[The point that Mr. Witten was trying to make - and make and make and make - was that the, all to visible, Iraqi terrorists were NOT following the Muslim religious precepts that they profess. Unfortunately, so many points were superficial, and obvious counterpoints so often completely ignored, that the plot seemed contrived and forced. The self-serving, sensationalistic reporter was, however, all too familiar - if not an overused character type.]
The SECNAV introduced Major General Earl Watson and his Iraqi counterpart General Mohammed Jabra at a press conference where ZNN reporter Jill Waddington grandstanded and accused Watson of having an offensive attitude toward the Muslims. She claimed that she had "just happened upon" (a lie) Watsons guest sermon at a Baptist church, where he called it a "second rate religion" and that "we were doing battle with the devil." The SECNAV ordered a JAG investigation and (surprise) Harm (H) and Mac (M) disagreed on about everything. Watson told M that the religion "has a warrior streak which is too easily appropriated as justification for holy war." M began her arguments with him by saying that Islam explicitly condemned terrorism. Watson said that Waddington's reports weren't accurate or complete. He had spoken that it was "Christian duty to protect people from terrorism" and told the two to ask the congregation for the complete truth. Unfortunately they interviewed seven people who had all seemed to hear the talk completely differently. Turner (T) offered to help M, who was having back pain, with the prosecution saying that he had never heard his chaplain father say anything against any other religion. Then Waddington brought out never shown, archived footage of another "sermon" Watson gave 4 days after 9/11 over 2 1/2 years previously. Watson had said the US was under attack by people who were following the Koran's advice to "Fight unbelievers wherever you find them" and that we were "a Christian army who will win this holy war." The SECNAV bumped it to an official court of inquiry, closed to the press, who began asking questions like: why didn't you get your speech approved by public affairs? And why did you wear your uniform? M tried to belittle H saying: "why aren't you offended by his speech?" H told her that the general had spent, and nearly given, his life to defend our right for free speech, "now you want to take away his right to freedom of religion and speech - why doesn't that offend you?" T found that Waddington had actually received her tip from a Cpl Hamud who was getting out of the service.
T received notice of an investigation into his "anti-Korean bias" charge from Lt Yi. Chegwidden (C) assigned Bud (B) to investigate saying that if it wasn't true he wanted T's record cleared. B argued that he had been in the exact same place, having Ts career in his hands, a year ago. C quipped "well, fortunately, he survived that experience!" T worried to M that his prosecution of Watson was hypocritical. She told him that "you're far too obsessively rational to be prejudiced against anyone." T took B his notes and information and told him that he "would do a fine job." Coates (Co) nagged C for a press release and he told her that what the country needed was more baseball heroes. When she said she wasn't a fan of baseball, he said "I've fired people for less." He dictated a memo to the SECNAV and included the part about baseball heroes, so she said she would write the first draft for his signature. The whole gang cornered Co in M's office and asked about Meredith. H said "we know that you know something." She told them "yes, I do… and the admiral won't be saying those two words." Hamud told M that he had met Waddington doing a story at boot camp. He called her after hearing of Watson's new appointment because he had been offended by Watson's "trash talking Islam" at an "interfaith" sermon after 9/11.
