Unfrigging believable.

judge halts Iraq war objector’s court-martial

A federal court judge has temporarily blocked a court-martial scheduled to start Tuesday for an Iraq war objector based at Fort Lewis.

First Lt. Ehren Watada is charged with refusing to deploy to Iraq. His lawyers argue the Army is violating his constitutional rights by trying him twice for the same crime.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled he has jurisdiction to issue the stay and that Watada’s double-jeopardy claim is not frivolous

The matter is under appeal in the Military Court systems, the Judge should have stayed out of it until that appeal was exhausted.

This is just wrong.

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Apparently the outcry over this, and comparisons to neighboring San Francisco were too much.

Or it may just be that this was a mistake, and they want to accept responsibility for it.

Whatever the reason, Oakland, which in my opinion badly treated some troops flying through last week, has issued an apology.  Via Michelle Malkin:

Oakland airport tells troops ’sorry’

Oakland International Airport officials apologized for prohibiting a planeload of U.S. troops, just back from Iraq, from entering the passenger terminal during a layover Thursday, prompting conservative pundits and bloggers to hold up the incident as an example of the Left Coast dishonoring soldiers.

“We apologize, I apologize to any members of the military that were on this flight and may have experienced some discomfort or perception of disrespect,” said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport.

There was no disrespect intended when North American Airlines Flight 1777 was directed to wait two hours at a remote part of the airport, Benjamin said. The plane was onits way from Iraq to Hawaii.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, airport officials said they did not realize that the soldiers had been screened during previous stopovers in Kuwait and New York. They also were unaware that some of the troops, reportedly Marines, had meant to see locals during their two-hour layover, said Deborah Ale-Flint, the airport’s assistant director of aviation.

Hilltop Aviation, which was contracted to provide ground services for North American Airlines Flight 1777, had said there were weapons aboard the flight, the passengers had not been screened, and did not tell the airport “that some of the service men and women onboard anticipated meeting family and friends,” Ale-Flint said.

“If this information had been shared in advance,” she said, “there would have been a different outcome.”

More from SFChron:

“There was no disrespect that was intended,” said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which runs the airport. “There was confusion. There were mistakes that were made.”

The media hopped all over this tape, but it honestly shows little and supports the police account more then not. 

Surveillance Video: Gotbaum’s Last Moments At Phoenix Airport-  Attorney: Police Actions May Have Killed 45-Year-Old

CBS 2 HD has obtained surveillance video showing three different angles of last week’s arrest of Carol Anne Gotbaum at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.

The video shows the daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum reacting after learning she had missed her flight. It also shows Phoenix police officers move in on her, take her to the ground and arrest her.

Different angles show officers taking Gotbaum to a holding cell, where she later died mysteriously.

On the morning of Sept. 29, Gotbaum left her Upper West Side home, brought her children to school and flew off to Arizona. Plagued by a history of drinking and depression, she headed for an alcohol rehabilitation program in Tucson.

“I know when she landed in Phoenix, she was stone-cold sober,” said Gotbaum family attorney Michael Manning. “She got off the plane, called her husband, confident, committed, excited.”

I might accept that when the flight crew confirms she had no alcohol on her flight.  He cannot know anything for sure based on a phone call.

With 90 minutes to go for her connecting flight, Gotbaum went to eat lunch at the airport.

“We don’t know whether she was drinking at lunch. We’re going to find that out,” said Manning.

That is a good question, particularly since she apparently lost track of time.

Then she arrived for her connecting flight to Tucson. But she was too late. According to one witness who preferred to be unnamed, she became hysterical.

“She got her cell phone, broke it on a couple of customers, hit hem, threw it on her,” said the witness.

At 2:49 pm, Phoenix Police received got a radio call about a woman who was “loud and disturbing.” Within minutes, officers were struggling to subdue her.

The first thought I had out the gate on this was “who cares?”.

Honestly, I am not getting wrapped up in whether he wears a flag lapel pin or not.  I believe these candidates need to be measured by their ideas, not by their wardrobe, and a shiny lapel pin is not an indicator of a truly capable leader. So I don’t watch debates and interviews and such keyed to critique their choice of jewelry.

But when asked, Obama turned what was really a dumb question on it’s head and may have done himself more damage then good.

Here is what happened:

Obama Dropped Flag Pin in War Statement:  Obama Stops Wearing Flag Pin, Says He’ll Show Patriotism Through Ideas

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., lapels.

“You don’t have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?” the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. “Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001.”

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, “My patriotism speaks for itself.”

But Obama didn’t say that. (video)

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.

“Instead,” he said, “I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”