POSTINGS FROM THE SWEETWATER LIBRARY

(Seventh in a series)

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Congressmen and commanders nowadays are like leaky diapers. They can't be trusted and must be frequently changed for the same reasons.

--The JAG HUNTER

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"--'can I call you Court?' she asked him. 'It sounds so--I don't know: so strong and savage. Ruthless, sort of, General Court..."

[Army General Courtney Massengale interrupted the movie starlet, finishing her sentence]

'Ah, but imagine if my last name had been Marshall.' "

--Anton Myrer in his military classic novel: ONCE AN EAGLE (1968)

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The military system can say this for itself: It knows what it wants, and it systematically goes in and gets it."

--John Henry Wigmore, dean of American evidence law and World War I JAG

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JAG HUNTER HERE WITH TIM HARRINGTON AND GEORGE REILLY:



Promising general courts-martial punishment and deep family embarrassment non-related accusations regarding sex crimes and aberrant personal behavior (real or invented) unscrupulous military detectives and JAGs forced false witness testimony to knowingly and illicitly imprison Sergeants Larry Hutchins, Ray Girouard, and other innocent men.

Sponsors in the sacrifice of our sergeants to the gods of political expediency Congressmen Jack Murtha, Bill Delahunt and John Duncan--in concert with the generals, the JAGs, and creep detectives--are furiously scrambling today to contain (with frantic hope to control) the unstoppable political firestorm about to explode in a stiffening wind.

Representatives Norm Dicks, Jay Inslee, and John Shadegg--standing upwind with burnt matches fallen at their feet--suffer the same worries.

But damage control is impossible, overtaken by unfolding events.

The word is out!

Detailed public disclosure regarding threats made against Brad Mason, Jason Graber, Corey Clagett, William Huntsacker, and Robert Pennington forcing these warriors to lie under oath are imminent.

OPPORTUNITY

Ironically it was the perceived threat of compromise and public disclosure that led us to where we find ourselves this day. Disgruntled troops shooting off their mouths combined with Iraqis angling for a hush-money payday panicked U.S. commanders and lawmakers by intimating they'd tell all regarding the true nature of urban street fighting and the rules of engagement (ROE) approved for use by U.S. infantry troops.

It became necessary for the congressmen and commanders to invent barefaced falsehoods to foist a valiant character on themselves. So those specific, but routine combat events about to come under a magnifying glass were declared "war crimes" and the Marines and soldiers involved dragged into courts-martial.

MOTIVE

The strongest argument to be advanced in protest to America's military adventures overseas is that congressmen and commanders are more than capable and willing to entomb innocent infantry soldiers and Marines to conceal from the folks at home the stark reality of urban, counter-insurgent war fighting against an enemy that refuses to wear a uniform.

Given our politically correct and incendiary society congressmen and commanders were unprepared and unable to survive the scorching scrutiny should the ROE for ground operations be revealed.

These command creeps didn't want you to know, for instance, what Marine Lieutenant Nathan Phan recognizes as every day, unremarkable routine combat events:

"We do what is necessary to get the job done" Phan writes. "I'm what they call a Paying Agent. It means I'm authorized to reimburse Iraqi civilians with U.S. government dollars as restitution in the event we damage their personal property or cause unnecessary grief. This tends to happen a lot. Not because we're a bunch of [vulgarity deleted] who like to blow things up, beat [or kill] women and children...[but because] What is necessary for us means unnecessary suffering for them. We conduct raids in the dead of night, kick families out of their homes and take over...we do this on a regular basis. This may seem harsh or even cruel, but it is absolutely necessary."

Make no mistake...Sergeants Hutchins and Girouard and their men faced general courts-martial for doing what is commonly considered "absolutely necessary." They did exactly as they were ordered!

