Hillbilly Report Glendale, Kentucky Ditch Mitch KY. Barefoot And
Progressive Page One James Pence Videos PFC James Burmeister's Court Martial was held yesterday at the Pike Hall
(the Legal Offices) building #1310 court room in Fort Knox, Kentucky. This was
my first time to attend a Court Martial and now I understand why Court Martial's
are seldom covered by the press. If you're a member of the press you have to be
escorted to the court sight and and off of the military post, when the trial is
over, by Government Personnel. No cameras, camcorders, cell phones, audio
recording devices, etc. were allowed in the court room. Our government escorts
were very nice with the exception of one and I will assume, this time, that she
was just having a bad day. To tell the truth I felt like I was in another
country where freedom of speech and transparency were not very high on the
agenda.
The court room was very small with 3 rows of church like pews. The first
row had three 6 ft. pews reserved for witness's. The second row had two 6ft.
pews for the public and press and the third row had one 6 ft. pew for the public
and press. We were told when the few seats available were full no one else would
be allowed in the court room and if we left the court room our seats could not
be guaranteed when we returned. Members of the press attending the court martial
were, WHAS TV, The
Louisville Courier Journal,
The Hardin County
News Enterprise and yours truly
James Pence a
video blogger. If you do the math and add up the available seats, it's easy to
conclude that the government didn't want many folks at this Court Martial.
PFC James Burmeister pleaded guilty to AWOL and stated his reason for
going AWOL while on R&R in Germany. He said could no longer participate in the
"Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams". PFC James Burmeister's defense said
James had reported the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams" to his chain of
command and he was told to keep it quite and it was then that James decided to
go AWOL and expose the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams" to the press and
when James found out through and email, of which he has a screen shot of, in
late February, 2008 from a soldier in his Company that the
"Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams"practices had been stopped he
turned himself in to the Military in early March, 2008, because his mission had
been accomplished. PFC James Burmeister also agreed to allow the Military Judge
hear the case and render the sentence.
The prosecution called several witness one of them brought up
this PBS
transcript. The prosecution also brought up the web site
Courage To Resist.
PFC James Burmeister's parents testified on PFC James Burmeister's
behalf and their testimony was very moving.
The judge listened to all the evidence and left the court room to to make
his decision. The judge retuned about 45 min. later with a verdict of 6 months
confinement with 21 days of pre trial confinement to be considered as time
served and a Bad Conduct Discharge. When the sentence was announced James'
didn't flinch, but his father fell to his knees in disbelief and shock! PFC
James Burmeister and his parents were allowed a few minutes together after the
Court Martial and they will be going back to Oregon to await their son's
release.
I've wrote this article to the best of my ability with my notes and my
memory and I suggest if the US Government doesn't agree with my account of the
events they should have allowed the Court Martial to have been video taped!!!
I took a few photos outside, prior and after the Court Martial,
click here to view them.
The video below is PFC James Burmeister's father directly after the
Court Martial verdict.
By
Mohammed al Dulaimy and Hannah Allam | McClatchy Newspapers
MADAIN, Iraq — A U.S.-allied Iraqi council member sprayed American troops
with gunfire Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding three and an interpreter,
Iraqi authorities and witnesses said. The attack occurred minutes after they
emerged from a weekly joint meeting on reconstruction in this volatile town
southeast of Baghdad.
Raed Mahmoud Ajil, a former high school principal in his mid-40s, was
known as a respected city council member and devoted educator who'd recently
returned to Iraq after completing his master's degree in India, stunned
colleagues said. U.S. troops shot and killed him at the scene.
Ajil's colleagues said they could think of no motive for the deadly
rampage, which is thought to be the first incident of a U.S.-allied Iraqi
politician carrying out such an attack. Ajil comes from a distinguished Sunni
Muslim family. His brother is security chief for the Iraqi Ministry of Justice
and a cousin is a high-ranking judge, relatives said.
Ajil's family said that he'd suffered from bouts of depression and
sporadic epileptic seizures, which he masked in his role as a public servant.
Relatives knew him to be friendly to U.S. troops and said he had no qualms about
working alongside them, even though many in this mixed Sunni-Shiite Muslim town
view American forces as occupiers.
"(The Americans) used to love him. They gave him a contract for a project
he was working on. He spoke English fluently with them and they used to like him
so much," said Sherif Abdullah Aziz, 47, a cousin. "There is no explanation that
we know of for what happened."
Fadil Ahmed Abed, a Sunni council member who was formerly the chairman,
said members of the council met with the Americans at about 10 a.m. after a
ceremony to open a new city park. Abed said Ajil had sat silent during the
meeting except when his signature was required for a school maintenance project.
The meeting ran until about 1 p.m. As the Americans were walking out of the
heavily guarded council headquarters, the shootings began. Read
more.
According to
Time Magazine:
This is not the first time McCain, who has a proud history of opposing
what he views as excessive government spending, has found himself at odds with
his fellow veterans on legislation. He's voted for veterans funding bills only
30% of the time, according to a scorecard of roll-call votes put out by the
nonpartisan Disabled Americans for America. Under the same system Obama has a
90% rating — though, of course, he has spent a much shorter time in Washington.
"Senator McCain clearly needs to be recognized for his military service and in
some respects that will play to his advantage, but when it actually comes to
delivering health care and benefits during war, Senator McCain's going to have
some explaining to do," said Paul Sullivan, director of the nonpartisan Veterans
for Common Sense.
Project Vote Smart Ratings Of Senators John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary
Clinton, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning.
"The mission of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is to ensure the
enactment of policies that properly provide for our Troops & Veterans, keep our
military strong, and guarantee our national security for the purpose of a
stronger America. We uniquely empower Iraq & Afghanistan combat veterans to use
their credibility and experiences to speak truth to power, shape public opinion,
and place a priority on these issues."
Name
John McCain
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
Mitch McConnell
Jim Bunning
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
- About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms
of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care,
an independent study said on Thursday.
The study by the RAND Corp. also estimated that another 320,000 troops
have sustained a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. But
researchers could not say how many of those cases were serious or required
treatment.
Billed as the first large-scale nongovernmental survey of its kind, the
study found that stress disorder and depression afflict 18.5 percent of the more
than 1.5 million U.S. forces who have deployed to the two war zones.
Army Col. Loree Sutton, director of the U.S. Defense Center of Excellence
for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, welcomed the study.
She was concerned at the finding that only about half of those who sought
help received "minimally adequate" treatment and said it would spur the military
to try harder to recruit more mental health specialists.
The Army wants to hire 275 civilian mental health professionals but a
tight labor market and difficulties getting civilians into war zones has slowed
the effort, officials say.
RAND, a private research organization, estimated that stress and
depression among returning soldiers cost $6.2 billion in the two years following
deployment, mainly due to lost productivity, medical costs and a higher risk of
suicide. (Additional reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Alan Elsner and Will
Dunham) Read
more.
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