Pentagon Can't Find Major Named in Suit (sued over 'mandatory christianity')

[babylonsister]

Related thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1839096

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092407M.shtml

Pentagon Can't Find Major Named in Suit
By John Milburn
The Associated Press

Saturday 22 September 2007

snip//

The Army is investigating Hall's allegations, said Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for multinational forces in Iraq, in a statement Saturday.

However, Hutton added: "Several media reports list a person named Maj. Paul Welborne as having been involved in this situation. To date, we have not located any soldier by that name."

Weinstein said the incidents alleged in the lawsuit happened in July and August and Welborne may have left Iraq since then. Instead of finding the major, Weinstein said the military must find the soldiers who threatened Hall after he filed the lawsuit and prosecute them under military law.

"We're talking about stuff that happened 36 hours ago. If they can't find the people who have been harassing Jeremy, we will," said Weinstein, who released Hall's e-mails to The Associated Press on Friday. "This isn't that hard to do."

In naming Gates as a defendant, the lawsuit alleges he permits a culture that sanctions activities by Christian organizations, including providing personnel and equipment. It also says the military permits proselytizing by soldiers, tolerates anti-Semitism and the placing of religious symbols on military equipment, and allows the use of military e-mail accounts to send religious rhetoric.

A Pentagon spokesman said the military values and respects religious freedoms, but that accommodating religious practices should not interfere with unit cohesion, readiness, standards or discipline.

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[Zywiec]

1. No such person listed in the Army White Pages n/t

[babylonsister]

5. Hall claims this was his supervisor; either he's made the whole thing

up, or your white pages are wrong, or...or...or... :shrug:

[Zywiec]

7. It's the AKO system, all Soldiers need an account

and he's not there.

[NYVet]

11. I did a search as well, no Paul Welborne

And I did a search where I used the last name and the rank, I did find a major with the same last name, but not the first name of Paul. He was also an Army Reserve Major.

[Zywiec]

12. It's another conspiracy, I tell you!!

They've already scrubbed all military systems of any such person. I bet you didn't know that he was also part of the B-52 crew that was moving the nukes to Barksdale? Coincidence? I think not!!!

[The Stranger]

2. Sgt. Welborne has already been raptured.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. a major, not a sarge.

but with 160,000 troops, finding one high ranking officer might be a chore after all. Better privatize that job.

[The Stranger]

8. He was demoted when he got to heaven.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. good one.

If god exists, she must have a huge filing cabinet labeled "retribution", mainly filled with Bush appointees.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. "Accommodating religious practices should not interfere..."

Mind you, ONLY Talibangelical Christianity counts as "religion." All other possible belief systems -- Judaism, Atheism, Wicca, Asetru, most certainly Islam -- are by definition not religions and therefore do not need to be tolerated.

[izzie]

4. I guess the DOD needs their spy system. Maybe they should do

this? Put this mans name in the system and see what it pulls up. Heck if they are finding out what sites I go to on this and put it in a data base to keep the country safe you would think they could find one man. Where is John Pointdexter when we need him?

[Ezlivin]

10. Major Major Major Major

From this meager beginning had sprung the ineffectual squadron commander who was now spending the better part of each working day in Pianosa forging Washington Irving's name to official documents. Major Major forged diligently with his left hand to elude identification, insulated against intrusion by his own undesired authority and camouflaged in his false mustache and dark glasses as an additional safeguard against detection by anyone chancing to peer in through the dowdy celluloid window from which some thief had carved out a slice. In between these two low points of his birth and his success lay thirty-one dismal years of loneliness and frustration. (From "Catch-22")

Well, at least we're not dealing with any of the absurd characters from Heller's "Catch-22", right?