Army Colonel Michael "Black Hawk Down" Steele exhorted his men to regard the enemy as faceless, immoral, and inhuman (what we know of Steele's "hoo-ah" speech comes from those very few people who've viewed a not yet released documentary titled: AN AMERICAN SOLDIER). Steel's men were ordered to kill all military aged males (MAMs) on sight during their IRON TRIANGLE operation assault on a terrorist training camp near Samara, Iraq. It was in the infantry's ROE!


But congressmen and commanders could not allow Lt. Phan's or Col. Steele's testimonies to be publicly voiced in defense of their sergeants and infantrymen. Military aristocrats, martial royalty toiled aggressively, tirelessly, and decisively to block ground commanders from repeating orders they'd given their men in the field.

Ergo: The need for the cover stories!

MEANS

"The military system can say this for itself: It knows what it wants and it systematically goes in and gets it!"

For the cover story plans to work command racketeers had to hang the sergeants (plausible deniability doncha know).

Since May 1951 the character of the court-martial is that of a psychological operation (PSYOP). It's simply an imposing tool in the ultimate expression of Executive will. Courts-martial--in their design, intent, and sublime operation--are the naked application of irresistible force.


The courts-martial PSYOPs process is forceful enough to make people lie about others and to lie about themselves.

Courts-martial PSYOPs prey upon the very weakest.

Flag officers--generally speaking--do not face courts-martial (pun intended!).

Unscrupulous military detective creeps and deceitful, dishonest JAGs are sanctioned, encouraged, and nowadays emboldened to commit despicable acts against our warriors, their families, and their extended communities.

Martial monsters--the JAGs and detective agents assigned by military royalty--exploit targets whose psychological complexions and makeups are marked by lower levels of maturity, sophistication, education, and intelligence.

Special agents like Jim Connolly (aggressively profiled on these JAG HUNTER pages regarding the Camp Pendleton Eight series of courts-martial) mentally torture our kids during interrogation sessions like those American POWs suffered during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Devious and sinister JAGs and special agents deprive those they accuse, their comrades, and their families of the freedom to speak the truth. Congressmen and commanders play with their constituents and men by inoculating them with false hope and extraordinary fear. These terrible people inject terror, suspicions of one another, doubts, and mistrust.

Men and women like Jim Connolly threatened obstruction in one Marine seeking U.S. citizenship.

Pernicious men and women like Jim Connolly threatened the kind of repercussions and violence attendant to accusations of pedophilia, child-porn, statuary rape (real or not in any case) that had nothing to do with the events in question.

Innuendo tore combat units and families apart. Mom and dads wondered if they knew their boy. Siblings wondered if they knew each other. Privates were forced to lie about their sergeants while the officers betrayed and lied about their men.

This is how the restructured courts-martial PSYOP works. It is the ultimate expression of Executive will. The will of the commander in chief.

The congressmen and commanders are more than willing to build and advance ghost stories about the lowly infantryman, to protect and shield themselves, and to keep secret from you--the American body politic--the orders being issued to men like Hutchins and Girouard.

Courts-martial PSYOPs facilitated martial injunctions guarding against disclosure or compromise of ground combat operations overseas.

Recent and alarming comments uttered by military politicos close more public cases are particularly clear and instructive explaining how courts-martial are so exceptionally useful in the exploitation of U.S. servicemen.

David Brahms, pointing at the congressmen, sardonically commented: "Who cares about these men?" Brahms continued: These soldiers and Marines are insignificant...no one can find where these men live on a map of the U.S."

John Kivlan flaunting his prior knowledge of conviction, and who later sat in the hearing room, told Sergeant Hutchins' parents that no one was going to uncover the corruption. Their son was going to a military prison innocent or not. Pay attention to the sentencing phase.

Jonathan Griswold, when petitioned to challenge Ray Girouard's court-martial (among others) declined in this candid response: "Who wants to take on the DOD?"

David Brahms is a retired one-star brigadier general and former Judge Advocate, Marines.

Kivlan is the staff attorney to Representative Bill Delahunt.

