It's bad enough that Bush is using the US military to serve the interests of his old buddies in the oil business. His Pentagon is consistently breaking the promises it makes to our men and women who put themselves in harm's way on our behalf. A few brave Army reservists in New York are making their disapproval heard, and may suffer the consequences for exercising their right to free speech.
This week, Capt. Steve McAlpin, who spent most of last year deployed in Afghanistan, learned he is facing insubordination charges that could abruptly end his 25-year military career.
His breach of discipline: questioning the legality of a waiver his battalion was asked to sign that would put his unit back in a combat zone after just 11 months at home. Under federal law, he pointed out, troops are allowed a 12-month "stabilization period."
Members of the 401st will be deployed for duty overseas next Wednesday. The commander, Lt. Col. Phillip Carey, charges in his memo that McAlpin had a "negative attitude" and was being "insubordinate towards the leadership" of the 401st.
"We signed up to fight our nation's enemies and we are fully prepared to do that. But if they're going to usurp the laws of this country at the expense of our most precious asset, our soldiers, then I will not stand for that, not for a minute," McAlpin said.
