ONE MAN'S OPINION MICHAEL NEW Taking a Stand The following is adapted from a speech delivered by Michael New during a July 28th homecoming rally given in his honor in Conroe, Texas. Standing is an important posture in life. People stand when the national anthem is played. When the flag passes, people stand and cover their hearts. On political issues people ask, "Where do you stand, what is your position?" On October 10, 1995 I made a stand as a U.S. Army Specialist. It was a simple act. The course set before me was clear. I had no question about my stand that early fall morning in Schweinfurt, Germany. It all began on August 21, 1995 when my seniors in the U.S. Army chain of command informed me that my battalion, first of the 15th, 3rd Infantry Division, would soon be deployed to a United Nations operation in Macedonia. However, they explained that this UN mission would be different from the previous UN mission in which I served in Kuwait. My seniors informed me that this deployment required my battalion to significantly alter our uniforms by removing the U.S. flag from the right shoulder, the senior side of the U.S. Army Battle Dress Uniform, to the left shoulder, and replace the flag with a UN patch, badge, and insignia. We would also wear a UN blue beret or helmet. This seemed like an unusual requirement, to put the UN badge in a more important position on my uniform than the U.S. flag. Without knowing a lot about the UN, it seemed wrong to me. The Army had taught me that the wearing of a uniform, or the accoutrements of a uniform, was a sign of allegiance and faithfulness to the authority or power so signified. As an American fighting man, how could I wear the badges and insignia of another government? I had taken an oath to the United States of America and no other. I had sworn to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, to obey the orders of the President and those in authority over me. But the Army oath I swore upon enlistment doesn't bind me to blind obedience, but specifies that obedience must be "according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me, God." Congress makes all regulations governing the land and naval forces, and the experts in the military on the wearing of the regulation uniform are the sergeants. So I asked my sergeant how we as American soldiers could wear a "UN uniform" and still be American soldiers? The response I got was not what I expected: I was threatened with court-martial, imprisonment, or a less-than- honorable discharge, if I did not wear the "UN uniform." I was further directed to study the history and objectives of the UN. This I did and I was more proud than ever to be an American. I knew then that I did not want to be a member of the UN military force. The UN Charter is based upon very subjective man-made regulations and its "human rights" are given by the men of the United Nations. These rights are not like those we have been endowed with by our Creator, but rather can be modified or taken away by the UN. I saw from my own study that the UN's authority and founding principles are diametrically opposed to the founding documents of America, my own country, and its government. I knew that the UN uniform was not regulation. None of the seven UN uniform accoutrements have made it into the Army's regulation handbook for soldiers because Congress has not approved the UN uniform. My stand was not merely a matter of conscience, but was a result of my understanding that an objective standard doesn't make allowances for what I think or feel about it. I firmly believe that our Constitution is the final word, and I had sworn to uphold this objective external standard. Thus, on the morning of October 10, 1995 I walked into a sea of UN baby blue in my regulation U.S. Army battle dress uniform - the same uniform worn by many a brave soldier who shed his blood to protect our American way of life. I was ordered to fall out for not surrendering this regulation uniform. As I followed my squad leader from the formation that October day, I knew I would never return to my unit and that I was in trouble with a huge institution, one which I care a great deal about, and one in which I strove to be a good soldier. After I made clear to my family my intention to stand firm, my Dad realized I was going to need some legal assistance. My mother and father have been very supportive throughout and I can never thank them enough for standing by me over the past year. They taught me long ago that in life taking a stand could cost me. They were right. Dad found legal help for me in Colonel Ronald D. Ray. A retired Marine, Colonel Ray is a lawyer and a Vietnam combat veteran. After I received word that I would be court-martialed for my stand, Colonel Ray began researching my legal position. He said my stand did not just need a defense. It also needed an offense. He said, "We never win on the defense. We must take the war to them." While he told me my case was conclusive and that I was on solid legal ground, he did not trust the courts. And, as a Vietnam veteran, experience had taught him that you can win all the battles and yet lose the war in the court of public opinion. Therefore, Colonel Ray and my father took the offensive war to the airwaves of talk radio and let people know of my stand. I believe that Colonel Ray was inspired and motivated by my stand, but he had also had his fill of U.S. involvement in limited "no- win" UN wars, probably from his