Griswold is the national security advisor to Congressman John Duncan.

It's worth noting that Brahms was the paid civilian defense counsel to Marine Lance Corporal Robert Pennington. Brahms was (and remains) a full participant in the travesties described above. David Brahms is to Lcpl. Pennington as Rich Brannon is to Sgt. Hutchins, as Anita Gorecki is to SSgt. Ray Girouard. Each of the defense attorneys robbed their clients, their families, and their communities by cooperating with and advancing the government's ghost cover stories.

The cover stories were easy to dismantle. Military detectives and unreliable witnesses and evidence were ripe for impeachment. Competent and concerned--honest and honorable defense teams and individual counselors could have extracted from the infantry COs information regarding the ROE and actual scheme of operations for the urban street war fight. Under defense questioning the infantry commanders could have narrated in intimate detail the routine nature of raid and ambush carried out in watch-bill rotation before and after those days in question. The COs could have discussed ROE orders to kill all MAMs, to patrol and engage any suspicious vehicle or structure. They could have revealed the existence of the high-value insurgents hit list and the deployment of "Hunter-Killer" teams to reduce the number of MAMs on that list, or to shoot on sight those insurgents found in the act of planting improvised explosive devices.

Cowardly lion commanders instead crafted and advanced elaborate "war crimes" cover stories pointing to their men as rogue soldiers or Marines gone off the reservation. The infantry COs dishonored themselves by providing cover for higher ranking officers and congressmen (the command racketeers). The commanding officers in monstrous acts of betrayal, turned their backs leaving their men for dead--buried alive in the DOD catacombs.

Corrupt and complicit defense teams colluded with each other and with the government abandoning our warriors in service to their own self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, and self interests.

Congressmen and commanders nowadays are like leaky diapers. They can't be trusted and must be frequently changed for the same reasons.

America does not plant the seed of democracy on foreign shores--in this Great Moral Enterprise--by burying innocent soldiers and Marines alive at home as political prisoners.

Congressmen and commanders fail to extend or extol the virtues of Freedom overseas by destroying the lives and homes of innocent people!

The children are watching!

As so many others are watching.

Here endth the lesson.

BEWARE THE FURY OF THE INNOCENT MAN!

Copyright © The JAG HUNTER 2008

POSTINGS FROM THE SWEETWATER LIBRARY
(Fifth in a series)

"As one Roman senator said to Tiberius Caesar, 'But if you speak first no one will want to refute you, and if you speak last, we will not want to have spoken against your position.' "

(Fourth, Third, Second, First in the series)

JAG HUNTER HERE:

The assembly and conduct of a courts-martial is the singular exercise of executive war power. It is sovereign power exclusively.

Courts-martial power and authority is directed for use by subordinate commanders as one weapon (among every other weapon) under executive order to give full expression to American will in confronting extreme danger. Courts-martial represent a single component in the array of components necessary in the application of sustained and irresistible force against internal insurrection, external invasion, or other extreme emergencies when ordinary law enforcement and judicial processes break down (take Sherman's March to the sea for instance).

Courts-martial are used almost exclusively against U.S. citizens. Flag officers (generals and admirals) exercise courts-martial, war power as they see fit based only upon their judgment, or whim, or caprice as their individual personalities dictate.

The assembly and conduct of courts-martial, absent direct public scrutiny, is the sole province of the commander exercised as an expedient to put down all resistance and challenge to established military force once mobilized and deployed.

The difficulty faced today is that America's chief executive has invested his peace time commanders with the executive summary power of a court-martial in perpetuity concealed by deceiving military royalty and fantastic showmanship.

Peace time employment of courts-martial is a crime called attainder.

Why is this allowed?

No American would submit to conditions so notorious, injurious, and degrading as those resulting from the punitive expedition of a court-martial. So why do vulnerable military personnel suffer these conditions and why do you not hear their cries for relief?

