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over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old missile-avoidance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?
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.
