Will There Be Justice? pb

CONTRASTING LTC LAKIN AND BOWE BERGDAHL

by Jeff Lichter, ©2014

(Jun. 4, 2014) — The question is now whether or not Bowe Bergdahl will be court-martialed for his military crime of deserting his assigned post as LTC Terry Lakin was for refusing his assignment to Afghanistan.

First, let’s run through a basic contrast of the records of these two men in terms of Susan Rice’s pronouncement that Bergdahl served the US with “honor and distinction.” This description more than reminds us that she is the same one who went on five Sunday talk shows to blame the Benghazi tragedy on the video but more importantly, she actually would have been correct this time had she been describing LTC Lakin as having served with honor and distinction. Bergdahl, of course, had NO record of any prior achievement:  NONE.

As we all know, LTC Terry Lakin was an 18-year, fully decorated officer who had the lofty career achievement of having served as the chief Flight Surgeon to General George Casey during the Iraq war. When Terry decided that he had an obligation as an officer to question the legitimacy of his orders to report to Afghanistan, he was court-martialed and sentenced to six months in prison at Ft. Leavenworth, a sentence which he served.

LTC Lakin was NOT trying to escape serving in Afghanistan. He just wanted Barack Obama to demonstrate that he was a legitimate Commander-in-Chief by issuing a valid birth certificate. After being ignored on this question up and down his military command, he wrote to Obama directly at the White House and politely asked that Obama show valid evidence of this. After not having received any reply, when Terry was again ordered to report for duty and with his birth certificate, he conclusively decided that he could not do this in good conscience.

Second, now let’s look at the comment made by Judge Denise Lind during the court-martial when she denied Terry his due process rights by not allowing him to submit any evidence on his own behalf including, but not limited to, supporting statements written on his behalf by famous retired Generals Thomas McInerney and Paul Vallely. Lind’s unbelievable comment was “to do so might be embarrassing to the President.” Not only is this comment even more outrageous than Susan Rice’s comments about the Benghazi “video” and Bergdahl having served with honor and distinction, but those who want justice for Bergdahl need to fear that this will turn out to be the reason that Bergdahl is never court-martialed and just allowed to return to the US, period.

What a shame if that turns out to be true.