Dahr Jamail the pusillanimous little turd from Truthout who regularly calls the troops cowards and retards has leapt to the defense of Marc Hall in his latest excretion. Of course, true to form, Jamail neglects to mention that Hall threatened in his ditty to lock and load “30 rounds” on all of the “E-7s and above” in his chain of command.
Hall, (aka hip hop artist Marc Watercus), who is in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was placed in Liberty County Jail for the song (click here to listen to “Stop-Loss,” by Marc Watercus), in which he angrily denounces the continuing policy that has barred him from exiting the military.
Military service members do not completely give up their rights to free speech, particularly not when they are doing so artistically while off duty, as was the case with Hall.
What does freedom of speech have to do with communicating a threat? Artistically or otherwise. Jamail shows his biased ass by making that editorial comment in the middle of his article.
Jim Klimanski, a civilian military lawyer, member of the National Lawyers Guild and the Military Law Task Force, who is closely following Hall’s case, told Truthout that he feels the military is overreacting to the case, and that it is simply a matter of free speech and that the Army’s actions violate his First Amendment right to free speech.
“It’s a political case, and the military should know that,” Klimanski explained, “I think they are overreaching and overreacting because of Maj. Hassan (who went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood on November 5), and I can understand that to some degree, but cooler heads should prevail and they should deal with stop-loss, and maybe we’ll get the case thrown out. One would hope that common sense would prevail.”
Hall is opposed to the occupation of Iraq, and had told his commander he would not deploy if ordered. His unit deployed to Iraq without him in mid-December, but this is not why Hall is in jail, as he was jailed before his unit was sent to Iraq.
A political case? How? There are no politics in the military’s decision to deploy soldiers into combat.
Oh, and to answer someone’s question from yesterday, it appears that Klimanski is a fellow traveler of fat little cry baby James Branum with his membership in the NLG and Military Law Task Force – Branum is a co-chair of MLTF.
Surely,the fact that Hall threatened to kill his chain of command and then mailed the CD to the Pentagon shows some measure of intent to do bodily harm.
But, if you’re worried about Hall, don’t. It seems that Jason Hurd is rushing to his defense as well. Hurd testified at Winter Soldier that he ALMOST shot an Iraqi woman…but then he didn’t. How atrocious, huh? And then he weeped at the thought.
Jason Hurd, an Iraq war veteran who has been assisting Marc Hall, told Truthout that he believes the military is overreacting to Hall’s song due to the November 5 shooting at Fort Hood.
“It really frustrates me that they [military] are reacting in such an excessive way,” Hurd, a member of Iraq Veteran’s Against the War, told Truthout, “When you are talking about communicating a threat, a threat has to be at something or someone. If you listen to Marc’s song, he’s not saying he wants to kill someone in his chain of command, he makes broad artistic expressions of anger….”
Excessive? Really? Let’s look at those lyrics again;
“[Expletive] you colonels, captains, E-7 and above
You think you so much bigger than I am? …
I’m gonna round them up all eventually, easily, walk right up peacefully
And surprise them all, yes, yes, y’all, up against the wall, turn around
I got a [expletive] magazine with 30 rounds, on a three-round burst, ready to fire down
Still against the wall, I grab my M-4, spray and watch all the bodies hit the floor
I bet you never stop-loss nobody no more.”
Nah, I can’t see where he threatens to kill anyone in his chain of command – well if I close the browser, I can’t see it.
“From a military that has us, while we’re jogging, chant in cadence about killing babies, to then come down on someone for writing an angry song, is ludicrous,” Hurd added, “Marc is just expressing the anger that 13,000 soldiers are feeling right now, because there are currently that many who are stop-lossed. All he did was make his opinion heard.”
Yup – cadence and threatening to kill your chain of command and MAILING THEM THE CD – same thing. How many of those 13,000 soldiers threatened their chain of command? I’m guessing – ONE.
Klimanski said that by nature, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end, and Hall’s song expresses concern over the possibility of his never being discharged from the military.
“He’s over there saying I have no control over my life. I could be in here forever. We’re not talking about a war that is going to be over next year. We’re talking about a war that could go on forever. So poor old Marc Hall could possibility be in the military forever. Once enlistment starts dropping, the Army maintains troop levels by keeping the ones they have.
Seein’s how you’ve never been in the military, Klimanski, let me tell you what saves soldiers’ lives; experience. I’ll question the Army’s wisdom to consider this bonehead’s experience valuable, but they must’ve had a reason. There are folks being rejected for military service EVERY DAY – they don’t have a retention problem.
Besides, Hall signed on for eight years. We had a guy return from an overseas assignment the day before we got called up for Desert Storm – they put his ass on the next plane back and he went to Iraq with us with a minimum of bitching. He understood the eight year thing – why can’t you wrap your noggin around it. Ever take contract law?
“It’s a song, and he puts it out to the public,” Klimanski told Truthout, “We’re not talking about a Major Hassan who is quietly plotting violence … this is political hyperbole. This is his rant on stop-loss. It’s political speech.”
You’re spouting legal hyperbole, Klimanski.
Hall, according to his profile on AKO, is a 91-series mechanic from Echo Co. 703rd FSB attached to an infantry company.
