can be bounced from the service for adultery...yet the President does it and the press tries to portray it as no big deal. A personal opps. :furious
As President Johnson once said, "What's the use of being President if you can't get a little piece of ass."
ack-ack
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So why not give him a dishonorable discharge and be done with him? This guy will do time and a child molester registers on a database and walks the street, wtf?
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Because if they let him go then they would be saying to all future cowards you really don't have to go to war if you don't want to.
And the consequences are squat.
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If he is found guilty by the Court Marshall he will get a dishonorable discharge automatically. They'll give it to him as he leaves Leavenworth as he will still be in the military until the sentence is fully served.
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His civilian lawyer has 40 years of experience trying military cases, so I suspect he isn't as clueless as you folks make him out to be.
1Lt. Watada's claim is the same as in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case, where the Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that the adminstration has violated The Constitution and the War Powers Act.
In the court-martial of Petty Officer Paredes, he was found guilty, but received no jail time and little more than a rap on the knuckles with the military judge saying, "Any seaman recruit has a reasonable cause to believe that the wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq were illegal."
It should be an interesting case, but the final outcome may not be so cut and dry.