Paul Hackett: a recall order could be coming

[sabra]

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2056763.php

<snip>

Paul Hackett, an attorney from Cincinnati, thinks his background as a civil affairs specialist makes him a prime candidate for an involuntary recall — there is a shortage of Marines like him.

Two weeks ago, he received a packet from the Navy requesting updated information for a security clearance — a sign, he believes, that a recall order could be coming.

Hackett, a major, returned in 2005 from a combat tour in Iraq. Soon after, he ran unsuccessfully as an anti-war candidate in a key Senate race.

If he is forced back to Iraq, Hackett, 44, said it would be hard to be away from his wife and three young children, but he wants to fight with his fellow Marines.

“Even in this miserable excuse of a war that this administration has gotten us into, the Marine Corps is a great operation,” he said.

[stop the bleeding]

1. and the news keeps getting better and better

I guess this is another corner turned in the long trip around the Iraq block

[Wickerman]

2. Maybe since Bush** can't effectively demonstrate he

completed his service he should be recalled? Actually, he should be recalled California style, too, of course.

[karlrschneider]

5. Or Dell battery style, too

...

[midnight]

26. This point should be yelled from every roof top.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[xchrom]

4. good way to shut him up for a while.

awfully convenient.

[Crankie Avalon]

6. Yup...of course, just a coincidence if he were called, mind you.

;-) :-(

[xchrom]

30. oh -- yes -- just a coincidense. n/t

[Subdivisions]

7. What you said...eom

[blm]

9. That reminds me - guy in charge of Kerry's 2004 South Carolina campaign

got recalled to duty and they had to scramble to replace him.

[xchrom]

31. didn't they though.

had to have him just then.

[blm]

34. Yeah - activate duty for those military men who were working for Kerry -

now get rid of more of them before the next election. I thought it smelled back in 2004, now it REEKS.

[Kolesar]

12. Can't criticize the "President" when he is back in uniform

[xchrom]

32. it's waaay too convenient isn't it?

[Kolesar]

36. There is no way in hell that a callup of Hackett would not be political

...sigh...

[Ian David]

14. They'll send him in an un-armored truck to deliver contaminated fuel

[xchrom]

33. woops! there it is.

[wicket]

25. Look for him to be Tillman-ed

:cry:

[insane_cratic_gal]

27. Shut him up? they'll just take him out

He's Kerry Jr in the sense that Kerry was advocating for the end of Vietnam. He's a powerful speaker and people pay attention to him.

He's a GOP's nightmare especially with the 2006 elections coming up

[acmavm]

8. Wouldn't the morally and ethically correct thing to do be to

refuse to go?

Just 'cuz he thinks the Marine Corps is a great operation, how can it be right that he go kill innocent civilians in a war that he knows is wrong?

[BootinUp]

10. Thats a personal decision

I think moral people can decide either way.

[Generator]

28. Yes, but how can you be against this war and fight in it now?

He's pro-military-pro marines-and ultimately will fight whatever war they assign him to??? There is no anti-war there. It doesn't work. I'm sorry I ever supported the guy. Until this country stops lying to itself about these uneccessary pointless wars-IRAQ, Vietnam, we will continue to have pointless meaningless wars that serve no purpose but enriching a few. The military's purpose should be to defend Americans. It could have been used in the gulf states a year ago. Iraq has nothing to do with America. Bush is not president of America. I have no right to decide the govenment of Vietnam or Iraq being an American citzen. I'm so tired of the lies. I'm so tired of the children from poor families whose only CAREER OPTION is to join the military. It's a JOB, first and foremost-the one thing no one ever breaks the taboo to say. Don't take away the military-because you take away a job. That's the number one reason you must support the military in this country. It's the only option many in those poor southern (and other) states have.

Paul Hackett can do better. Yes, he can save his marine buddie's life-potentially-over there-but here he could advocate to bring them home by saying the truth or working to do just that. And not one more American needs to die or lose a limb for the Iraqi civil war. But if that's what he thinks the best measure of his life is, well fine. Of course, it's a personal decision. I just disagree with it. He's not as wise as I would have liked to think.

[Stinky The Clown]

29. Being 'against the war' and finding it to factually be illegal

are two very different standards. Army Lt. Ehren Watada sees it as illegal and is on trial now as a result. There's no room for emotion in this calculus; it is simply a matter of law.

[Ian David]

15. That doesn't mean he ever has to fire a weapon.

What if someone like Paul Hackett had been with the group that raped the little girl and killed her family. Maybe he could have stopped it?

What if someone like Paul Hackett had been in Abu Grahib? Maybe he would have stopped the torture?

Just because someone is going, doesn't mean they're killing innocent people, or even participating.

For the average soldier, it would probably, in my personal opinion, be better to refuse deployment.

For someone of Mr. Hackett's profile, he has more options available to him than the average private.

With one phone call, Mr. Hackett can get a major media outlet to meet with him.

The average Private can not.

[acmavm]

16. So you think that's what he'll do when the shooting starts? Make

a phone call?

[Ian David]

17. I think he'll do whatever the right thing is. n/t

[elehhhhna]

20. I'd prefer my hubs in jail for awol than in a Bushwar.

[Kierkegaard]

18. I don't think that's a fair assessment of the situation.

His job description most certainly wouldn't include "kill innocent civilians." His duty may or may not even involve the use of firearms.

He would go because he is enlisted military and has taken an oath to defend his country(I know, this doesn't really apply) and support his fellow soldiers. Semper Fi and all that.

[acmavm]

21. Well, we dems sure know how to split that hair when its one of

our own.

[Kierkegaard]

37. What hair would that be?

Mine was a perfectly logical rationale, no matter my political leanings. So, you would have enlisted people decide which orders they would like to follow and which ones they won't? That isn't reasonable. An organized military has to have a chain of command, obedience and discipline in order to be worth the effort of assembling it. There are regulations that allow the enlisted to defy an order under certain circumstances, but I'm not aware of any in this instance that would apply, are you?

Our government often misuses(abuses?) our military, no doubt about it. But, it is up to us to rectify it by removing those idiots from power...

[Recursion]

23. That's a bit simplistic

plus it sounds like he's from a CAG, which is the people who are actually out there doing what little good is being done.

[datadiva]

11. If he's recalled

I hope he watches his back. Just sayin.

[Disturbed]

19. How long do Military personeel have to serve

after they have been recalled?

[Recursion]

24. "At the convenience of the Marine Corps"

In practice people aren't (yet) kept past 8 years after the day they swore in; it takes more paperwork than you can imagine to do that.

[Ian David]

13. Elected officials are exempt from a military draft... but a recall?

Does anyone know the answer to this one?

Just my own, personal opinion.

[bklyncowgirl]

22. Paul Hackett is not an elected official.

He's a politician and a bothersome one at that.

Wonder what sort of duty they'll assign him too? Going out with Shiite police units in Sunni neighborhoods without an armed escort and a great big bullseye on his Humvee?

[Rex]

35. A marine to the core.

Loves his family, but would die next to lance corporal Snuffy in a fire fight. What more can you ask from a lawyer?

[alfredo]

38. This is how bush and the GOP can derail the band of brothers.

They can either recall them or put doubt in the mind of voters about whether they will be allowed to serve their terms.