The board of inquiry recommended court martial and on the stand Watson said that he had been asked to be a guest speaker at a church meeting, in a chapel, days after 9/11 when emotions were high and did wear his uniform but made it clear his opinions were his own. To M's caustic examination he said: "I expressed belief that God is not neutral in the struggle between freedom and terrorism. M sniped back that she "thought God would prefer that people didn't throw his name around quite so much." M called the SECNAV to testify against Watson but H countered all of her arguments. Jabra testified that most Americans "can't tell the difference between real Islam and the terrorist perversion of Islam." He said Watson's remarks didn't really bother them because they were "just words." After saying that the people were glad of the help to rid them of Saddam Hussein, he said that he could "cut Watson some slack" because the speech was made after 9/11. He then told the court that he, personally, found Christian ideas odd; so, "if I find your religion a little bizarre, I can't get angry with you finding mine equally strange." Waddington reported that she "wondered if the prosecution was really trying to win," and M called her a "stupid twit." T brought in reverend Haynes, from Watsons previous speech, to explain the slides he used. One showing Baghdad on fire he said showed "the devil in the smoke." Watson explained to H that while he was there with his men, in battle, in danger, he believed that "God had permitted him to see the face of the devil" which had given him the strength to go on. He gave H one potential witness for his character. Mrs. Sattar's husband, Ayman, was killed in a fedayeen ambush and Watson had come to the house to express condolences. When found that she had breast cancer that the Iraqi hospital couldn't help, he arranged for his church to bring her to America for treatment, let her live in their housing and drive her to the Mosque every Friday for worship. H called Watson to the stand and he did well. M felt it necessary to give a lesson on Islamic belief's saying that "Jihad" only meant "to struggle or strive," only considered "warfare justified for self-defense or liberation," had rules against killing "children, women, elderly and other non-combatants… including suicide." She said that "they are not following Islam any more than Timothy McVeigh was following Christianity." [The authors left out that McVeigh never claimed to be on a Christian crusade or that "official" Islamic leaders aren't seen to actively refute or "excommunicate" terrorists] The court found Watson not guilty on the charges; but, the judge recommended formal counseling and ordered not to assert belief's in public forums. As Watson was walking out with H and M, they saw a news report of 18 killed in a Fallujah suicide bombing by the "fire of Allah" claiming a "glorious victory in this holy war." Watson excused himself. H said "that's why we need men like the general." M sniped "or not."
Yi told B that T had allowed a sailor to antagonize a North Korean skipper and supported him being tied up. He said that T had made statements showing he had little respect for Koreans. B told Yi that he had spoken with his father, who had been shot by a black man, and found him to be bigoted against blacks. He asked Yi to tell him honestly that he hadn't at least once questioned his own motives against T. Yi dropped the charges and B told T that he "wasn't going to let you down this time." C told Co about the most famous Jew in the 1930's. Hank Greenberg, AKA "hammerin' hank" was a hall of fame 1st baseman and left fielder who took the Detroit Tigers to four world series. Greenberg, C said, did more to combat anti-Semitism in the 30's than any other man. "What the world needs now," C said, "is a Muslim who can hit 60 home runs!"
Showing posts with label Matt Witten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Witten. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2004
Friday, February 13, 2004
Crash - 197
[Although completely at odds (surprise, surprise) Mac and Harm investigate the same case in this episode. In a momentary lapse, Chegwidden reveals a rudimentary sense of humor; and, Bud seems to be "growing up"... a bit.] Lt. James Ross crashed his F18 Hornet onto the ramp of the USS Bennington and was killed. Both Harm (H) and Mac (M) were assigned to investigate, and Captain Goldman complimented H on his "Seahawk investigation." They found that Ross had been landing on "automatic" but needed to switch to manual because he was too low. Then, they found that most of the plane had been burned, along with the maintenance data tapes. They were told that Ross had been following the glide path programmed into the computer; but, its data was also lost, so they couldn't check it. PO 1st class Dakey denied any computer error and said that most often problems are due to a misaligned angle of attack vane. The senior chief got defensive and said the vane was NOT out of order, because they had specifically double checked it. H asked why he was so defensive and he said he didn't like to speak ill of the dead. Ross had come back from two weeks leave, very depressed, and said that, because his wife was having an affair, he didn’t care what happened to him anymore. The Sr. Chief said he didn't believe the crash was an accident. M found an unsent email, to Ross' wife Arlene, which said "give me one good reason I shouldn't just fly into the back of the ship some night. I told Stanich I didn't care if I live or die and he said he didn't give a damn either, and to just suck it up and keep flying." They confronted the CAG, Cdr Stanich, with the email and he didn't deny the encounter; but, said that he didn't take the comment seriously because most of the flyers had come back from leave with mood swings. They both thought that Ross' death looked like it was suicide, but M also tore into Stanich with a passion. H and M argued in front of the captain, and he asked: "you two work together? That must be a picnic." But, he agreed with M and ordered an article 32 investigation on Stanich. M strong-armed Ross' wife into testifying against Stanich, threatening to subpoena her. She said that she would loose $500,000.00 insurance money if it was adjudged suicide. M and H continued their argument in front of Chegwidden (C), who said he agreed with H. They were so adamant that C told H he would prosecute and M defend. When they just stood there stunned and sputtering - C said "just kidding."
