DOCSLIB.ORG

Testimony in Support of Proposed Bill No. 5730 I Am a Former Officer in The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Testimony in Support of Proposed Bill No. 5730 I Am a Former Officer in The Testimony in Support of Proposed Bill No. 5730 I am a former Officer in the United States Navy, as well as a bronze star decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and I write today in vehement support of this bill, and in solidarity with all my fellow veterans regardless of when they took their oaths. When a person raises their right hand in service to their country, even in peace time, they do so with the understanding that any day our nation could be called to war. It is only through benevolent fortune far outside their control that they complete their service without being called into wartime duty. However, had the winds of fortune changed, their oath of service would have demanded that they answer that call, and they would have done so readily and with honor. Moreover, in our specialized modern military, not all who serve, even in wartime, will face the same hazards, or ever experience a deployment to an active theater of combat, yet they are no less vital to the mission. However, it seems unjust and arbitrary that one who provided valuable support to the military’s core mission, but was never ordered to a combat theater, should be treated any differently than one who performed those same valuable functions during a time of peace. Finally, the nature of warfare has changed. Currently, wartime service is defined by the VA as only those eras in which our nation is formally at war. The National Defense Service Medal criteria, and VA Regulations list these recognized periods. They are: Mexican Border period (May 9, 1916, to April 5, 1917, for Veterans who served in Mexico, on its borders, or in adjacent waters); World War I (April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918); World War II (December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1946); 1950-1954 (Korean War); 1961-74 (Vietnam War); 1990-1995 (Gulf War); September 11, 2001-To Be Determined (Global War on Terror). These are not, however, the only times in which the men and women of our armed forces are subject to the hazards associated with armed conflict. The USS Cole bombing was a suicide attack by the terrorist group al Qaeda against USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, while she was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor. Those who survived this attack are not considered “wartime veterans.” On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people. The survivors of this attack are not “wartime veterans.” These are only two examples, but there are many, many other times in which even in peacetime, our men and women have put their lives in danger to support peace around the globe. Connecticut has taken a more expansive view of the definition of wartime, and in fact has continued the definition of Gulf War to the present day without interruption. However, just as the federal definition has some key omissions, we cannot be sure that the Connecticut definition is inclusive of all circumstances in which a service member has been in direct harm’s way. Peace, not war, should be our default. Those who serve in these times of peace by standing ready to ensure that peace, should not be penalized for the simple fact that their efforts in power projection and their sustained vigilance in shielding our foreign allies from external threats proved successful, at least for a time. I urge this committee to find that all honorably discharged veterans receive equal treatment under Connecticut law. Honorable service should be the only requirement for this state’s recognition. Thank you, Emily D. Trudeau .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mashurabdullah Muqbil Ahmed
    SECRET // 20330915 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE STATES COMMAND HEADQUARTERS , JOINT TASK FORCE GUANTANAMO U.S. NAVAL STATION , GUANTANAMO BAY , CUBA APOAE09360 JTF- GTMO- CDR 15 September2008 MEMORANDUMFORCommander, UnitedStates SouthernCommand, 3511NW 91st Avenue, Miami, FL 33172 SUBJECT : Recommendation for Continued Detention Under Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN 000324DP (S ) JTF - GTMO Detainee Assessment 1. ( S) Personal Information : JDIMS/ NDRC Reference Name: Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmnad al- Sabri Current/ True Name and Aliases : MashurAbdullah Muqbil Ahmed al-Sabri, Raheim al-Naser Abu Abdullah , Masheer Ahmed , Mashural- Taizi, Abu Salman al-Makki Abu Jamila al-Yemeni Place of Birth: Mecca, Saudi Arabia (SA) Date ofBirth: 26 December 1977 Citizenship: Yemen ( YM ) Internment Serial Number (ISN) : -000324DP 2. (U//FOUO Health: Detainee is in overall good health. 3. ( U ) JTF- GTMO Assessment : a. (S) Recommendation : JTF-GTMO recommends this detainee for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) . JTF-GTMO previously recommended detainee for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) on 27 September 2007 . b . ( S //NF) Executive Summary: Ifreleased without rehabilitation, close supervision, and means to successfully reintegrate into his society as a law abiding citizen, it is assessed detainee would immediately seek out prior associates and reengage in hostilities and extremist support activities. Since transfer to JTF -GTMO, detainee has engaged infew hostile incidents and is relatively compliant with guard force personnel. However, detainee CLASSIFIED BY : MULTIPLE SOURCES REASON : E.O. 12958, AS AMENDED , SECTION 1.4 ( C DECLASSIFY ON : 20330915 SECRET NOFORN 20330915 SECRET 20330915 JTF - GTMO -CDR SUBJECT : Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for ISN 000324DP (S ) has demonstrated support for the hostilities ofother detainees.
