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| AN
ABSOLUTE OUTRAGE! - GEN. GARY NORTH
We invite our readers to go to the "related stories box" at the bottom of this article to get all the details, but to sum up, brave investigating officer, Lt. Col. Leslea Pickle, wrote a report that absolutely cleared Lt. Cols. Gary Brown and Chris Hall from any charges of misconduct in a "road rage" incident involving an out-of-control "Blackwater" contractor just outside Kabul. North, commander of the 9th Air Force, recently visited Manas Air Force Base in Kyrgyzstan. We wonder if anyone dared mention the name of Maj. Jill Metzger, who - if you believe her fantastic tale of a "bomb" in her back pocket and abduction and escape - is either a heroine of historic proportions and deserves to be highly decorated, or a liar and fraud who's escaped justice due to her fame (two-time Air Force Marathon winner); family connections (doting daddy is a retired colonel); and her young OSI officer hubby. GENERAL GENUFLECTS BEFORE POLITICALLY-CONNECTED CONTRACTOR Why would a three-star general go out of his way to harm two of his own Air Force officers? They should get an apology for the hell they've been put through, not a knife in the back. But perhaps politics took precedence over "doing the right thing." After all, Blackwater is well-connected at the Bush White House. North's letter of reprimand to Brown was sanctimonious. He wrote: "I find your conduct reckless, undisciplined and a discredit to the armed forces. In light of your behavior, you are forewarned that future misconduct on your part will result in serious consequences." However, North's investigating officer, Lt. Col. Pickle, is a courageous woman of honor and integrity. We at MilitaryCorruption.com "salute" her for putting her career "on the line." It's so easy in most instances for an appointed investigative officer to simply come up with whatever "facts" the Command wants, in order to ensure a conviction and thus earn "brownie points" for future career advancement. Not so with this investigator. "Given the security situation in Kabul at the time," Pickle wrote, "and the facts and circumstances of their encounter with Mr. (Jimmy) Bergeron on the road . . . I believe that they (Lt. Cols. Brown and Hall) truly felt threatened and reacted exactly as they were trained to do. "Lt. Col. Brown demonstrated a calm, collected demeanor during the whole incident. Another person might have been trigger-happy and shot Mr. Bergeron. "Therefore, I do not believe that either Lt. Col. Hall or Brown engaged in any criminal conduct. I believe all the charges and specifications against both officers should be dismissed." WHO'S THE REAL ONE BRINGING "DISCREDIT" TO THE ARMED FORCES? Who do you believe, dear reader? An honest investigating officer on the scene, or a fat cat general with political considerations back home? As for "bringing discredit to the armed forces," retired Marine colonel and famed defense attorney Charles Gittins has something to say about that to Gen. North: "Issuing that letter of reprimand demonstrates your lack of moral courage to admit error and do the right thing - to drop the charges and apologize to the two officers who were needlessly and without reason subjected to personal humiliation and torment. "I can only assume that you failed to read the detailed, fact-filled and thorough report prepared by Lt. Col. Leslea Pickle, as her report is directly contrary to your conclusions. "Frankly, if anyone is a discredit to the armed forces, I am constrained to conclude it is you." IS NORTH SEEKING TO SHORT-CIRCUIT PROBE OF JAG OFFICERS? With both Air Force TIMES and MilitaryCorruption.com publicizing the problems of JAG Maj. Sarah Scullion, chief of military justice at the Central AF Judge Advocate General's Office, some of the many Air Force personnel who wrote us, permitted themselves to hope that finally, what they felt was criminal behavior by JAG prosecutors would, for the first time ever, actually be punished. Well, don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. It won't. Not if North can help it! There's just too much at stake for the Air Force, and in fact, the Pentagon, to risk the public learning how the "persecutors," AKA corrupt prosecutors, break the very laws they are sworn to uphold. And then there's all that bad publicity a while back about the top Air Force JAG (liar and adulterer) former Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Fiscus and his crooked cohort, Col. Michael "disbarred with no law license" Murphy [see related stories box below]. Those two are just the tip of the iceberg. If gross misconduct and criminal acts were made by JAGS in the "road rage" case, the general won't want you to know about that. So important are the following paragraphs from our previous story on this case, we at MilitaryCorruption.com are taking the unusual step of breaking policy and repeating ourselves here. The following, we wrote earlier in: "A FEMALE JAG MAJOR GETS IN A JAM"
