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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Morocco
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Doctor's call-up by Army is halted

She opposes war, seeks discharge

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | September 26, 2006

The US Army paid $184,000 for Mary Hanna to go to Tufts University School of Medicine for four years, and in exchange she agreed to serve four years of active duty and another four in the reserve after becoming a doctor.

Describing herself as a devout Coptic Orthodox Christian, Hanna, an Army Reserve captain, urged the Army on Dec. 23 to grant her discharge as a conscientious objector, writing, "I cannot participate in war in any form."

This month, the Army refused Hanna's request after considering conflicting opinions from priests, a psychiatrist, and military brass about whether Hanna was opposed to war or trying to evade service.

But yesterday, the day before Hanna was scheduled to report for duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, a federal judge stepped in and prohibited the Army from forcing Hanna into service, at least until Oct. 10.

US District Judge Nancy Gertner scheduled an Oct. 5 hearing on Hanna's assertion that the Army violated her constitutional rights by denying her conscientious objector status. Hanna is urging the judge to order her release from the Army.

It's at least the second conscientious objector case to be filed in US District Court in Boston in the past year and one of a handful pending around the country. Under military regulations, conscientious objectors may seek release from duty or ask to serve in noncombatant situations if they are sincerely opposed to war.

Hanna, who attended yesterday's hearing, refused to discuss her case.

"She will pay back the money," said Hanna's lawyer, Louis Font, who argued that Hanna's beliefs prevent her from even treating soldiers on American soil.

In her application for conscientious objector status, Hanna said she had a strong religious upbringing, but had no convictions about war when she enlisted in the Army in 1997. After her father, a former Egyptian military officer, died in 2003, Hanna said she was again drawn to God and rekindled her faith.

She wrote, "I knew that to live the rest of my life with integrity, in harmony with God's nature of love and compassion, I could not participate in military service."

An Army hearing officer and several high-ranking officers concluded she was a conscientious objector. A brigadier general wrote, "The solemnity of her convictions is clear . . . and they do not appear to have been born of a desire to avoid service," according to reports filed in court.

But an Army review board voted 2-1 to reject Hanna's discharge, and the board's president wrote that her statements "lack passion and sincerity" and "appear as repetitions rather than personally held beliefs."

The Army was also skeptical of the timing of Hanna's request, according to documents. She was one of two anesthesiologists who filed conscientious objector applications in December, shortly after another anesthesiologist was granted a discharge on the same grounds.

Assistant US Attorney Anita Johnson, who represents the Army, argued that Hanna failed to prove she was sincere and that releasing her from service would cause an immediate hardship, because the Army has only 75 of the 95 required anesthesiologists it needs.

Still, Johnson said the Army "can guarantee she will not be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or any other combat situation."

Hanna was assigned to Beaumont Army Medical Center, a major teaching hospital and regional trauma center at Fort Bliss, Texas, that treats military members, their families, and retirees, according to Johnson.

But Font argued that Hanna could be deployed anywhere, including Iraq, once she's activated.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/...army_is_halted/

Edited by jenn3539
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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Brazil
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amazing how many develop a conscience after they take the government's money and just before a deployment.........

* ~ * Charles * ~ *
 

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

 

USE THE REPORT BUTTON INSTEAD OF MESSAGING A MODERATOR!

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amazing how many develop a conscience after they take the government's money and just before a deployment.........

Yeah, it's pretty convenient isn't it? And this is coming from someone who opposes the Iraq war. :lol:

24 June 2007: Leaving day/flying to Dallas-Fort Worth

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Michael Graham's take:

"Hanna's beliefs prevent her from even treating soldiers on American soil."

One of the most reprehensible news stories I've read in a long time comes from Somerville, MA where US Army-trained doctor Mary Hanna is attempting to avoid the military service she agreed to give in exchange for a military-funded medical degree.

Getting out of something that you don't want to do--I get that. It's human nature (would you pay your credit card bills if you didn't have to?) It's the reason she offers that I find so profoundly offensive.