    [Show full text]
  • Application No. 28761/11 Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad AL NASHIRI Against Poland Lodged on 6 May 2011
    FOURTH SECTION Application no. 28761/11 Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad AL NASHIRI against Poland lodged on 6 May 2011 STATEMENT OF FACTS 1. The applicant, Mr Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri, is a Saudi Arabian national of Yemeni descent, who was born in 1965. He is currently detained in the Internment Facility at the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The applicant is represented before the Court by Mr J.A. Goldston, attorney, member of the New York Bar and Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative (“the OSJI”), Mr R. Skilbeck, barrister, member of the England and Wales Bar and Litigation Director of the OSJI, Ms A. Singh, attorney, member of the New York Bar and Senior Legal Officer at the OSJI, and also by Ms N. Hollander, attorney, member of the New Mexico Bar. A. Background 1. USS Cole bombing in 2000 2. On 12 October 2000 a suicide terrorist attack on the United States Navy destroyer USS Cole took place in Aden, Yemen when the ship stopped in the Aden harbour for refuelling. It was attacked by a small bomb- laden boat. The explosion opened a 40 foot hole in the warship, killing 17 American sailors and injuring 40 personnel. The applicant, considered to have been one of the most senior figures in al’Qaeda, has been the prime suspect in the 2000 bombing. He has been suspected of masterminding and orchestrating the attack (see also paragraph 55 below). 2 AL NASHIRI v. POLAND – STATEMENT OF FACTS AND QUESTIONS 2. MV Limburg bombing 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Military Commissions Warrant Exemption from Abstention Doctrine
    Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 51 Issue 1 Article 22 2019 Time's Up, Councilman: Why Military Commissions Warrant Exemption from Abstention Doctrine Alex W.S. Lilly Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Alex W.S. Lilly, Time's Up, Councilman: Why Military Commissions Warrant Exemption from Abstention Doctrine, 51 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 359 (2019) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol51/iss1/22 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 51 (2019) Time’s Up, Councilman: Why Military Commissions Warrant Exemption from Abstention Doctrine Alex W. S. Lilly* In 2017, two Guantánamo Bay detainees filed writs of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States. Through different claims, both men argued that the military commissions convened to prosecute them lacked subject matter jurisdiction to do so. The first man, Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul, challenged his conspiracy conviction on the basis that it is unconstitutional to try purely domestic offenses in a non-Article III tribunal. The second, Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, has not yet been tried. As such, he raised pretrial objections to his military commission’s competence to try him for crimes committed pre- 9/11.
    [Show full text]
  • Military Commissions: a Place Outside the Law’S Reach
    MILITARY COMMISSIONS: A PLACE OUTSIDE THE LAW’S REACH JANET COOPER ALEXANDER* “We have turned our backs on the law and created what we believed was a place outside the law’s reach.” Colonel Morris D. Davis, former chief prosecutor of the Guantánamo military commissions1 Ten years after 9/11, it is hard to remember that the decision to treat the attacks as the trigger for taking the country to a state of war was not inevitable. Previous acts of terrorism had been investigated and prosecuted as crimes, even when they were carried out or planned by al Qaeda.2 But on September 12, 2001, President Bush pronounced the attacks “acts of war,”3 and he repeatedly defined himself as a “war president.”4 The war * Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Stanford Law School. I would like to thank participants at the 2011 Childress Lecture at Saint Louis University School of Law and a Stanford Law School faculty workshop for their comments, and Nicolas Martinez for invaluable research assistance. 1 Ed Vulliamy, Ten Years On, Former Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo Slams ‘Camp of Torture,’ OBSERVER, Oct. 30, 2011, at 29. 2 Previous al Qaeda attacks that were prosecuted as crimes include the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Manila Air (or Bojinka) plot to blow up a dozen jumbo jets, and the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa. Mary Jo White, Prosecuting Terrorism in New York, MIDDLE E.Q., Spring 2001, at 11, 11–14; see also Christopher S. Wren, U.S. Jury Convicts 3 in a Conspiracy to Bomb Airliners, N.Y.