H wanted to delay going on the investigation for a day, so he could keep an appointment with one of Mattie's (Mt) teachers. He didn't say anything to C though, and asked Coates (Co) to substitute for him. She said she would talk with the "Dragon Lady," and watch Mt, if H would "leave his credit card." Drabowski, the teacher, was threatening to flunk Mt if she didn't hand in all of the semesters work, even though she wasn't there for half of it. Drabowski really was an unreasonable, judgmental, witch, who started ragging on H for being "an uncaring, uninvolved parent." Mt tried to get her back on track, but Drabowski turned on Mt as well; so, Mt walked out on her. Co called H and said Mt "needed a little parenting." Mt told him that Drabowski said he was "an irresponsible father who didn't care about her education," and H said: "so you were sticking up for me." Mt told him that he would have the chance to stick up for himself next Friday and H promised that "nothing would keep him away." When H got back, he found that Mt had stayed home from school, ostensibly ill, and told her that if she "ever was feeling overwhelmed, to promise him that she would come to him." She said, "sure, I'll do that, if you're around." He told her that he never felt he was a teenager and had always regretted it. He said that she had "plenty of time to grow up so to enjoy the freedom." She said that she had been free to do pretty much what she wanted before she met him, and he merely said "so could I." Of course, he left the next week and told Mt "I'll try and be back." She told him "go ahead, knock yourself out!"
Bud (B) was shown calling Mike (Mk) and getting the answering machine. He left a message about "how long is this act going to go on - Mikey?" but was interrupted by H. B was second chair in the defense and had found "suicide prevention training" on the internet. He had H respond to a distressed "virtually depressed" sailor, and the computer gave H "zero" on his "don't be a fool" response. B told H that when he was depressed over his leg, he was "just glad I didn't have a gun around." Arlene testified that Ross had come home a cocky career pilot, who ordered everyone around like they were enlisted personnel, and argued. He got the idea that she was having an affair and wouldn't listen to reason. When Ross had called her from Naples, she made him promise to "see someone" if he felt bad, and he promised that he would see his CO. M pontificated and the judge (not to mention H) had to tell her to stop editorializing several times. Stanich said he regretted giving the pilots leave, because they all came back unfocused, bickering and saying off the wall things. One said he was going to slug the captain so he could be sent home, another that he was going to jump ship and swim back to Naples. He thought Ross was fooling around like the rest of us. H found that Ross had ordered a motorcycle two days before his death, and asked for a continuance, so he could go back to the ship. When there, he asked for an F18 so he could recreate the flight. He told the captain that he had gotten his quals "in another agency." B told Dakey that they had been able to resurrect the "last 84 minutes" of Ross' flight and were going to follow the settings exactly. During the flight, Dakey nervously tried to say the numbers were wrong and stop the flight. He finally got so nervous that he blurted out "the radar's wrong, that's why Ross crashed." H told him he had been flying on manual the whole time. He admitted that there had been a "couple of 4 wires that night. Planes had been landing long so he tweaked the settings." Both B and the Capt ragged on Dakey about his allowing a woman to think her husband had committed suicide and loose benefits as well as letting Stanich go to jail. The Capt told him that he would be in the brig "for years" and Dakey broke and ran. He climbed outside the ships rail and threatened to jump. B told everyone to "let him handle it" (probably because of his internet training making him an expert) and tried to commiserate with Dakey. When that wasn't working he blurted: "don't be a fool" which got him to stop; and brought him back inside the railing.
