US soldier dismissed for threats in Iraq protest

[LiberalNation]

:tumbleweed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100418/...apping_soldier

BAGHDAD – The U.S. Army has dismissed a soldier who threatened fellow troops and sent the Pentagon a violent rap song he wrote to protest his Iraq redeployment orders, officials said Saturday.

The dismissal for misconduct means Spc. Marc A. Hall will avoid criminal charges but lose all military benefits earned over at least four years of service, including an earlier tour in Iraq.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said Saturday that top brass decided to discharge Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he admitted his guilt.

"He understood the threats he made to his fellow soldiers," Bloom said. "With the loss of his benefits, the time he's already done in jail and his reduction in rank, that's justice served."

Hall has been jailed since Dec. 11, two days before his brigade with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division out of Ft. Stewart, Georgia, was scheduled to leave for Iraq. He was charged with the military offense of communicating a threat after telling his battalion commander that he might shoot or otherwise attack a fellow U.S. soldier, according to Army lawyers. He previously served in Iraq in 2007-08.

But it was a CD recording of a rap song that Hall wrote and sent to the Army's personnel office in July 2009 that gained notoriety for the case.

At that point, Army lawyers said, Hall knew his unit was scheduled to deploy — just two months before he was to finish his four-year enlistment contract. An unpopular Army policy known as "stop loss" requires that soldiers who are assigned to a unit at the time it deploys will be kept in the ranks for as long as the duration of the yearlong tour.

On the recording, Hall denounced the Army for the policy and rapped about opening fire with his military-issue M-4 rifle.

"I got a (expletive) magazine with 30 rounds, on a three-round burst, ready to fire down," Hall rapped. "Still against the wall, I grab my M-4, spray and watch all the bodies hit the floor. ... I bet you never stop-loss nobody no more, in your next lifetime of course. No remorse."

Hall's civilian attorney, David Gespass of Birmingham, Alabama, said that while some of Hall's words may have seemed threatening to the Army, he's convinced the soldier never intended to harm anyone.

"The song was a way for him to sort of vent," Gespass said. "He was, I think, less and less happy about the idea even of having a weapon and using it."

Gespass said soldiers appearing as witnesses at Hall's Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, testified "they thought he was a joker and they didn't take him seriously."

Although he felt Hall would likely have been acquitted by a court-martial, Gespass said he and Hall's military lawyer feared the soldier would have remained deployed in Iraq after his trial, and decided the best thing for Hall was to agree to a discharge.

"We are really happy that he's coming home," Gespass said. "We think it's the best solution for all concerned."

Critics have called the case a free speech issue, saying Hall should not be punished for venting his anger about being sent back to Iraq right before he was supposed to get out of the Army.

Bloom said that Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff signed off Friday on a plea deal for Hall to admit guilt and be discharged from the Army instead of face trial in Baghdad, as military lawyers requested. Had he lost at trial, Hall could have faced up to 15 years in jail.

Still, the case was far from sealed: Army lawyers concede that Hall never took physical action against any troops. His threat came the month after Maj. Nidal Hassan allegedly killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Texas — a period when the Pentagon was taking extra precautions about potentially violent soldiers

[jimnyc]

Why did you give this story a thumbs down?

[revelarts]

Sounds like more demonizing of soldiers as terrorist to me.

[LiberalNation]

guy threatening his fellow soldiers because he got stoplossed. It wasn't their decision. I'm sure his buddies would have been happy to let him go home over dealing with his pissy attitude.

[revelarts]

guy threatening his fellow soldiers because he got stoplossed. It wasn't their decision. I'm sure his buddies would have been happy to let him go home over dealing with his pissy attitude.

"...captains colonels e7s and above..." is what he says in the song. He doesn't have a problem with the people in his unit but with those who have implemented the program

gov't is breaking it's contracts, dejavu all over again.


full song
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3sW20dU-fUI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3sW20dU-fUI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQnYcGezlNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQnYcGezlNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

multiple deployments is a real problem.

based on what you've said about your plans I suspect you'd be quite upset if you couldn't get out when you thought.

[Monkeybone]

"...captains colonels e7s and above..." is what he says in the song. He doesn't have a problem with the people in his unit but with those who have implemented the program

gov't is breaking it's contracts, dejavu all over again.


full song
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3sW20dU-fUI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3sW20dU-fUI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQnYcGezlNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQnYcGezlNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

multiple deployments is a real problem.

based on what you've said about your plans I suspect you'd be quite upset if you couldn't get out when you thought.

isn't stop loss mentioned in the contracts that they sign though? So... where is the breaking?

[Monkeybone]

guy threatening his fellow soldiers because he got stoplossed. It wasn't their decision. I'm sure his buddies would have been happy to let him go home over dealing with his pissy attitude.

he made a choice, now he has to live with the consequence. His own fault.

[revelarts]

Army surrenders: Marc Hall to be discharged immediately!


By Courage to Resist. April 17, 2010

In a joyous victory for Specialist Marc A Hall and his supporters nationwide, this morning the US Army announced that the “Stop-loss” objector will not be court martialed next week at Camp Liberty, Iraq as scheduled. Instead, Spc Hall will be discharged immediately. In December, the Army jailed Spc Hall in retaliation for his formal complaint of inadequate mental health services available to him at Fort Stewart. The Army used an angry song that Spc Hall, a combat veteran of the Iraq War suffering from post traumatic stress, had produced criticizing the “Stoploss” policy as the pretext.

Specialist Hall’s civilian attorney, David Gespass, explained, “I believe we would have won the case, even in Iraq. While I’m gratified that the Army finally decided to discharge Marc, I’m appalled at the disregard it has shown for Marc’s wellbeing and fundamental rights for nine months. Whatever lip service the Army gives to its concern for its soldiers, its only real concern is insuring they risk their lives without questioning why. Marc's greatest transgression was asking that question.” Mr. Gespass is the president of the National Lawyers Guild.

In a message to the supporters nationwide who organized a grassroots campaign on his behalf, Spc Hall provided the following message by phone from Camp Arifjan, Kuwait: “I’m out of the confinement facility! Thank you to everyone for all the efforts everyone made. Hopefully I’ll be home very, very soon. I appreciate all of the love and support so many people gave me through my ordeal.” Spc Hall, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, also enjoyed the support of the Veterans for Peace organization.

Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist, an organization dedicated to supporting military objectors, noted, “Spc Marc Hall pled guilty today to producing a hip-hop song the Army didn’t like in exchange for his freedom. It’s utterly outrageous that Army spokespersons continued to slander Marc today. Despite the Army having stacked everything against Marc—including moving the scheduled trial from Ft. Stewart, Georgia to Iraq—supporters overcame each obstacle in order to provide Marc with a fighting chance for justice. In the end, we won.”

http://ivaw.org/node/5926

[LiberalNation]

stop loss is in your contract, read the fine print dudes.