Posted on 12/18/2010 2:04:57 PM PST by tricksy
Just hours after being found guilty at his court-martial, Army Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin said he was ashamed and remorseful over his decision to refuse deployment to Afghanistan earlier this year, but he hedged on questions about President Barack Obama's citizenship.
"I don't want [my career] to end this way," a tearful Lakin said to military jurors during the sentencing phase of his trial Wednesday afternoon. "I want to continue to serve ... It crushed me not to be on deployment. I can be on a plane tomorrow. I'd truly do that."
Lakin, a 17-year Army physician, was sentenced to six months in prison and dismissal from the service on Thursday after being found guilty of disobeying orders and ignoring his deployment orders. In April, Lakin posted an online video declaring he would not return to Afghanistan with his unit until questions regarding Obama's birth certificate were answered to his satisfaction. The move made him an instant hero to the birther movement, which helped him raise money for his legal defense.
Obama was born in Hawaii, but questions about his parents and overseas upbringing were raised during his 2008 presidential campaign. Hawaiian officials that year verified the existence of his birth certificate, addressing those issues for all but a fringe group that insists that the president is not legally qualified to serve in the White House...
The 45-year-old physician appeared somber and exhausted from two days in court, and was battered by his own civilian defense lawyer during his sentencing statement.
"Are you done disobeying orders, Col. Lakin?" attorney Neal Puckett angrily asked his client. "You invited this court-martial. You invited this sentence. And for the rest of your life, you get to live with a federal felony conviction."
Lakin sheepishly nodded along....
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
I believe that Obama was born in Hawaii, but he obviously does not want his birth certificate or any of his other records made public. He has something to hide and the MSM has allowed him to hide it.
Lakin has been described as naive, simple, and obsessed. He did not think through the consequences of his actions, but will now have five months at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks to consider the foolishness of his actions.
The description of Lakin also applies to the Birther Brigaders who inhabit this forum. They are likewise naive, simple, and obsessed. The big difference is that they are free to entertain whatever fantasies excite their imaginations. They have no responsibility for their actions and can safely make incredibly ignorant and stupid remarks. Ain’t the internet great? They gladly cheered Lakin to his doom and gave Lakin lawyer Rolf Jensen the fame and glory he so desperately craved. Lakin learned that those who chose to serve our nation in uniform are not free to engage in personal political stunts. If they wish to do that, they must wait until they hang up the uniform and are released from their obligations to serve.
But the birthers, in their collective obsession and disturbed mental state elevated a man who refused to do his duty to treat our nations wounded soldiers in a combat zone to the level of hero. They then ridiculed and vilified the rest of our nations military because they chose to do their duty. They advocated mutiny by our Armed Forces and opined that they would spit on America’s soldiers. This from people who, for the most part, have never served a day in uniform, can do nothing with the Constitution or military law but twist their words and meaning to fit their warped view of reality. Further, they have no idea where Obama was born, no one does. So, they pick their favorite set of forgeries and suspicious circumstance and insist that the world accept their view. Pathetic.
As much as we would all like to see Obama gone tomorrow, that will not happen and certainly not from the actions of the Birther Brigade set. They are all a bunch of little McClellans, marching their army back and forth but never bringing it to battle. The rest of us will be busy doing the following:
Persuading our state legislatures to adopt a requirement that all candidates for President and Vice President present proof of eligibility as condition to being placed on the ballot.
Working to find a conservative candidate who can run and defeat Mr. Obama in 2012, together with another crop of conservative candidates who can win in the House, the Senate, and the State Houses.
With the Lakin case over, I will let the birthers argue among themselves, they aren’t work any more time and effort.
Right now he's just plain old Inmate Lakin at USDB Leavenworth.
I'm sure you'll volunteer to.
By whom? When? Were those questions raised by one ‘mainstream’ journalist or by one opponent for the Democrat nomination or, for that matter, by John McCain. I only heard those questions raised by ‘birthers.
But as has been pointed out on numerous occasions, Obama could be unmasked and removed from office tomorrow and Lakin would still be guilty of the charges he faced.
No-That’s what I expected you to say.
Have the courage to express your convictions.
Excellent. Best summary ever at this forum.
I just did.
Have you the courage to take Jim Robinson to task for agreeing that Lakin got what was coming to him?
Berg is also a truther who tried to sue Bush and Cheney over their involvement in the 9/11 attacks. He's a bipartisan whack-job.
lol.