The judge acknowledged the new information, but ragged on Stanich about how insensitive he'd been, anyway. Then he said Stanich had "probably learned his lesson" and recommended against a court-martial. H made it to Mt's school just in time; but, didn't avoid the Dragon Lady's launch into her tirade. Finally H pulled out a business plan for a crop dusting company, letters to the IRS, banks and suppliers, and a 20-page letter to the juvenile court judge that Mt had written over her custody hearings. Drabowski said "I suppose that will do."
H wanted to delay going on the investigation for a day, so he could keep an appointment with one of Mattie's (Mt) teachers. He didn't say anything to C though, and asked Coates (Co) to substitute for him. She said she would talk with the "Dragon Lady," and watch Mt, if H would "leave his credit card." Drabowski, the teacher, was threatening to flunk Mt if she didn't hand in all of the semesters work, even though she wasn't there for half of it. Drabowski really was an unreasonable, judgmental, witch, who started ragging on H for being "an uncaring, uninvolved parent." Mt tried to get her back on track, but Drabowski turned on Mt as well; so, Mt walked out on her. Co called H and said Mt "needed a little parenting." Mt told him that Drabowski said he was "an irresponsible father who didn't care about her education," and H said: "so you were sticking up for me." Mt told him that he would have the chance to stick up for himself next Friday and H promised that "nothing would keep him away." When H got back, he found that Mt had stayed home from school, ostensibly ill, and told her that if she "ever was feeling overwhelmed, to promise him that she would come to him." She said, "sure, I'll do that, if you're around." He told her that he never felt he was a teenager and had always regretted it. He said that she had "plenty of time to grow up so to enjoy the freedom." She said that she had been free to do pretty much what she wanted before she met him, and he merely said "so could I." Of course, he left the next week and told Mt "I'll try and be back." She told him "go ahead, knock yourself out!"
Bud (B) was shown calling Mike (Mk) and getting the answering machine. He left a message about "how long is this act going to go on - Mikey?" but was interrupted by H. B was second chair in the defense and had found "suicide prevention training" on the internet. He had H respond to a distressed "virtually depressed" sailor, and the computer gave H "zero" on his "don't be a fool" response. B told H that when he was depressed over his leg, he was "just glad I didn't have a gun around." Arlene testified that Ross had come home a cocky career pilot, who ordered everyone around like they were enlisted personnel, and argued. He got the idea that she was having an affair and wouldn't listen to reason. When Ross had called her from Naples, she made him promise to "see someone" if he felt bad, and he promised that he would see his CO. M pontificated and the judge (not to mention H) had to tell her to stop editorializing several times. Stanich said he regretted giving the pilots leave, because they all came back unfocused, bickering and saying off the wall things. One said he was going to slug the captain so he could be sent home, another that he was going to jump ship and swim back to Naples. He thought Ross was fooling around like the rest of us. H found that Ross had ordered a motorcycle two days before his death, and asked for a continuance, so he could go back to the ship. When there, he asked for an F18 so he could recreate the flight. He told the captain that he had gotten his quals "in another agency." B told Dakey that they had been able to resurrect the "last 84 minutes" of Ross' flight and were going to follow the settings exactly. During the flight, Dakey nervously tried to say the numbers were wrong and stop the flight. He finally got so nervous that he blurted out "the radar's wrong, that's why Ross crashed." H told him he had been flying on manual the whole time. He admitted that there had been a "couple of 4 wires that night. Planes had been landing long so he tweaked the settings." Both B and the Capt ragged on Dakey about his allowing a woman to think her husband had committed suicide and loose benefits as well as letting Stanich go to jail. The Capt told him that he would be in the brig "for years" and Dakey broke and ran. He climbed outside the ships rail and threatened to jump. B told everyone to "let him handle it" (probably because of his internet training making him an expert) and tried to commiserate with Dakey. When that wasn't working he blurted: "don't be a fool" which got him to stop; and brought him back inside the railing.
