*LT. COL. WEST WAITS: At an emotional preliminary hearing last week in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, Army Lt. Col. Allen B. West testified about the events that inspired an Army prosecutor to call for him to be court-martialed, imprisoned and denied his pension. (see "Don't Prosecute This Hero") West admitted twice firing his gun near the head of an Iraqi to frighten him into revealing the location of a planned ambush and the names of would-be attackers.
"I know the method I used was not the right method," said West. "I was going to do anything to intimidate and scare him but I was not going to endanger his life." When asked by his lawyer whether he would use the same tactic again to gain information, West said, "If it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can. But that's what's going on out there in the streets here and that's how I feel about my boys. There's not a person in this room I would not sacrifice my life for."
*MORAL EQUIVOCATION: Capt. Magdalena Przytulska, the Army prosecutor who is demanding that West be court-martialed, told the hearing, according to the Associated Press, that West's actions implied "we're no better than the enemy we're fighting."
*SENATORS SPEAK OUT: Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner of Virginia spoke out about the West case in a committee hearing last week. "I think the message if we were to end up punishing someone for doing what it took to protect the soldiers entrusted to his command, it would be the wrong signal," said Inhofe.
Addressing Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, and Army Secretary Les Brownlee, Warner said: "I know that [under] the Uniform Code we should protect everyone's rights, but don't let the lawyers have exclusive jurisdiction over what I call some sound judgments that have to be made by thoroughly seasoned combat soldiers like yourselves."
*WHO'LL SPARE RUMSFELD? As second in the military chain of command, just under the President, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could have aborted the move to court-martial Lt. Col. West. He chose not to do so, however. For now, the decision on whether to move forward with a court martial is up to Army Lt. Col. Jimmy Davis, who presided over the hearing in Tikrit. Davis is expected to make his ruling within days.
*BUSH'S COMMITMENT: After the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its ruling declaring that same-sex marriage was a right (see story on page 5), President Bush issued a statement. "Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman," the President said. "Today's decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court violates this important principle. I will work with congressional leaders and others to do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage."
*MARRIAGE AMENDMENT: Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court declared in June in Lawrence v. Texas that same-sex sodomy is a constitutional "right," conservative organizations have been gearing up to fight for ratification of a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The New York Times quoted Concerned Women for America President Sandy Rios from her radio show. "The time is now," she said. "If you don't do something about this, then you cannot in 20 years-when you see the American public disintegrating and you see our enemies overtaking us because we have no moral will." Speaking on Rios' program, former U.S. Appeals Court Judge Kenneth Starr said, "This is a terrible judicial usurpation of the power of the people through their elected representatives to fashion social policy. It is really quite revolutionary."
*COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES: Conservative Republican Senators Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Sam Brownback of Kansas are likely to lead the counter-revolutionary forces on this issue in the U.S. Congress. "Many of us were concerned that the [U.S.] Supreme Court's decision [on same-sex sodomy] was going to lead to a further redefinition of marriage," Santorum told HUMAN EVENTS. "And that's one of the concerns that many of us expressed when the Lawrence v. Texas case was decided." Santorum was pilloried by the liberal media for candidly warning the country about the long-term threat posed by Lawrence.
*WINNING ISSUE: Sen. Brownback predicted that a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, in addition to being good policy, would also be a tremendously powerful political issue for Republicans. "This will be a clear issue for the public," Brownback told HUMAN EVENTS. He said the decision by the Massachusetts court ties into the effort by Senate Democrats to block judicial nominees. "The left has used the courts to legislate and they will do anything to see that liberal judges continue and that conservative judges don't get on the bench."
*DEAN DOWN: The Massachusetts decision is not good news for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, although Dean may not realize it yet. When the ruling came out, Dean said, "I was proud to sign the nation's first law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples."
Dean has also said he wants to challenge President Bush for supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, which empowers states not to recognize gay marriages certified in other states. In 2000, Al Gore narrowly won Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where a Democrat running on a pro-gay-marriage platform will have a difficult, if not impossible, time in 2004. Also, political pros say it is hard to see how a pro-gay-marriage, anti-war candidate can pick up any of the Southern states that Bush swept in 2000. The one Democratic gubernatorial candidate who won this year was pro-life, pro-gun and anti-affirmative action (see "Democrat Ran to Right in Louisiana").
*EXTRADITION RESOLUTION: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) and Sen. Brownback have co-sponsored a resolution calling on President Bush to renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty (see last week's HUMAN EVENTS, "Shut Mexico's Sanctuary for Murderers," page 8, available at humanevents.com) Mexico currently will not extradite to the United States suspected murderers who could face the death penalty or life imprisonment. The full Senate cannot vote on the Feinstein-Brownback resolution, however, until it is reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That cannot be accomplished without the support of Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.) and the committee's ranking Democrat, Joe Biden (Del.). Lugar's spokesman told HUMAN EVENTS last week the committee was not going to move on the resolution before the Senate adjourned for the year. In the meantime, killers will keep fleeing to Mexico.