    [Show full text]
  • Estimated Age
    The US National Counterterrorism Center is pleased to present the 2016 edition of the Counterterrorism (CT) Calendar. Since 2003, we have published the calendar in a daily planner format that provides our consumers with a variety of information related to international terrorism, including wanted terrorists; terrorist group fact sheets; technical issue related to terrorist tactics, techniques, and procedures; and potential dates of importance that terrorists might consider when planning attacks. The cover of this year’s CT Calendar highlights terrorists’ growing use of social media and other emerging online technologies to recruit, radicalize, and encourage adherents to carry out attacks. This year will be the last hardcopy publication of the calendar, as growing production costs necessitate our transition to more cost- effective dissemination methods. In the coming years, NCTC will use a variety of online and other media platforms to continue to share the valuable information found in the CT Calendar with a broad customer set, including our Federal, State, Local, and Tribal law enforcement partners; agencies across the Intelligence Community; private sector partners; and the US public. On behalf of NCTC, I want to thank all the consumers of the CT Calendar during the past 12 years. We hope you continue to find the CT Calendar beneficial to your daily efforts. Sincerely, Nicholas J. Rasmussen Director The US National Counterterrorism Center is pleased to present the 2016 edition of the Counterterrorism (CT) Calendar. This edition, like others since the Calendar was first published in daily planner format in 2003, contains many features across the full range of issues pertaining to international terrorism: terrorist groups, wanted terrorists, and technical pages on various threat-related topics.
    [Show full text]
  • Tuesday December 5 4:50 PM ET Persian Gulf Security Increased by ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON
    Tuesday December 5 4:50 PM ET Persian Gulf Security Increased By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary William Cohen has authorized military commanders to send dozens of additional U.S. forces to the Persian Gulf to strengthen port security, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said Tuesday. The move is part of a Pentagon effort to improve the protection of American ships and other military forces in the region in the aftermath of the Oct. 12 terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. The Navy, meanwhile, said the heavily damaged Cole is due to arrive back in the United States next week. The Cole, which lost 17 sailors in the suicide bombing, has been in transit from the Middle East since early November aboard a Norwegian-owned heavy lift ship. It will be off-loaded at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., for repairs that are expected to take one year and cost roughly $240 million. A small boat maneuvered close to the Cole while it was refueling in Aden harbor and detonated a bomb that blew a hole in the ship's hull 40 feet wide and 40 feet high. Yemeni and American law enforcement authorities are still investigating the attack, for which no credible claim of responsibility has been made. The day the Cole was attacked, U.S. Navy commanders in the Middle East ordered all ships out of port and they have not returned since. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said Tuesday ``there is a great desire'' to ease the security restrictions ``to have a more comfortable and relaxed standard of living, if you will, for our sailors and marines in that area, and yet the first priority has to be force protection.'' To strengthen port security in the Gulf, Cohen authorized the deployment of extra Navy and Coast Guard security personnel, Quigley said.