The judge acknowledged the new information, but ragged on Stanich about how insensitive he'd been, anyway. Then he said Stanich had "probably learned his lesson" and recommended against a court-martial. H made it to Mt's school just in time; but, didn't avoid the Dragon Lady's launch into her tirade. Finally H pulled out a business plan for a crop dusting company, letters to the IRS, banks and suppliers, and a 20-page letter to the juvenile court judge that Mt had written over her custody hearings. Drabowski said "I suppose that will do."
Friday, November 21, 2003
The Boast - 191
The SECNAV asked Chegwidden to get to the bottom of an accidental "confession" to a reporter of an Iraqi prisoner. Lance Corporal Pete Kelly told Ginny Serrano about shooting a prisoner in the head when she asked him the "million dollar question" (have you killed anybody) in a bar. Unfortunately, she didn't accept his retraction after he found she was a reporter; and she dug up an identical incident which happened in the compound to Omar Billah. Also, unfortunately, in Serrano's "yellow journalism" the only thing she needed to run the story is no-one telling her it couldn't have happened. Kelly didn't have an alibi for when the incident occurred, and of course she didn't either ask or believe anyone in the military because they would just "lie." Kelly told both Bud and Mac that he just made up the story because he was sick of people asking "the question." Captain Rappaport confirmed there was an incident in the compound which held 200 - 400 EPWs. He also said that although Kelly's whereabouts couldn't be confirmed, the security was in chaos with all the influx of surrendering prisoners. One prisoner had been found to still have a gun, and Billah had to be handcuffed because he was trying to incite a riot two hours before he was killed. The SECNAV then came to say he'd talked it over with the joint chiefs and they now no longer considered it a priority. He wanted no prosecution unless absolutely certain of the case, because they didn't want to provide propaganda the enemy could use. B said "yes" to prosecution, M said "not sure" but prosecution went forward and C assigned B to prosecute and M to defend. Coates helped get information on Serrano but Billah was a complete blank. Rappaport said that Billah had "spit in Kelly's face" before the incident; but, told M she would have to go "a lot higher up than me" if she wanted any info on Billah. She went to the SECNAV and asked what he was not telling her. He eventually agreed to "talk to the joint chiefs" about it. She told him to tell them that they would keep all the testimony secret, but that she "was not going to go away." Rappaport testified that Billah was NOT a prisoner, but rather an Iraqi exile planted as in informant by the CIA and Marine Corps intelligence. M said "then there were 400 men in the compound with good reason to kill Billah if they found out who he was."
Chegwidden took Harm to Los Angeles for the international military law conference; but, the SECNAV opinioned that C was just going to go to the Navy-Marine Corps all-star baseball game. During the game, the MC coaches son, Lt. Dave Phelps, was hit in the head unconscious by a "brush back pitch." The father, pressed charges against PO Crawford, the pitcher who, he claimed, deliberately threw at the back of Phelps' head, so he would back into it. C took it personally and went to talk to the father; but, couldn't convince him that it could have been an accident. C arranged to hold the hearing in his conference room and said that he would defend the pitcher. He left M in charge to decide who the opposing counsel would be. She was going to "dump it on Turner," but H said he would do it because "the boss set it up so everyone else was busy and she would have to choose me." She told him that "you just want to nail the admiral for keeping you out of the Navy for 3 months," but told him he could. The Navy coach said that Crawford had been recruited by the Yankees and red sox and had a 95 mph fast ball with good control. He denied telling him to hit the batter because doing so might have put the winning run on base. Crawford said the ball just got away from him and he would "never throw a fast ball at another man's head, even if he was a marine." Seaman Johnson, the catcher, told C that he "didn't know" and "didn't recall" when asked about the sign he gave. C threatened him with videotapes and Johnson said that their manager had given a direct order for a brush back pitch. When finding that out, the MC coach/father wanted to charge the navy coach and manager too. Phelps said "dad, you're kidding!"
