Michael New dismissed from U.S. District Court

U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C. – On December 22, District Judge Paul Friedman granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case of Michael New vs. Rumsfeld, et al.  He issued a 34 page ruling, which can be found at our website, here:

www.mikenew.com/docs/pf_opinion.pdf

In a most unusual argument, Judge Friedman said that, in effect, it may well be true that President Clinton broke the law by sending troops into Macedonia, but it is the fault of Congress!!  Why?  Because they let him get away with it!  That it is not the right of an individual soldier to stand up to his Commander in Chief, even when he issues an unlawful order!  (Didn’t we settle that question at Nuremburg?)

Besides, says Judge Friedman, “This challenge [to U.N. control] presents a non-justiciable political question.”  In other words, the court claims to have no authority to deal with the major issue raised by Michael New and his attorneys. 

What next?

The question was, “Shall we appeal, and if so, what are our chances of winning?”

The answer was, “What are the chances of winning if we don’t appeal?”

Yes, we shall appeal!

Our deadline for filing our notice of appeal is January 24, 2005. 

Which just happens to be the NINTH anniversary of the convening of SPC Michael New’s court martial in Schweinfurt, Germany.

The average army recruit today is 18 years old, but he/she was only nine years old when this case began.  Will they retire from service before this important question of law is answered?

Our appeal will be to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia — only a stone's throw from the United States Supreme Court.  Now that we have obtained from Judge Friedman a clearer statement of the government's position, we are hopeful of victory before a three-judge panel.  We’ll be asking, of course, for reversal of the military court-martial conviction and Bad Conduct Discharge, and an order to the U.S. Army to retry the charges against Michael, but this time affording him due process of law.  If we lose, we will take Michael's case to the highest court, and once again seek to validate Mike's stand that an American soldier cannot be forced to serve under foreign officers as UN mercenaries at the whim of the President.

And then, we will have our answer as to whether this Republic is really dead, or whether there is life left in it worth fighting for.

In the meantime, what can you be doing?  Of course, you can support this battle financially, with a contribution to the legal defense fund, at either the Virginia or the Texas addresses.  More importantly, you can get copies of the book, MICHAEL NEW – Mercenary… or American Soldier?, and place it in the hands of young people, of men and women in uniform, of veterans, of elected officials.  They need to read why this case is still so important to their freedom. 

We make the book available at the ridiculous price of a full case of fifty books for fifty dollars – that’s right!  A buck a book!  And we’ve had some people say, “I don’t think I could ever give away 50 books, but let me pay for someone who can!”  And then we find some soldier who says, “I don’t have $50, but I can give away a hundred books to my fellow soldiers.”  It all works out.  So far, we’ve given away over 22,000 copies of the book to military personnel – thanks to you!  Do you think that’s one of the reasons that they are becoming less and less happy with being used as foreign mercenaries?  We like to think so.  Order these books only from the Texas address.

www.mikenew.com/

Michael New Action Fund         P.O. Box 100           Iredell, Texas 76649

Historical source: update105.shtml