WE URGE DEFENSE SECRETARY GATES TO FIRE GEN. NORTH The good-old boy, "business-as-usual" cover-ups by the fat cats and brass hats in the Air Force must come to an end. Now. And Gen. North should be the first to go. Donald Rumsfeld, the megalomaniac, has (thank God) been deposed. We've survived the Walter Reed Medical Center scandal and have praised our new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for swiftly firing the top men responsible. Unfortunately, however, many Rumsfeld flunkies and sycophants wearing "stars" on their shoulders still infest the military power structure. They must be "rooted out" like rats if we are to restore confidence to the American people in the "leadership" of our armed forces. First, we ask Gates to investigate WHY the Maj. Jill Metzger scandal has been swept under the rug. Seven months have passed since "Jilly Willy" returned to Moody Air Force Base and all reporters are getting today is the same "mantra" from the PAO: "No Comment. The case is still under investigation." Wake up! They're stalling for time, hoping the media will lose interest and "forget" about what happened to the onetime Air Force poster girl. It's an old trick all of us who served as PAO's at one time or another learned early in the game. You simply "lie or tell half-truths, stall for time, lie some more, stall again," and eventually the media will get tired of all that and stop calling. And so far, that strategy has worked! There are Air Force officers and enlisted personnel we've heard from who are literally afraid of offending Metzger in any way while she goes about her "duties" at Moody. She might as well be the base commander, when it comes to who really has the power on that installation. Up until now, the mainstream media has slunk away like "obedient" pups, not asking the key question: "WHY is it taking such a long time for the so-called "investigation" (white-wash) to be completed?" Would an Air Force enlisted man, for example, who let's say, did whatever Metzger did in Kyrgyzstan, but didn't have the high-level "connections" the major has, would he be afforded the "kid-glove treatment" Metzger's gotten to date? Maybe it'd help if he was a high-profile female officer and two-time winner of the Air Force Marathon. Count on the top brass to do the "politically-correct" thing. They are loath to run afoul of the fierce feminists, you know. WILL MAJ SARAH SCULLION'S ACTIONS ESCAPE SCRUTINY? Most important, however, is the case of Maj. Scullion. Either she engaged in criminal acts that denied the colonels in Afghanistan their right to a fair and just prosecution, or she didn't. Are we going to allow someone like Gen. North to protect her and pull the wool over our eyes on this case when it could have such a monumental impact on the military criminal justice system? Why won't Scullion testify, under oath and penalty of perjury, as to what really happened? If alteration of documents, bribery of witnesses, and fake videos were made, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude - someone needs to go to prison - whether Leavenworth or Miramar. No one, not even much-feared JAG prosecutors, should be "above the law." Secretary Gates, please open your own investigation into this matter. Don't let the facts be hidden under another cover-up. The "different spanks for different ranks" system poisons and undermines morale in all branches of our military. It will take a long time to eliminate, but let's start with the dismissal of the 9th Air Force commander. That would send a strong message to the underlings that you "mean business." We also urge our readers to print out this story and send a copy to your Congressman or United States Senator. Ask them to "inquire" as to why justice can be circumvented and wrong-doing covered-up as a matter of routine. Let's put the heat on the Air Force secretary as well. You can be sure Frances "political hack" Harvey was amazed when he was dismissed so quickly as Army Secretary. Why not fire some more service heads to begin the massive "clean up?" TO GEN. NORTH: A WARNING AND
SOME ADVICE ABOUT It's been tried before, but it's always failed in the end. We're talking about illegally and arbitrarily blocking access to MilitaryCorruption.com on government computers. Your first reaction, general, to reading the article above, will be to try and strike back at us any way you can. But you should keep in mind, these days we count our "hits" not in the hundreds of thousands but the millions. We are read worldwide and also at the Pentagon, the Halls of Congress, and in many a newsroom from coast-to-coast. We've won victories - such as in the "Gen. Bradley gun grab case" where we bitch-slapped the thieves at Carlisle Barracks - that was headlined on the front page of STARS AND STRIPES and newspapers from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, Calif. In other words, DON'T MESS WITH US! We hope you take our constructive criticism like a man, and not go running to your "IT" people shouting: "Pull the plug!" That would violate the law, make you look like a fool, and be too much like a slightly mad potentate screaming "Off with their heads!" The United States Constitution, which combat veterans who work here have fought to defend and preserve, guarantees us the right to a "free press." Freedom of speech has not been revoked in this country, the last we checked. Any attempt by you to circumvent our rights or "punish" us in retaliation for telling the truth, will have very serious ramifications. Don't force us to haul you into Federal Court. Because, if there's one thing we despise, that is censorship by those afraid of what we write. And if you choose to "go to war" with us, general, just remember, we have plenty more we could put on these pages. [You should see some of the "horror stories" we've already received from service member readers telling of their experiences with the very "aggressive" and "unpleasant" Maj. Scullion.]
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The
shameless audacity of it all even took our breath away! Disregarding
the report of his own investigating officer on the ground in Afghanistan,
Lt. Gen. Gary North, with the stroke of his pen, has destroyed the careers
of two fine Air Force officers on the altar of political expediency.