LTC sells his loyalty

LTC Steele processed through Ft. Dix prior to his assignment in Iraq. During that period he and his unit were provided multiple presentations and briefings that laid out the necessity for Operational Security, military discipline, and covered assignment aspects of the mission in Iraq. The training provided measures which are necessary to protect the force. As was quoted to me from one of the training and operations staff at Ft Dix “One could only suppose this officer forgot where his loyalties lay or forgot to pay attention in the Security Class.”

"A hearing opens in Iraq today to determine whether a US officer should be court-martialed for charges including aiding the enemy.
Army Lieutenant Colonel William Steele, a reservist from Virginia serving full time, is accused of nine violations of military law while he commanded a military police detachment at a main detention centre in Baghdad.
The charges include providing an unmonitored mobile phone to detainees, fraternizing with a prisoner's daughter, illegally storing and marking classified material, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, possessing pornographic videos, failure to obey an order and dereliction of duty regarding government funds.
The most serious charge, aiding the enemy, relates to Steele's time at the jail at Camp Cropper and could carry a death sentence."
KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

One of the charges relates to adherence to General Order #1 which is the statute that prohibits Alcohol or Pornography. The Army views almost everything as Porn in its puritan restrictions on soldier freedoms so I can’t lecture on that charge – we’ll save that for another day.

The charges relating to potentially aiding the enemy, inappropriate actions with respect to prisoners and their families and careless handling of classified materials extend beyond this officer. If these charges are even partially true, he clearly put at risk his unit, and its soldiers as well as other coalition forces. The charges may not warrant the death penalty as we know them now, however this officer is alleged to have needlessly endangered soldiers for what appears to be his own interests. If allegations are proven true he has embodied a soldier that has sold his loyalty and the price of such treason should be significant.

1LT Wataba Court Martial mistrial

1LT Watada is receiving his Court Martial. You may have read about this Officer that had issue with serving in Iraq with his unit. 1st Lt. Ehren Watada was scheduled to make his first deployment to Iraq this month. His refusal to accompany the Stryker brigade troops puts him at risk of court martial and years of prison time.

I wondered if there were any parallels or related flip flops of alliegance in History. Well not exactly the same in every respect, but having similarities in betraying the trust of fellow soldiers is the Story of one Benedict Arnold.

Benedict Arnold was a hero for the American cause in the revolutionary war until he was disillusioned with the American Government. Seemed he felt disenfranchised with our Continental Congress and decided to help the other side. The difference for Benedict was the personal gain sought by his actions whereas 1LT Watada is merely seeking to avoid following orders he swore to uphold. 1LT Watada left his unit to deploy without him for personal beliefs – he was willing to pick his fight (Afghanistan) on his terms and maintains that he is not afraid to carry arms. When I read the following summation of Benedict Arnold’s actions, I am struck by the similarities.

Checking the Internet I found this passage describing the cause of Benedict Arnold's change of alliegance -
In the end, Benedict Arnold's "moral failure lay not in his disenchantment with the American cause" for many other officers returned to civilian life disgusted with the decline in republican virtue and angry over their failure to win a guaranteed pension from Congress. Nor did his infamy stem from his transfer of allegiance to the British side, for other Patriots chose to become Loyalists, sometimes out of principle but just as often for personal gain. Arnold's perfidy lay in the abuse of his position of authority and trust: he would betray West Point and its garrison "and if necessary the entire American war effort" to secure his own success. His treason was not that of a principled man but that of a selfish one, and he never lived that down. Hated in America as a consort of "Beelzebub ... the Devil," Arnold was treated with coldness and even contempt in Britain. He died as he lived, a man without a country.

REPRINTED FROM James A. Henretta, Elliot Brownlee, David Brody, Susan Ware, and Marilynn Johnson, America's History, Third Edition, Worth Publishers Inc., 1997 Copyright: Worth Publishers Inc.

1LT Wataba’s objections to serving the terms of his contract with his country are based upon his personal objections. He feels that his observation of principles allows him to exit the force that he volunteered to join in 2003 – a force at war with Iraq at the time. He trained soldiers going to Iraq – that was ok. He prepared unit equipment for Iraq – that was ok. When he was assigned to go himself – his treason began – he has reported being treated with coldness and contempt by his peers and soldiers. Little wonder he is not embraced by today’s patriots that serve in Iraq.