One explanation, clearly evidenced here in Sweetwater and I suspect Plymouth, MA (hometowns to Ray Girouard and Larry Hutchins), is that Americans have never been more disconnected and more disinterested in their military than today. Civilian oversight of the armed forces is an illusion.

There runs amok that convenient cloak of self-deception allowing for the false belief that we can safely trust the decisions of high command. We hold this belief while, right there in plain sight, we watch command racketeers bludgeon on sergeant after another into submission in the ritual humiliation of a court-martial that purposefully obstructs men like Ray and Larry from seeking refuge in their own defense.

I spoke last week about the notion of invincible ignorance.

Another explanation is simply fear. Regular folks are rendered silent by abject terror regarding what government retribution must come should top military governors be challenged. "As one Roman senator said to Tiberius Caesar, 'But if you speak first no one will want to refute you, and if you speak last, we will not want to have spoken against your position.' "

For many in the military who know of the abuses yet refuse to publicly condemn the practice of attainder, the word is cowardice.

Then-as always-there's the tyranny of self-interest (willful blindness).

Meanwhile, peace time courts-martial--the constitutionally outlawed exercise of attainder--has become institutionalized. An artificial process masking the summary power of the executive whereupon men are punished without trial for crimes they never committed.

Here endth the lesson

BEWARE THE FURY OF THE PATIENT MAN!

©Copyright 2008 The JAG HUNTER

POSTINGS FROM THE SWEETWATER LIBRARY
(FOURTH IN A SERIES)
(Third, Second, First)

"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances."

-Supreme Court Justice David Davis

Ex parte Milligan - 1866

JAG HUNTER HERE:

Former Navy Hospital Corpsman Tom Overton, III remarked Wednesday during our phone conversation that "we (military members) all know we give up our constitutional rights (he should have said constitutional protections) when when we join the military." Mr. Overton and I were discussing former and recent criminal acts committed another Sweetwater resident, U.S. Ranger, Staff Sergeant Raymond L. Girouard.

I encounter this a lot and am more deeply dismayed at each instance America's demise is evidenced once more.

Tom Overton--today--publishes Sweetwater's local newspaper, The Monroe County Advocate & Democrat.

Irony o-o-z-e-s...The Advocate & Democrat!

I told Publisher Overton he was wrong and challenged him on the point. I'm happy for Mr. Overton, or any one else, to correct me by supplying the citation--with particulars--regarding the convention amending the Constitution whereupon American servicemen were stripped of their constitutional protections.

Just at that moment Overton's beeper alerted an incoming call (so he said), and whoops...gotta go...Publisher Overton was gone.

Mr. Tommy Millsaps and I had a similar phone conversation earlier in the same week. Mr. Millsaps is a reporter for The Advocate & Democrat (feel the o-o-z-e!).

Explaining to Reporter Millsaps--again--that Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard and Marine Corps Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins are protected by the Constitution I read Supreme Court Justice David Davis' majority ruling on point (Ex parte Milligan - 1866):

"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than
that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government...Martial law cannot arise for a threatened invasion. The necessity must be actual and present; the invasion [or emergency] real, such as effectively closes the courts...Martial rule can never exist where the courts are open and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. It's also confined to the locality of the actual war."

In fairness to Publisher Overton, Reporter Millsaps, and Editor Mia Rhodarmer (who I also spoke with), nearly every media worker I've encountered believes the DURABLE MYTH that military personnel forfeit their constitutional protections when they pledge their lives in sacrifice promising to defend you and me...and oh yeah...the Constitution.

Think about it!

Think hard!

So...with the phrase invincible ignorance ringing in my ears it's appropriate and helpful to obediently accept that "there is...a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8)." There are brief and infrequent moments when the state of society is in a state of emergency. Moments that catastrophically alter human laws and human punishments and that must--as matters of necessity--transcend constitutional boundaries.

