Army officer addresses Republican Club

[sfc_darrel]

Army officer addresses Republican Club

By Lona O'Connor, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, May 28, 2004



BOCA RATON -- Amidst the hurricane known as prisoner abuse, Lt. Col. Allen B. West stands as a calm center.

West, who fired a 9mm pistol near the head of an Iraqi prisoner during an interrogation last year, addressed a cheering crowd of 120 at a monthly luncheon of the Boca Raton Republican Club on Thursday. His image appeared on the front page of The New York Times the day of the luncheon.

West, 43, a trim, soft-spoken career officer with close-cropped graying hair, was moved by the hero's welcome.

"I guess it's Allen West Day," he said, somewhat sheepishly.

A decorated 20-year Army officer, West could hardly make it to the podium as people stopped him, hugged him and wished him well. A veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba pressed a commemorative black cap into West's hands.

For just an instant, West, dressed in civilian clothes, stood alone among the banquet tables, taking in this spectacle in his honor. Then he climbed onto the dais.

West headed a 4th Infantry Division battalion at Taji airbase north of Baghdad after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. His soldiers helped rebuild a police station, develop local councils and perform other post-war duties.

In August, they learned that insurgents were plotting an ambush and assassination of West. They unsuccessfully interrogated a prisoner about the plot. In West's presence, they roughed him up.

West then bent the prisoner's head into a barrel and fired his gun next to the man's head, twice. With the information the prisoner then provided, West was able to avert an ambush.

"You make decisions based upon your instincts," he said Thursday.

He reported the incident to his commanding officer and his men.

In October, the Army launched an investigation and charged West with aggravated assault, with a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. In December, a military court concluded the case, fining West $5,000. He received an honorable discharge and his Army pension.

The public reaction to West's case was largely one of praise, not shame. More than 140,000 people signed an online petition to exonerate him. A group of lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), defended West's actions.

West urged the Republican group not to be swept away in an orgy of American self-loathing. He reminded his audience of the 300 Spartans who fought to the death against an army of 10,000 Persians at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

"What is your Thermopylae?" he asked the crowd. "Where will you take a stand?"

West is waiting for the hoopla to die down so he can apply for a job as a social science teacher in Broward County, where his wife recently took a job. He eventually would like to work as a school principal.

Son of a World War II veteran and brother of a Vietnam veteran, West misses being a soldier already.

"It will always be a part of me."

[Arrow]

Hooah!