Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (19626)	12/13/2003 7:15:59 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793597

Odierno is the General who let the court martial investigation of Col West go forward instead of choking it off. I tend to take anything he says with a grain of salt. I think he handled it appropriately and well within the context of the military justice system and the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Before pointing fingers we need to know who signed the original Court-martial Charge sheet. I cannot imagine the Division Commander did that. Far more likely, the Brigade commander or some other officer signed off on the charge sheet and sent it up the chain of command. Odierno is the Court-martial convening authority for that unit. He received the charge sheet and could have ordered an immediate court-martial. But before doing that he called for an Article 32 investigation (board of inquiry, if you will) and appointed a board and Article 32 Officer to investigate the charges and recommend any action. The board did its job promptly and recommended one of two actions...not including court-martial. Odierno accepted one of the board's recommendations and LTC West will retire honorably with benefits. I should note that Odierno was not bound by the Article 32 board's suggestions and could have over-ruled the board and convened a court-martial. He did not do that. I wrote in an earlier post that I really believe in the US military justice system, that it can and will handle this properly and quickly, and an appropriate and fair conclusion or result will be found. I believe I was right.