    [Show full text]
  • Terrorism 2000 2001 Fbi Publication #0308 TerrRism 2000/2001
    U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation TERRORISM 2000 2001 FBI PUBLICATION #0308 TERRRISM 2000/2001 FORWARD EXPANDING FOCUS As the events of September 11, 2001, demonstrated with brutal clarity, the terror- ist threats facing the United States are formidable. Between 1991 and 2001, 74 terrorist incidents were recorded in the United States. During this same time frame, an additional 62 terrorist acts being plotted in the United States were pre- vented by U.S. law enforcement. As troubling as these statistics are, they only hint at the full scope of the terrorist threat confronting U.S. interests. For every successful terrorist attack mounted in the United States, nearly 20 (19.83) anti- U.S. attacks are carried out around the world. Between 1996 and 2001, these overseas attacks killed 75 Americans and wounded an additional 606. During the past two decades, the U.S. Government has expanded the FBI’s authority to investigate terrorist activities against U.S. interests overseas. Specifically, the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorist Act of 1986, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and Presidential Decision Directive 39 have served to extend FBI investigative authority beyond U.S. borders when U.S. interests are harmed or TERRORISM threatened. Since 1984 the FBI has carried out over 300 extraterritorial investigations, in close cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and with the assistance of host 2000 governments. These investigations include some of the FBI’s /2001 most complex and high-profile cases, including investigations into the September 11 attacks, as well as the bombings of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, two U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study of the Stabilizing Fragile States Project
    PM 5:13 12/15/10 2011 RUHE Y THE R OF JANUA PROJECT JONATHAN TES A AND STUDY T S SE A C MISZTAL GILE A A R BLAISE F MAKOVSKY, BILIZING A T S MICHAEL FRAGILITY AND EXTREMISM IN YEMEN :: A CASE STUDY OF THE STABILIZING FRAGILE STATES PROJECT :: BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER 20005 NW DC 1000 Street, 202.204.2400 I Suite 1225 Phone: Washington, www.bipartisanpolicy.org 1 62357_CVR_X2.indd FRAGILITY AND EXTREMISM IN YEMEN A CASE STUDY OF THE STABILIZING FRAGILE STATES PROJECT January 2011 62357_TXT_X2.indd 1 12/15/10 5:14 PM ABOUT THIS REPORT In the fall of 2009, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Stabilizing Fragile States steering committee directed project staff to undertake a case study of Yemen in order to provide a more granular understanding of the specific challenges found in fragile states. The original version of that case study was published in February 2010, accompanied by a public discussion, entitled “Yemen: The Next Afghanistan?” featuring project co-chairs Ambassador Paula Dobriansky and Admiral (Ret.) Gregory Johnson, as well as former Ambassador to Yemen Thomas Krajeski, Les Campbell of the National Democratic Institute and for- mer Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Doran. This staff paper is an update to that original publication and is being released in conjunction with the Stabilizing Fragile States report. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank the Stabilizing Fragile States steering committee for their advice and guidance over the course of this project. We are also grateful to a number of former BPC staff and interns, without whom this report would not have been possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Courts, Commissions and Detention As Tools in Combating Overseas Terrorism: Criteria for Choosing the Correct Forum
    COURTS, COMMISSIONS AND DETENTION AS TOOLS IN COMBATING OVERSEAS TERRORISM: CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING THE CORRECT FORUM A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Security Studies By Jon Andrew Mellis, J.D. Washington, D.C. April 15, 2011 COURTS, COMMISSIONS AND DETENTION AS TOOLS IN COMBATING OVERSEAS TERRORISM: CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING THE CORRECT FORUM Jon Andrew Mellis, J.D. Thesis Advisor: Daniel L. Byman, Ph.D. ABSTRACT As the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the United States government remains undecided as to how it should proceed against those individuals believed to be responsible for the terrorist attacks. Both the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as Congress, have made policy announcements, promulgated Executive Orders and passed legislation that would allow for the prosecution of these individuals in either an Article III court (a criminal trial in federal district court) or before a military commission, or determine whether they should remain in military detention without trial for the duration of hostilities against al Qaeda and those entities responsible for 9/11. To this day, however, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 plot, remains in U.S. military custody, the future of legal proceedings against him no more certain than they were in 2003, the year he was first detained by U.S. forces. Similarly, should Osama bin Laden or another high level al Qaeda leader be captured in the near future, no policy currently exists that would definitively determine which, if any, judicial forum is most appropriate for the disposition of their case.