Courts-martial are desperate measures to be tolerated operative only in desperate times. Restating what's obvious Sir Matthew Hale correctly commented:

"Martial Law, which is built upon no settled principles, but is entirely arbitrary in its decisions is, in truth and reality no law, but something indulged in rather than allowed as law. The necessity of order and discipline...is the only thing which can give it countenance."

Self-preservation is also a core determiner in assessing whether it's necessary to invoke martial law and the courts-martial scheme.

The Constitution must be operative at all times excepting during those infrequent and brief instances--in times of invasion or other extraordinary emergencies that close courts--when the Constitution can't work.

As brief, as infrequent, as extraordinary a moment as would be our plight as lifeboat survivors with a bad actor among us. (See Alfred Hitchcock's film LIFEBOAT on DVD).

After all, Abe Lincoln is attributed in the observation that the Constitution is not a suicide pact.

I can't cure the invincibly ignorant.

For media professionals who persist in "holding their tongues" while watching in plain view senior military commanders perpetrate crimes against Ray Girouard, Larry Hutchins, and other innocent American citizens, self-censorship is more corrosive, more acid, more dangerous than forced censorship. You might just as well "make tooth picks of your pens." (Aurora General Advertiser Editor Benjamin Franklin Bache commenting on the Sedition Act of 1798--as quoted in Ian Toll's history: Six Frigates)

For the rest, your duty is a clear and plain as can be: Proverbs 31:8.

My constitutional challenge to Publisher Overton, by the way, is unanswerable. No federal army or navy existed from 1787 to mid-1789 and brief references to those institutions were written in the future tense. There is nothing--repeat--NOTHING in the Constitution as amemded that drops the its shield of protection for military personnel. Supreme Court Justice Davis' words are as appropriate and relevant and enforceable as law today as they were in 1866.

For Veterans who've not yet joined this fight...shame.

Here endth the lesson (for the moment).

BEWARE THE FURY OF THE PATIENT MAN!

©Copyright 2008 The JAG HUNTER

POSTINGS FROM THE SWEETWATER LIBRARY

(First in a series)

"Courts-martial are the places where juries go to die."

"America's Constitution outlaws courts-martial"

JAG HUNTER HERE (dateline Sweetwater, Tennessee):

Commanding officers once held courts-martial round an upturned drum to publicly inflict instant summary punishment against subordinates on charges alleged or suspected of offenses during military operations.

Military dictators are empowered to use DRUMHEAD COURTS as tools to simultaneously pronounce and carry out punishment replacing the judge and jury.

The modern day courts-martial of Army Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard and Marine Corps Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins, their men, and others differed only in appearance, time, venue, and forum from drumhead courts. As in drumhead courts of olden days, only one man--acting as judge and jury--decided these men's fate wherein process and practice of preordained outcomes remained unchainged!

I sez Ray Girouard and Larry Hutchins (and all the others) are innocent men until A JURY--constitutionally constructed and recognized--sez different!

I'm making a stand here in Sweetwater in the hopes of setting up a line of resistance others can form upon (such as Larry Hutchins neighbors in Plymouth, Massachusetts). I seek to discover in the folks in my surrounding Norman Rockwell community are okay with burying men like Ray and Larry alive as political prisoners in congressional concentration camps populated by U.S. citizens worldwide WITHOUT A JURY'S PERMISSION!

I will relentlessly demand Ray and Larry and all the others be immediately released, restored, made whole, and allowed to return to their communities, homes, and families where they are respected and loved!

In this series of postings from the Sweetwater Library I will pull off the hood blinding everyday citizens regarding the scope and danger of American courts-martial operated by a military aristocracy Army Colonel David Hackworth accurately renamed the "military industrial congressional complex."

America's Constitution outlaws courts-martial!

Courts-martial are every part weapons of violence as tanks or ships! As much acts of violence as they are the scenes of violence--crime scenes in and of themselves.

