'A Chilling Message'

[kpete]

Respected Marine Lawyer Alleges Military Injustices
by Daniel Zwerdling


Vokey calls the system "disgraceful."

"Anytime you want to subvert the rule of law to the power of a government, you've got a very bad thing brewing," Vokey told NPR. "As an officer in the Marine Corps I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And now we are perpetrating something that if any other country in the world was doing, we would likely step in and stop it."

............

'A Chilling Message'

When asked to identify exactly which officials in the military and the Bush administration he believes have abused the system of justice, Vokey avoids giving an answer. When pressed, Vokey went to his bookshelf, pulled out the Manual for Courts-Martial, and read from Article 88: "'Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, vice president, Congress'" and a list of other officials, he said, "'shall be punished as a court martial may direct.'"

"I need to be careful," Vokey said.

Given that he speaks out like that, Vokey said he was not completely surprised when an official at USMC headquarters called him recently to her office in Washington and fired him as chief of defense counsels in the western United States.

more at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15783244

[lonestarnot]

1. Maybe since he was fired, he found or will seek out a fireplace.

[flashl]

2. The JAG Corps across all branches of the military have been unsung heroes.

"Vokey has also watched thousands of Marines come back to Camp Pendleton from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some have developed post-traumatic stress disorder or other serious mental health problems, and then taken illegal drugs or refused to show up at the base."

Early in the Iraq "war" many stories were written about the military distributing "bags of pills" to soldiers in the combat zone to self-medicate. Many voiced concerns about the addictive properties of the "bag of pills" and wondered how soldiers were going to adapt when returning home without their "bag of pills". The comments above suggests the military is prentending that it does not know why returning soldiers are seeking drugs.

[hootinholler]

5. First I've heard about the little bags. n/t

[flashl]

7. Bags of pills

May 31, 2006
The Iraq War—On Drugs

In Iraq and Afghanistan, when “suck it up” fails to snap a soldier out of depression or panic, the Army turns to drugs. “Soldiers I talked to were receiving bags of antidepressants and sleeping meds in Iraq, but not the trauma care they needed,” says Steve Robinson, a Defense Department intelligence analyst during the Clinton administration.

Sometimes sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed by qualified personnel. Sometimes not. Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany told Salon that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him “to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep.”

Other soldiers self-medicate. “We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore,” Iraq vet John Crawford told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.

[Individualist]

3. Thanks for posting this, kpete

I'm going to email it to my friends with the subject line: What the TV won't tell you...

[bonito]

4. K&R!

[crickets]

6. This is an admirable man

This is the kind of officer the military should be trying desperately to keep. K&R

:dem:

[2 Much Tribulation]

8. Yes, Article 88 is KEY: military is muzzled. nt