In the trials: Rappaport said that Kelly's whereabouts were unaccounted for but he was first on the scene and had said "guess he won't be killing any more American's." Serrano said his "confession" had to be true because it was "too disgusting to make up" and that she hadn't talked to anyone in the military about it. She had also just been hired by the Times but denied that she would ever "print a story just to advance my career." Coates discovered that the incident where a prisoner was found to have a gun was only 2 weeks after the Billah killing and was Khaled Fadani, who had been in Billah's compound at the time. In spite of the fact witnesses saw the gun to be a 9mm Beretta and Billah was killed with a 9mm, the judge wouldn't allow further discovery (?!!). M asked Kelly, on the stand, if he'd killed anyone. He initially refused to answer then told about his run through "ambush alley" where his buddies were killed. The question, he said, makes you "feel creepy" and sometimes when asked, he just made things up to make "them feel creepy too." He denied killing Billah because it would show disrespect to the memory of his fellow marines. The jury found him NOT guilty.
Phelps said that his first time at bat he had gotten a single to left field. Then, when the next batter hit a slow line drive to second, he had charged and cleated the shortstop in order to disable him for the double play. He saw Crawford stare at him and point for a long time so he "knew he would try something." C asked him if he thought that he should be court-martialed for spiking the shortstop. The coach said Crawford hadn't given up a single walk, which H opined was "perfect control." The coach blurted that "you can't prove it," and "anyway it's part of baseball." Crawford said he aimed in front of Phelps' chest, as a brush-back, to set up the next pitch, a curve ball low and away. He didn't hit Phelps on purpose. The previous game the manager had asked him to throw at the hitter, but he didn't do it. Afterwards, he had been told to follow orders and that in order to be in the big leagues he had to be "tougher." H closed with: "we can't allow this kind of thuggery to go unpunished just because it's done in the name of sports. C said: "It's different in baseball (from hockey and racing). You wear a helmet and even little leaguers know they might be hit, which is implied consent. Famous pitchers all used inside pitches. Don't let lawyers kill baseball." The judge concluded: "the line between criminal assault and unfortunate, though predictable, sports accidents, is too thin to be resolved in court martial. No further action."
H took three pizzas to Mattie, because he didn't know what kind she liked. She told him to bring Pepperoni next time. He had set up a hearing in juvenile court, in three weeks, to try and make her his ward. He used the Batman and Robin analogy to explain the definition of ward. She asked him: "what do you get out of this?" He replied, "you." — Phelps had to tell his dad that "enough was enough" and there would be no further appeals. — Bud told M that, based on her actions in court, she was probably asked the "million dollar question" a lot too. She replied: "yes, and I never tell the truth!"
Chegwidden took Harm to Los Angeles for the international military law conference; but, the SECNAV opinioned that C was just going to go to the Navy-Marine Corps all-star baseball game. During the game, the MC coaches son, Lt. Dave Phelps, was hit in the head unconscious by a "brush back pitch." The father, pressed charges against PO Crawford, the pitcher who, he claimed, deliberately threw at the back of Phelps' head, so he would back into it. C took it personally and went to talk to the father; but, couldn't convince him that it could have been an accident. C arranged to hold the hearing in his conference room and said that he would defend the pitcher. He left M in charge to decide who the opposing counsel would be. She was going to "dump it on Turner," but H said he would do it because "the boss set it up so everyone else was busy and she would have to choose me." She told him that "you just want to nail the admiral for keeping you out of the Navy for 3 months," but told him he could. The Navy coach said that Crawford had been recruited by the Yankees and red sox and had a 95 mph fast ball with good control. He denied telling him to hit the batter because doing so might have put the winning run on base. Crawford said the ball just got away from him and he would "never throw a fast ball at another man's head, even if he was a marine." Seaman Johnson, the catcher, told C that he "didn't know" and "didn't recall" when asked about the sign he gave. C threatened him with videotapes and Johnson said that their manager had given a direct order for a brush back pitch. When finding that out, the MC coach/father wanted to charge the navy coach and manager too. Phelps said "dad, you're kidding!"