Military governors are empowered to use courts-martial to punish enemeis of the state only under the most extreme set of circumstances. Courts-martial fulfill an extraordinarily special function in our nation's life that is measured in time, place, and operation in the most exceedingly narrow conditions (we'll consider these special circumstances, conditions, and functions as this series progresses). Courts-martial are supposed to be uncommonly rare. Precedents rendering courts-martial illicit are long-held and remain solid (found first in Britian's First Mutiny Act 3 April 1689).

Courts-martial are normally intolereble.

Courts-martial are to tools of dictators!

Courts-martial are used to instill and energize the rule of fear...that special brand of fear that forces men to fight for the king (er...I mean the president) against their will.

Courts-martial derive their force and authority through threat of military action! Not from our Constitution.

Again, America's Constitution outlaws courts-martial!

Yet still, Commander in Chief Bush pronounced Ray and Larry enemies of the United States (as the CINC ordered) and then ordered subordinate command racketeers to inflict terrible violence upon these men (as with so many others) making Ray and Larry, their families, friends, and communities suffer in liberty and life.

There were NO JUDGES, NO JURIES! Just Commander in Chief Bush acting directly against Ray and Larry in service to state reasons and clandestine political agendas.

This describes with precision the crime of ATTAINDER.

The Constitution outlaws ATTAINDER!

People who perpetrate the crime of ATTAINDER (courts-martial) on U.S. citizens are called...well...ah...they're called OUTLAWS!

And Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents are invested with a special duty to arrest OUTLAWS committng the crime of ATTAINDER (courts-martial) on American citizens. Once arrested those accused of ATTAINDER (courts-martial) are subject to prosecution and conviction in civilian criminal courts (real courts were JURIES reside).

Honest. It's true...all true! You can read about here in the Sweetwater library.

Supreme Court justices declared and defined the crimes of courts-martial and ATTAINDER committed when "...a legislative act [think Articles of War, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)] inflicts punishment without a judicial TRIAL (Cummings v. Missouri 1857). The words "courts-martial" and ATTAINDER are synonyms--completely interchangeable--defined identically!

Long observed and known to all commanding officers, "A court-martial is no part of the JUDICIARY of the nation...'[A court-martial] is indeed a creature of orders...Not belonging to the judicial branch of Government (sic), it follows that courts-martial must pertain to the executive department; and [courts-martial] are simply instumentalities of the executive power!" (William Winthrop in his classic tome on the subject: Military Law and Precedents--1896) (Emphasis mostly mine)

Applying the simple legislative history it's clear each courts-martial are the product of congressional legislation ("a legislative act") which inflicts punishment (a function of military command) without a judicial trial (where juries normally sit and examine the governments theory and evidence of an alleged criminal act).

Courts-martial are the places where juries go to die!

I reminded Sweetwater Mayor--James Stutts--of all this during our ninety minute meeting at City Hall this past Wednesday. After our discussion Mayor Stutts returned to his "full-time" job as McMinn County assistant district attorney.

Indulge my gentle suggestion that shrewd and clever command racketeers are laughing up their sleeves at my Sweetwater neighbors (and Larry's neighbors in Plymouth) shamefully comfortable in what America's military aristocracy views as a combination of disinterest and invincible ignorance.

The collection of command royalty considers itself unassailable from attack from what they think is a discredited minority. Don't you understand? Senior commanders think regular folks like us aren't nearly sophisiticated and enlightened enough to comprehend and understand what command racketeers know is best.

Military governors say to us...Citizens...do you understand? Using the Articles of War (UCMJ) is a better than use of constitutionally constructed trials to find accused criminals guilty or innocent.

