For reasons known to themselves, the U.S. government has requested a thirty day extention in the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. This means the government is now due to file its brief in February instead of January, which gives us a probable trial date late in March, 1998.

Update 29 January 1998

In this hearing, our evidence will finally be placed on the table for the public and for the judges to consider, on their own merits, rather than debating jurisdiction and legal philosophy.

While there is no issue on which every veteran agrees, vets at the local level have been overwhelming in their support of Michael New and his refusal to be turned into a mercenary against his will. Evidence of that comes this time from Idaho, where the latest Amvets Spc. Michael New Post #87 has been chartered. This is a very humbling and even embarrassing development to Michael, but gratifying in that we recognize that veterans understand better than the bureaucrats that this is NOT about obeying a single order, it's about the sovereignty of our country.

True to bureacratic tradition, no national veterans organization will take a stand, even though most of the leaders with whom we speak privately state their sympathy and agreement. Even after much lobbying from members, most seem to sense that it's not in their financial interest to take a stand that might "bite the hand that feeds them"

Latest in this is the Vietnam Veterans of America, whose office in Washington, DC, has flatly denied the Michael New Action Fund access to its membership list for a fund-raising letter, even though they rent that list to other causes with regularity. A few members are upset that VVA won't allow its members to hear the story and make up their own minds. If you're a member and want to be placed in contact with them, just let us know by email or post.

If you are a veteran, and wish to register your support for Michael New's stand, please fill out this form. (Your name and address are not for sale. If you opt to allow us to put your address on our general mailing list, you may receive mailings from us and from organizations with whom we exchange lists. That's the way we get the message out to more people without paying an arm and a leg for mailing lists.) Your name, rank, branch, and theatre may be used in the future to demonstrate to Congress that what Michael New did was stand up for a lot of Americans who have served in uniform.