Shahzad Admits Terrorism, Calls Himself Muslim Soldier
Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of leaving a failed car bomb in New York Times Square, admitted his role in the plot — and did so defiantly. He said it was an act of vengeance for the actions of Americans:
[Faisal] Shahzad told US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum he was “a Muslim soldier” avenging the deaths of Muslims killed by Americans overseas, and that he didn’t care that his bomb could have killed children.
Interestingly, Shahzad did not say it was America’s Christianity, or the religiosity of its military, that brought about about his act of violence, as some might have claimed. It was he who viewed it as a religious conflict, even if his adversaries did not.
JD, I was hoping that you’d be putting up something on the resignation of Gen McChrystal. I have questions for you about what rules/laws would have governed if he had not resigned. My email is listed (will not be published) (required) above, so if you wanted to reply that way and delete my off-topic post, I’d appreciate it…or you could start a new discussion, and move it.
Thanks.
Article 88, UCMJ
“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Thank you, Donalbain. I read that he was honorably discharged. Does he escape punishment since the President accepted his resignation?
McChrystal has not been discharged, nor is he in any way going to be punished (outside of being removed from his position). He resigned his position as commander, not his commission from the military. That said, it is not unforeseeable that his retirement would be forthcoming.
The citation of the UCMJ above has nothing to do with McChrystal, since no one has even implied he violated it. Read the relevant Rolling Stone article, if you’d like, and you’ll see that nothing in it on McChrystal’s part rises to that level. Therefore, there is nothing over which to “punish” the General. The President, of course, retains the ultimate authority as Commander in Chief and can choose his leaders at his pleasure.
For the sake of simplicity, please post further replies on this topic to the article on McChrystal.