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Friday, October 15, 2004



Platoon defies orders in Iraq

Now they're arresting entire platoons of guardsmen

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq -- north of Baghdad -- because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.

Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday.

The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders, punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.

McClenny told her mother her unit tried to deliver fuel to another base in Iraq Wednesday, but was sent back because the fuel had been contaminated with water. The platoon returned to its base, where it was told to take the fuel to another base, McClenny told her mother.

The platoon is normally escorted by armed Humvees and helicopters, but did not have that support Wednesday, McClenny told her mother.

The convoy trucks the platoon was driving had experienced problems in the past and were not being properly maintained, Hill said her daughter told her.
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.
The situation mirrors other tales of troops being sent on missions without proper equipment.

Aviation regiments have complained of being forced to fly dangerous missions over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old missile-avoidance systems. Stories of troops' families purchasing body armor because the military didn't provide them with adequate equipment have been included in recent presidential debates.

Patricia McCook said her husband, a staff sergeant, understands well the severity of disobeying orders. But he did not feel comfortable taking his soldiers on another trip.

"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were deadlines ... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," Patricia McCook said.

Hill said the trucks her daughter's unit was driving could not top 40 mph.

"They knew there was a 99 percent chance they were going to get ambushed or fired at," Hill said her daughter told her. "They would have had no way to fight back."
Kind of ironic when you think about it.

We've got troops being courts martialed for obeying orders at Abu Graib. There was a great hue and cry about them not disobeying direct orders to "soften up the prisoners." I can even remember memories of Nuremburg being brought back to remind us that following orders isn't always acceptable as an excuse.

It certainly happened a few times in Korea and Viet Nam, as I recall. Remember Bush and his infamous refusal to obey a direct order to get a flight physical?

Is it any wonder we become more confused by the day?




categories: Politics
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7:24:54 PM    



DIRTY TRICKS MONTH: REPUBLICANS HAVE NOT LEARNED THEIR FLYER LESSON

WHAT IS IT WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE SOUTH and disgusting political flyers and mailers?

A nasty flyer has turned up in Tennesse politics which depicts a handicapped athlete running on a track with George Bush's face pasted on.

The text reads:

Voting for Bush is Like Running in the Special Olympics -- Even if You Win, You're Still Retarded.

The Traditional Values Coalition and other right wing operations in the South jumped on this fast alleging that Tennessee Democrat Craig Fitzhugh's office, which shares space with the Kerry/Edwards Campaign, was distributing this flyer.

First, the Chairman of the Democratic Party Randy Button and Craig Fitzhugh have denied that these flyers were produced and/or distributed by Fitzhugh's or the campaign office.

Remember when the equally nasty RNC mailer emerged in West Virginia and Arkansas? It took more than a week for Ed Gillespie and the RNC, which originally disavowed knowledge of the mailer, to own up that the "ban the Bible" mailer was an RNC product. In this case, the denial from the Dems is immediate and firm.

Fitzhugh's office reported to me that they have asked the District Attorney's office to investigate and looks at this flyer and the attempt to pin it on Fitzhugh as a disgusting -- but more importantly -- an illegal act.

What has been reported is that these flyers were left in a trash can in Fitzhugh's office. No one on Fitzhugh's staff or among campaign volunteers saw that these flyers had been deposited by anyone in the garbage. Shortly after some unknown individual dropped the flyers in the trash can, another individual came into the office and found the flyers in Fitzhugh's trash -- and then made this public.

Coincidence? I think not. I hope the D.A. goes after these culprits and nails them hard.

This appears to be a classic dirty trick.

But when the dust clears on this one -- despite the efforts of Fox News and the Traditional Values Coalition to try to keep this mailer linked to Democrats -- the RNC has to not only live with its admission of producing and distributing a duplicitous, homophobic mailer but that it has produced a culture in its party where this kind of political prank seems to be becoming a norm.


categories: Politics
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3:19:06 PM    


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