“How much money has he spent covering these records? A million? Who pays for that? The tax payer?” Yes, we do pay for that don’t we?
“Then, Mr. Transparency signs and executive order to seal all his records.”
Then, Mr Kenya Usurper, rigs an kangaroo court and denies an honest man the right to defend himself.
Gets to stay in office as a dictator commie tool, that is what is priceless.
TheZero is a complete and verified LIAR, USURPER, and THE KANGAROO COURT PROVES IT!!!!!
>> He had is chance to obey his orders,<<
That’s the exact philosophy of those in Germany who obeyed Hitler’s orders. Yet people demanded that those who did obey orders be convicted for the atrocities. And don’t come back with some lame excuse that this is different. It’s people like you who will follow a man like Hitler or Obummer if the order is given.
What difference does it make now to have been kicked out of an army at one with the homosexual death cult?
I’m hoping that President Obama will pardon Lieutenant Colonel Lakin. He seems like a good guy who just got a bit carried away with no malicious intent. Lakin has already apologized for his bad judgement.
Neal Puckett, Lieutenant Colonel Lakin’s civilian attorney has issued a post-conviction statement:
LTC. LAKIN CONVICTED OF FAILURE TO OBEY ORDERS AND MISSING MOVEMENT
LTC Lakin was found guilty and sentenced today at Fort Meade by a jury of senior officers. They sentenced him to total forfeitures of pay, six-months confinement and a dismissal from the Army. The maximum jail time LTC Lakin faced was 36 months. He was transported to jail after a brief time to say goodbye to his parents and two brothers.
In a surprise move, his defense attorney, Neal Puckett, placed him on the stand and rifled him with hard questions about why he disobeyed his orders to deploy. Acting more like Lakin’s commander than his attorney, Puckett led him through his decision process which relied on advice and encouragement from supporters who seemed more interested in challenging the President’s authority than helping Lakin make better decisions as an Army officer.
Puckett raised his voice and proceeded to point out through questions and answers from Lakin how he had let down his family, the Army, his Soldiers, and those who need his medical services on the battlefield. This defense tactic totally surprised the client, but enabled the jury to see the depth and agony of the moral issues that led Lakin to make those choices.
In closing argument, Puckett asked the jury make Lakin repay his debt to the Army for the disruption he has caused by retaining him in the Army so that he could attend to the hard work of providing medical response to our military members who are daily being wounded in Afghanistan. His brigade commander had earlier testified that as a certified flight surgeon, family practice and occupational health care provider, his triple certification was extremely rare and a valuable resource to the Army.
In the end, this tactic of showing Lakin’s personal agony in his decision making and how remorseful he was at failing to deploy and serve the wounded on the battlefield saved Lakin 30 months of confinement. Mr. Puckett was retained to lead the defense team very late in the case. These past three days in trial were a last ditch effort to minimize Lakin’s punishment after he misinterpreted his previous attorney’s advice as encouragement to twice fail to report to his brigade commander. Those two failures to obey orders added two additional charges to his charge sheet.
Other officers in recent years have been court martialed for refusing orders to deploy to Iraq, saying that both the war in 1991 and the war 10 years later were illegal, and orders to report for duty in the zone were unlawful. Was it the duty of the president to set these officer's minds at ease and produce the proof concerning the legality of the wars that they requested? I think not. In both cases, Ehren Watada and Yolanda Huet-Vaughn, the officer was court martialed and cashiered, and Huet Vaughn spent time in Leavenworth. An officer's duty is to obey the lawful orders he or she is given. They refuse to do so at their peril, as Lakin and Watada and Huet-Vaughn all found out. And I have no sympathy for any of them.
You still do not seem to understand!
I understand.
Colonel Lakin has been vetted, voluntarily, and served.
He has had his records scrutinized.
If you want to equate orders to report to your commanding officer's office or orders to report for duty with a unit in Kentucky with mass murder, then you're free to do so. Likewise comparing the U.S. Army with Hitler's SS. But I think that's taking things a bit far.
The rule is that an order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be inferred to be lawful and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to a patently illegal order,such as one that directs the commission of a crime. Lakin was not ordered to murder anyone or rob a bank. He was ordered to his commanding officer's office and to duty with the 101st Airborne. Those orders were given by officers with the authority to issue them. There was nothing illegal or unlawful about any of them.
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