    [Show full text]
  • US INTELLIGENCE and AL QAEDA Analysis by Contrasting Narratives Online Appendix
    US INTELLIGENCE AND AL QAEDA Analysis by Contrasting Narratives Online Appendix PETER DE WERD US INTELLIGENCE AND AL QAEDA Analysis by Contrasting Narratives Peter de Werd 66547_de547_de WWerd_Onlineerd_Online AAppendix.inddppendix.indd 1 004/09/204/09/20 44:03:03 PPMM APPENDIX Chapter 2 Selection of texts In chronological order, key texts underlined. Fisk, Robert, ‘Anti-Soviet Warrior Puts His Army on the Road to Peace: the Saudi Businessman Who Recruited Mujahedin Now Uses Them for Large- Scale Building Projects in Sudan. Robert Fisk met him in Almatig’, The Independent, 6 December 1993, 10. Abd-al-Karim, Ali, Ahmad Al-Nur, ‘Usama Bin Ladin Denies “Terrorism” Link, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 9 March 1994, 4, as translated in FBIS, Compi- lation of Usama Bin Ladin Statements, 1–3. Al-Quds al-Arabi, Saudi Opposition Opens London Offi ce, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 8 August 1994, 1, as translated in FBIS, 3. Bin Laden, Osama, ‘Our Invitation to Give Advice and Reform’, open letter to King Fahd, April 14, 1994, available at: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/ Our_Invitation_to_Give_Advice_and_Reform, last accessed 20 April 2018. Bin Laden, Osama, ‘Saudi Arabia Supports the Communists in Yemen’, 7 June 1994, available at: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia_supports_ the_Communists_in_Yemen, last accessed 20 April 2018. Bin Laden, Osama, ‘The Banishment of Communism from the Arabian Pen- insula, the Episode and the Proof’, 11 July 1994, available at: https:// en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Banishment_of_Communists_from_the_ Arabian_Peninsula, last accessed 20 April 2018. Bin Laden, Osama, ‘Quran Scholars in the Face of Despotism’, 19 July 1994, available at: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Quran_Scholars_in_the_Face_ of_Despotism, last accessed 20 April 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • Disappeared” the CIA’S Long-Term “Ghost Detainees”
    The United States’ “Disappeared” The CIA’s Long-Term “Ghost Detainees” A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper October 2004 I. Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 1 II. Background............................................................................................................................... 3 III. The Central Intelligence Agency: “Ghost Detainees” and “Disappearances” ............. 5 High-Level “Ghost Detainees” in Prolonged Incommunicado Detention..................... 8 Refusal to Disclose the Fate or Whereabouts of the Detainees........................................ 8 Allegations of Mistreatment.................................................................................................. 10 Intelligence Collection............................................................................................................ 13 IV. “Disappearances” in Law and History..............................................................................16 The Definition of “Forced Disappearances” in International Law ................................ 18 The Absolute Ban on “Disappearances” ............................................................................ 20 Legal Prohibitions on Incommunicado Detention............................................................ 20 V. Recommendations to the United States Government: ....................................................22 VI. Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................23
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 4: 'Drone Violence As Wild Justice: Administrative Executions
    FOUR Drone Violence as Wild Justice: Administrative Executions on the Terror Frontier Christian Enemark Introduction Outside of Sana’a [Yemen], it’s the Wild West. Vivian Salama, journalist (Woods 2015, 209) On 12 October 2000, seventeen US Navy sailors were killed when the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer, was attacked in the Yemeni port of Aden by suicide bombers in a small boat laden with explosives. More than eighteen years later, US President Donald Trump confi rmed that a man accused of organising this attack had recently been killed in a US airstrike (probably a drone strike) in Yemen. Trump tweeted in early January 2019 (Browne and Starr 2019): Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi. Our work against al Qaeda continues. Soon afterwards, US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region, tweeted confi rmation that al-Badawi was killed in the strike while driving a vehicle alone in the Marib Governorate. A military spokes- man later explained that in 2003 al-Badawi had been indicted by a federal grand jury, charged with fi fty counts of various terrorism offences, including murder of US nationals. Before the 2019 strike, al-Badawi had been on a list of ‘most wanted terrorists’ maintained by the Federal Bureau of Inves- tigation, and the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program had 66686_Enemark.indd686_Enemark.indd 7744 119/11/209/11/20 11:57:57 PPMM Drone Violence as Wild Justice / 75 offered up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest (Browne and Starr 2019).
    [Show full text]