Hanna claims she's recently gone through a religious revival as a Coptic Orthodox Christian and providing care and comfort to an American soldier would violate her religious sensibilities.

This is a woman who, presumably, would provide medical care to rapists, child molesters, even terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. But an American soldier? Unclean. Beneath her. A violation of her principles.

Who wants to explain to her that the freedom to live by these principles comes from the barrel of a gun--a gun carried by an American soldier? Who wants to share with her what would happen in an Islamist country to a woman who wanted to go to medical school, become a doctor and treat (undressed!) soldiers alone in a hospital room?

The charitable argument is that Hanna is just a scam artist trying to get out of her deal to provide medical services to the Army in exchange for a free education. But what a disgusting, insulting argument to make.

Sadly, this anti-soldier, anti-US-military attitude is probably one she encounters on a regular basis as a war opponent in Somerville. It is possible to oppose the war in Iraq without loathing our soldiers.

But more and more liberals aren't even trying.

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Senate Floor Speech on Public Debt
March 16, 2006



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Don't soldiers have the ability to make judgements for themselves? Or is their duty to blindly follow their leaders... (like german soldiers in WWII)

the above has nothing to do with making judgements. it's refusing a lawful order to deploy.

from the oath of office:

"I, _____, appointed a _____ in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles for the government of the Armies of the United States."

* ~ * Charles * ~ *
 

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

 

USE THE REPORT BUTTON INSTEAD OF MESSAGING A MODERATOR!

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soldiers do not have the right or responsibility to make decisions for themselves. this woman took the government's money while she was training to be a doctor...now she owes them what she agreed. four years active, four years reserve.

to say she can't treat american soldiers on american soil? that's just plain assanine!

she should be court marshalled, and she should be sent to Leavenworth.

during Desert Storm, there was a female doctor from kansas city who refused to go when she was called up...and that's exactly what happened to her...she was sent to Leavenworth.

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Don't soldiers have the ability to make judgements for themselves? Or is their duty to blindly follow their leaders... (like german soldiers in WWII)

the above has nothing to do with making judgements. it's refusing a lawful order to deploy.

from the oath of office:

"I, _____, appointed a _____ in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles for the government of the Armies of the United States."

understood

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Seeing as she signed her legal rights away by joining up to begin with - what else can you say. I have a very hard time understanding how someone with those sorts of objections would willingly choose to make themselves a puppet of a government they disagree with.

I disagree with this however:

soldiers do not have the right or responsibility to make decisions for themselves.

There is such a thing as an "illegal" order - so to suggest that soldiers shouldn't have or act on moral and ethical principles (which ordinarily should not conflict with their soldiers' oath) perpetuates the "robot" stereotype of the armed forces.

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I disagree with this however:
soldiers do not have the right or responsibility to make decisions for themselves.

There is such a thing as an "illegal" order - so to suggest that soldiers shouldn't have or act on moral and ethical principles (which ordinarily should not conflict with their soldiers' oath) perpetuates the "robot" stereotype of the armed forces.

actually correct, erekose

* ~ * Charles * ~ *
 

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

 

USE THE REPORT BUTTON INSTEAD OF MESSAGING A MODERATOR!

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This has been on VJ several times.... does anyone know what happened to the Captain from Hawaii? I forget his name, but I know he had a thread several pages long on here when he refused to go to Iraq. What ever happened to that guy?

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She should simply pay back the TAX payers money..

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the 400 richest American households earned a total of $US138 billion, up from $US105 billion a year earlier. That's an average of $US345 million each, on which they paid a tax rate of just 16.6 per cent.

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She should simply pay back the TAX payers money..

oh she'll do that alright ;) forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduced to lowest grade, incarcerated at the usdb :lol:

* ~ * Charles * ~ *
 

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

 

USE THE REPORT BUTTON INSTEAD OF MESSAGING A MODERATOR!

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