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Tuesday, September 7

Lawsuit Challenges Bush Administration’s ‘Back Door Draft’

by Ron Chepesiuk

A National Guardsman has filed the first court challenge to a
presidential order mandating military service members remain on active
duty beyond the dates they were scheduled to be discharged from
service.

Filed in San Francisco federal court on August 17, the lawsuit could
affect Bush administration war policies, as well as the lives of at
least 40,000 service members who have been or could be forced to serve
beyond their enlistment terms.

The Bush administration contends that Executive Order 13223 of
September 14, 2001, gives it the authority to implement what is known
as the "Stop Loss" program.

President George W Bush used the order to declare a national emergency
and to give the Defense Department the authority to keep military
personnel on active duty involuntarily for not more than 24
consecutive months.

The lawsuit, brought by a Guardsman identified as "John Doe" for
privacy reasons, charges that Executive Order 13223 "does not support
the involuntary extension of the enlistments of non-commissioned
soldiers [non-officers] for service in Iraq."

"Many US troops are frustrated with the Stop Loss policy," explained
Joshua Sondheimer, an attorney with the San Francisco-based law
offices of Michael S. Sorgen, who is representing John Doe.

"Their enlistment has ended and they have done their duty."

Sondheimer said now soldiers like his client want to be given a choice
whether to continue in the military or go back to their families and
get on with their lives.

"Is it fair to require that those that have done their duty bear the
bear the brunt of the need for a larger military?" he asked.

"We no longer have an all volunteer army."

Marti Hiken, a co-chair of the Military Law Task Force (MLTF) of the
National Lawyer’s Guild, which is assisting with the suit, said the US
military is trying to create a new type of "indentured servitude." She
added, "We’re asking the court to protect the rights of an individual
American against the arbitrary action of his government."

John Doe is described as a "decorated combat veteran" currently living
in the San Francisco Bay Area and serving in the National Guard.

According to his lawyers, over the past twelve years, he has completed
more than nine years of active service in the Marine Corps and Army,
including a tour of combat duty in Iraq in 2003.

According to a legal memorandum filed by Doe’s lawyers, his
"commanders all have praised his commitment to military service, and
he has received numerous awards and decorations, including three Army
Commendation Awards."

Sondheimer described his client as "a soldier who has seen heavy
combat work with special operations forces and is not afraid to jump
out of airplanes with live explosives strapped to him."

Doe, who has wife and two daughters, ages six and three, has been
under treatment for post traumatic stress syndrome resulting from his
service in Iraq.

"A service man with my client’s type of military record should be
allowed to return to his family once he completes his service
obligation," Sondheimer said.

"Instead, the military Stop Loss program is putting undue hardship on
him."

Doe is currently serving a one-year commitment in the California
National Guard, but according to the Memorandum filed by Doe’s
lawyers, he was advised in July that his one-year enlistment has been
extended an additional two years and that his National Guard unit has
been mobilized for service in Iraq.

"All he wants now is to be with his family," Hiken said.

"He is facing hardship because the Bush administration doesn’t have
enough troops in Iraq."

Both Sondheimer and Hiken said the Stop Loss program is nothing more
than a "back door draft."

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These soldiers are trapped the Bush-created quagmire.

Harry