time in Vietnam. Korea was the first time our military was involved in a limited UN war in which victory was not the primary objective. Orders began coming from New York instead of Washington and General MacArthur, who said, "In war there is no substitute for victory," was ultimately relieved of command. That kind of winning attitude had to be eliminated. Then came Vietnam. It badly marked a generation. Men, deceived by their political leaders, fought half a world away when the real battle was being fought here for the heart and soul of America. It seemed, as I learned more about how the UN military wages "peace" in places like Korea, Vietnam, and Somalia, that Macedonia and Bosnia were more of the same limited "no-win" UN wars. In January 1996 as I prepared for my court-martial, my stand would ratchet up in a way I could never have anticipated due to four official letters which appeared in Colonel Ray's fax machine from Germany late one evening. These letters were part of the legal discovery the Army owed my defense, but they were held back without comment and came too late for inclusion in the written legal presentation my defense made before the court. These letters showed without question that President Bill Clinton had misled Congress about the Macedonian deployment. Mr. Clinton told Congress in those four letters that the Macedonian mission was not of sufficient danger to warrant congressional approval. That was provably not true. The Colonel said that the military judge would never rule on the lawfulness of a presidential order, so he filed suit against the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Army seeking an honorable discharge for me in an independent federal court. The President said the Macedonian deployment was a Chapter VI UN mission. However, 27 UN Security Council Resolutions referred to the Macedonian deployment as a Chapter VII mission, which, under the UN Participation Act of 1945, requires congressional approval. Approval is required because our Constitution provides for a balance of power. The President is not a King. When America sends her sons and daughters into harm's way, the voice and will of "We the People" must be heard through our elected representatives. Clearly, President Clinton was violating the constitutional limitation on his presidential authority. Nonetheless, on January 24, 1996 I was convicted of not obeying what the prosecution called a "lawful order," even though they admitted in open court in Germany that the uniform was not a regulation uniform. My defense was not allowed to present the overwhelming evidence that the presidential order was unlawful - clear proof of presidential wrongdoing and the failure of congressional oversight. I am now out of uniform, but Congress is not out of danger of losing control of America's military to UN command. Because of my stand, H.R. 3308, deceptively entitled "The Armed Forces Protection Act of 1996," has been introduced in the House. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett has rightly pointed out that H.R. 3308 is "unconstitutional, containing an illegal transfer of congressional authority to the executive branch." If passed, H.R. 3308 will give legislative and political cover to President Clinton for his three years of misrepresentation to Congress in sending U.S. soldiers like me on UN military operations to places like Macedonia, forcing us to wear unauthorized UN uniforms, and compelling us to serve under foreign UN commanders. The Department of Defense has admitted that if captured, U.S. troops under UN command are not protected as American POWs but as UN personnel. They lose important legal protections if taken hostage, an important consideration if the one captured is your son, father, or other loved one. Substitute legislation has been recommended to Congress by my defense team to replace H.R. 3308. Entitled "The American Soldier Protection and American Command Preservation Act," the measure would prevent the President and others from freely internationalizing the U.S. armed forces through the United Nations. I am told that the Republicans have been slow to support this legislation, perhaps in part because many of them don't really disagree with President Clinton's policy to wage "peace" around the world via the UN. I am not a writer or a politician. I am a soldier. I swore an oath to the Constitution, took my post, and made my stand. I was proud and comforted to make my stand on October 10, 1995, protected by our Constitution. I have done what I am able to do. Let my stand serve as an indication to you of how far we have gone in subjugating the United States military to the United Nations. I do not want to be held up as something extraordinary. I did only what I had to do to be able to keep my oath and live with myself. Now, my mission in the courts is simply to obtain an honorable discharge for my honorable disobedience. I ask you to please stay current with the offensive action now being taken in Congress as a result of my stand - most specifically the legislation introduced to protect our country and support our troops. If one soldier could cause this much trouble, just think about what concerned and committed Americans together could do. It is up to you. ------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NEW AMERICAN - Copyright 1996, American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated - P.O. 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