Professional command criminals see residents of Sweetwater and Plymouth as nothing if not lowly groupings of people--political nullities--incapable of recognizing the UCMJ as a "military code of greater age and dignity and of a more elevated tone than [the Constitution]...which by [the liberty experienced absent a jury] enjoys a freedom from the technical forms and obstructive habits [of a jury] that embarrass and delay the operations of civilian criminal courts." (William Winthrop - Military Laws and Precedents)

Army generals rely upon a combination of community ignorance and indifference granting them silent permission to steal pay and benefits, making guys like Ray and Larry suffer in liberty and life without the inspection, scrutiny, careful consideration, and permission of A JURY!

So far as I can tell these career criminals (the admirals and generals) sleep well at night daily assured and reinforced in their notions that they're right in their estimations of folks like you reading this posting from the Sweetwater Library. Flag rank officers think nobody really cares enough that men like Ray and Larry are kidnapped and held in dark, cold, military enclaves as innocent men.

I'm encouraged to contemplate--by way of your energentic, unrelenting, and overwhelming response (community outrage)--your upending the misplaced confidence of the command racketeers.

Light up the switchboards (some phone numbers supplied below). Emails and letters don't work. Call, then call again...then call again...and keep calling! Demand Ray and Larry (and all the others) be released and restored immediately.

If command racketeers still believe they have a case against anyone one of these people...well fine...let 'em walk it into a real federal courtroom where a real jury can take government allegations under consideration.

Ray and Larry are innocent men!

I know you won't let them down. Please start the phones ringing.

Here endth this lesson (more to follow)

BEWARE THE FURY OF THE PATIENT MAN!!

___________________________________________

PHONE NUMBERS:

FBI Knoxville Division: 865.544.0751
FBI Boston: 617.742.5533

Sweetwater Mayor James Stutts: 423.337.6979

Representative John J. Duncan, Jr.: 865.523.3772

U.S. Senators -

Bob Corker: 865.637.4180
Lamar Alexander: 865.545.4243

_________________________________________

NOTE:

Should JAG HUNTER readers be well-disposed to contribute a few bucks to Sweetwater's Library, here's the address:

SWEETWATER PUBLIC LIBRARY

210 MAYES AVENUE

SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE 37874

Here my sincere expression of appreciation and gratitude to the nicest and most professional library staff anywhere.

©Copyright 2008 - The JAG HUNTER

White House comments phone line#:

202.456.1111

Email: president@whitehouse.gov

~or~

comments@whitehouse.gov

Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard recommended to serve 10 years

The military panel also recommended a reduction in his rank, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay, with a recommendation that the money go to his wife and 4-year-old son.

JAG Hunter here: Now the UPRISING IN SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE MUST EXPLODE INTO A NATIONAL UPRISING. THIS OUTRAGE MUST NOT STAND AND CAN BE UNDONE WITH THE STOKE OF A PEN!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! WE NEED TO LIGHT UP CINC BUSH AND HIS WHITE HOUSE LIKE A PIN-BALL MACHINE!!

So far, this is just a recommendation. It's up to CINC Bush to approve the punishment recommendation. Call the commander-in-chief to voice your outrage and demand Ray's freedom!!!

Then call again, and again, and...

THEN EMAIL CINC BUSH AND DEMAND THESE MILITARY DECISIONS BE EFFACED, THE STAFF SERGEANT RAY GIROUARD BE MADE WHOLE, RESTORED TO HIS RANK, AND RETURNED TO ACTIVE DUTY WHERE HE'S NEEDED AND ABLE TO SERVE OUT HIS HITCH ENDING WITH AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE!!

DO THESE THINGS TODAY! DO THEM NOW!!

MEMBERS NOW DELIBERATING STAFF SERGEANT GIROUARD'S FUTURE!!

Court-martial members ponder punishment recommendation

"You've judged the crime, and now you have to judge the man, said defense attorney Capt. John Merriam.

VIDEO UPDATE: Sentencing expected Monday for Sweetwater soldier

"It would be one of the big thrills in my life to see Ray standing right here next Sunday morning," says Pastor Orr.

