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LTC Allen B. West 4th Infantry Division, Iraq Allen West Defense Fund
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LTC Allen B. West 4th Infantry Division, Iraq Allen West Defense Fund
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Intro
Letters & Essays Index News Links Player Contact Info Feedback / Contact Back to YAP's front door |
Sign the Petition on behalf of LTC West
Exoneration for LTC West is Not Enough Despite the rightful calls and petitions for the exoneration of LTC Allen B. West regarding the charges being brought against him for frightening a terrorist, exoneration alone is simply not good enough.
If Col. West is simply exonerated of those charges -- either by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 32 investigation finding insubstantial cause or evidence for a courts-martial, or by being acquitted in a trial by courts-martial, Col. West's military career is, essentially, toast.
He was relieved of his command. That, alone, is a death knell to a military career. Regardless of the outcome of any legal proceedings, this reportedly exceptional career officer will have been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness, whether taken to trial by courts-martial or not.
That Article 32 "hearing" is scheduled for 10 November. He must be exonerated from the legal charges by that date, because even if he is acquitted by a court-martial trial, the fact that he was tried will serve as an equally damning career-killer -- win or lose. That's the Army.
Col. West is obviously getting a bum rap, and bringing charges under UCMJ Article 128 "Aggravated Assault" stinks to high heaven. If Col. West did as the charges specify, and as Col. West himself relates, a careful reading of Article 128 will suggest to any intelligent reader that he is not even guilty of [common] Assault. And if he is not guilty of Assault, he can't be guilty of Aggravated Assault. That's just the way the UCMJ works.
A clue as to the inappropriateness of applying these "Punitive Articles" of the UCMJ to combat zone circumstances can be gained by noticing the legal environment in which Article 128 is couched. Numerically, it is nestled between Article 127 "Extortion" and Article 129 "Burglary." Is there any legal scholar in their right mind who would not conclude that those Articles are pertinent to a domestic context, and not to a combat zone context?
If they are applicable in a combat context, are we to round up the boys who kicked in the doors of the several Saddam Hussein palaces, maybe even picking up a few ashtrays as souvenirs, and charge them all with Article 129 Burglary? Maybe even "Aggravated Burglary," since they were armed to the teeth and their body language very likely suggested a rather stern attitude. Good Lord, what if their rude no-knock intrusion had frightened a Saddam Fedayeen of delicate constitution?
Who IS this 4th ID staff judge advocate officer (attorney) who believes this crap is for real, and punishable under the UCMJ Punitive Articles? Obviously, it's all just so much nonsense. But now we have LTC West caught in that surreal nightmare of military jurisprudence gone looney.
Here's what needs to happen to adequately remedy it all for Col. West:
-- All charges relating to the "Detainee Interrogation" incident are to be dropped as being inappropriate and not in context for a combat zone.
-- LTC West is to be reinstated to his command with recommendation for promotion to [full] Colonel 0-6.
-- His record is to be purged of any mention of the inappropriate charges that were brought against him by an "over-zealous" staff judge advocate.
-- He is to receive a letter of commendation, placed in his file, from the 4th ID CG for his field expediency and leadership actions that, in all likelihood, prevented US military casualties from a pending enemy attack.
[Might throw in a ArCom recommendation so the 4th ID CG can save some face by at least denying him the medal. Just a thought.]
If Col. West wants to go ahead and retire out (he did just pass his 20-year anniversary, congrats), that's one thing. But he should do so at full paygrade and with a clean, if not glowing, record.
Upshot -- if LTC West is simply exonerated of the charges currently leveled at him, it will be quite a hollow victory for him and his family. And if this travesty of military justice is to be fixed, it needs to happen by 10 November.
From all other reports and testimonies, this man appears to be the very sort of officer and leader we so desperately need in the US Army today. If political correctness wins the day on this one, it could tarnish the concept of "Uniform Military Justice" so badly as to effect the US Army's undoing.
If the troops see this good Colonel hung out to dry with that knife in the back for the sake of political correctness, or by a willful contortion of the UCMJ for possibly an even darker purpose -- and it stands -- it could go as warned by Fred Thompson's character in "The Hunt For Red October." "This thing could get out of control."
Indeed, it could, and maybe should, IF it stands.
Steve Harrison
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