David Botti
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Jan 4, 2008 02:08 PM
In keeping with this week's theme of veterans and politics, today we'll look at a veteran who's seeking Florida's 22nd District in Congress. Former Lt. Col. Allen West isn't known so much for his stance on the issues, but for an incident in 2003 that got him kicked out of the Army. As the Military Times reports, West stands by his actions:
He was punished after admitting [in October 2003] that
two months earlier, he fired a shot from his 9mm pistol as he held it
next to the head of a recalcitrant detainee who West said had been
stonewalling interrogators at a base near Taji, just north of Baghdad.
But the cop quickly caved in after West's phony death threat.
After the gunshot, West recalled, the detainee screamed "ok, OK,
OK!" and gave up the names of three individuals who were then taken off
the streets, ending a cycle of roadside bomb attacks on West's men that
had been escalating the previous three weeks.
West said he knew firing the gun would probably end his career but nevertheless did it to protect his soldiers.
West was fined $5000 and forced to retire from the Army. He'll
be trying to unseat the incumbent, Democratic freshman representative Ron Klein,
whose campaign funds are vastly greater than West's. However, as Fox
News reports, West may be using dismissal from the Army as a reason
Florida citizens should support his candidacy--citing a loyalty
afforded to his soldiers by his actions. Of course, others may say his
interrogation techniques were harsh and illegal. But as West told the network:
It's about taking a stand for the country, and I
think that the entire episode in 2003 will let people know the measure
of a man that I am.
Among
conservatives this line of West's thinking may work. At the time of his
departure from the Army many conservatives rallied around West's
actions. As the New York Times reported in 2004:
The conservative media personalities and Web sites that raised money
for his legal defense portrayed a military hamstrung by concern for the
human rights of Iraqi detainees. The more than 2,300 letters and e-mail
messages that he received were mostly "thank you" notes for putting his
men first and resisting the pressure to treat suspects with kid gloves.
Ninety-five members of Congress signed a letter to the secretary of the Army supporting the colonel.
West isn't the only veteran vying for the chance to run against Klein. Mark Flagg, a former Navy pilot, will run against West in an August 2008 primary.
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