Sergeant Girouard's sentencing hearing is set for Monday

Jury spares sergeant accused of ordering Iraqis' deaths

In the private family meeting room at the military courthouse, Girouard hugged and kissed his wife, Melanie Denise, and his 4-year old son, Hunter, according to his sister, Joy Oakes. Oakes helped lead a fundraising drive in the family's hometown of Sweetwater, Tenn., for legal fees.

"It's been a very good day," Oakes said after the verdict.

Update (2242 hours PDT): It's over. This punishment recommendation handed down within the last hour: Guilty on 3 counts of negligent homicide. 1 count of obstruction of justice. 1 count of not following SOP. This finding carries with it a possible sentence of 21 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday, 19 March 2007.

Update (1940 hours PDT): 7 member panel deliberations ongoing and will continue through the night until a recommendation is reached. Two officers (0-6 senior member), two enlisted Rangers, one enlisted infantryman (E-8s-E-9s), one female E-5 or E-6.

Update: Ray's panel got the case at 1645 hours PDT (1845 hours Central). They've been in deliberations for about 1 hour 10 minutes as of this posting

JAG Hunter here:

ACQUIT STAFF SERGEANT RAYMOND GIROUARD!!

Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard takes stand in own defense

The jury will hear closing arguments later today. Then, they'll receive instructions on the charges and begin deliberating.

Staff Sergeant Girouard testifies he didn't order killing detainees


When he saw they were dead, Girouard testified he was shocked and didn't know what to do. He said he knew his soldiers were in big trouble and he had to protect them.

Sweetwater residents support hometown soldier accused in Iraqi murders

Millsaps has been covering this story since the beginning and has grown close to Girouard's family.

"I can't help but, deep down, to root that he's not convicted of this," Millsaps said.

JAG Hunter here: A sharp salute rendered here to Mr. Tommy Millsaps, one of the truly Few Good Men! BRAVO ZULU! (Navyese for "WELL DONE!").

GOVERNMENT SUBORNED PERJURY!

Testimony may help officer charged in Iraqis' deaths

Graber, Hunsaker and Clagett initially lied to investigators, saying the detainees were shot after they attacked Hunsaker and Clagett while trying to escape. The three soldiers have since testified that Girouard ordered the killings and staged a phony crime scene.

Trial Continues in Death of 3 Iraqis

The attorney for Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, who is charged with murder, said after court Tuesday that she expected military prosecutors to call Pfc. Juston Graber, the last of three soldiers who have already pleaded guilty in the shootings of three Iraqi detainees.

RAY GIROUARD COURT-MARTIAL UPDATE


Defense: Soldier Didn't Order Killings

EXCLUSIVE WSMV-TV NEWS FOOTAGE OF COLONEL MICHAEL STEELE

Tenn. Soldier Set To Go On Trial

JAG Hunter here: Just received a call from Ray's Grandfather alerting me to this breaking story. Hat tip to Ron Bentley.

STAFF SERGEANT GIROUARD UPDATE

Soldier Tied to Iraq Attack Faces Trial

"Staff Sgt. Girouard gave no such order," said Anita Gorecki, Girouard's defense attorney. "During their trials in which they pled guilty, (Hunsaker and Clagett) made statements which can only be labeled as fascinating."

Staff Sergeant Girouard's Court-martial begins tomorrow (13 March 2007)

The 24-year-old 101st Airborne Solider faces premeditated murder charges in the shooting deaths of three Iraqi detainees last May during operations at a chemical complex north of Baghdad.

NPR : Tennessee Town Backs GI in Iraqi Murder Case

Girouard's court-martial will begin Monday.

STAFF SERGEANT RAY GIROUARD COURT-MARTIAL UPDATE

Former commander won't testify at soldier's murder trial

"However, defense attorneys for Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard can cross examine other soldiers in the case about whether they believed they were under orders from Col. Michael Steele to kill all military-age Iraqi men."