In the trials: Rappaport said that Kelly's whereabouts were unaccounted for but he was first on the scene and had said "guess he won't be killing any more American's." Serrano said his "confession" had to be true because it was "too disgusting to make up" and that she hadn't talked to anyone in the military about it. She had also just been hired by the Times but denied that she would ever "print a story just to advance my career." Coates discovered that the incident where a prisoner was found to have a gun was only 2 weeks after the Billah killing and was Khaled Fadani, who had been in Billah's compound at the time. In spite of the fact witnesses saw the gun to be a 9mm Beretta and Billah was killed with a 9mm, the judge wouldn't allow further discovery (?!!). M asked Kelly, on the stand, if he'd killed anyone. He initially refused to answer then told about his run through "ambush alley" where his buddies were killed. The question, he said, makes you "feel creepy" and sometimes when asked, he just made things up to make "them feel creepy too." He denied killing Billah because it would show disrespect to the memory of his fellow marines. The jury found him NOT guilty.
Phelps said that his first time at bat he had gotten a single to left field. Then, when the next batter hit a slow line drive to second, he had charged and cleated the shortstop in order to disable him for the double play. He saw Crawford stare at him and point for a long time so he "knew he would try something." C asked him if he thought that he should be court-martialed for spiking the shortstop. The coach said Crawford hadn't given up a single walk, which H opined was "perfect control." The coach blurted that "you can't prove it," and "anyway it's part of baseball." Crawford said he aimed in front of Phelps' chest, as a brush-back, to set up the next pitch, a curve ball low and away. He didn't hit Phelps on purpose. The previous game the manager had asked him to throw at the hitter, but he didn't do it. Afterwards, he had been told to follow orders and that in order to be in the big leagues he had to be "tougher." H closed with: "we can't allow this kind of thuggery to go unpunished just because it's done in the name of sports. C said: "It's different in baseball (from hockey and racing). You wear a helmet and even little leaguers know they might be hit, which is implied consent. Famous pitchers all used inside pitches. Don't let lawyers kill baseball." The judge concluded: "the line between criminal assault and unfortunate, though predictable, sports accidents, is too thin to be resolved in court martial. No further action."
H took three pizzas to Mattie, because he didn't know what kind she liked. She told him to bring Pepperoni next time. He had set up a hearing in juvenile court, in three weeks, to try and make her his ward. He used the Batman and Robin analogy to explain the definition of ward. She asked him: "what do you get out of this?" He replied, "you." — Phelps had to tell his dad that "enough was enough" and there would be no further appeals. — Bud told M that, based on her actions in court, she was probably asked the "million dollar question" a lot too. She replied: "yes, and I never tell the truth!"
Friday, October 24, 2003
Touchdown - 187
[Very interesting follow-up to previous episode showing the degradation of the Sturgis Turner character. Harm and Mac still were in parallel stories requiring "flip-flops" which made the plot complicated. Harms story was based upon an actual landing of a C-130 on the USS Forestall by Lt James H Flatley and Lcdr W. W. "Smokey" Stovall on October 30th 1963] Still flying for the CIA, Harm and Cdr Beth O'Neil were assigned by Blaisdell to "extract" Saed Labdouni, the highest level "asset" in Libya. He had information of government involvement in the Lockerbie plane crash. The only plane available was a C-130 transport and there was no backup or contingency plan. H was told he was the "lead" this time, and had to fly down at 200 feet to avoid Russian tracking. He had to turn off his radar to avoid detection and fly "visually" in the dark. At rendezvous one of the nav satellites went out making his GPS inaccurate so he had to turn and make another run before he found the signal. On landing he found that Labdouni had brought his wife, Aziza, mother-in-law, Ismitta and cousin Fadil with his family. Telling him that extra passengers weren't authorized, they were fired on by machine-gun wielding jeeps so had to board fast. Unfortunately they were shot at during take off and engine #1 began to flame. Instead of "blowing it," O'Neil insisted on shutting it down, in case they needed it later; H complied and told her that she was "lucky this time." Just then, they were attacked by a Russian MIG. Not being able to out run it, H had to drop flares to avoid a missile. They didn't avoid his gun fire however; so, at the last minute, he positioned next to a mountain, and mass fired all his flares at once just at the time of "pull up." The MIG pilot, using night vision enhancement, was unexpectedly blinded, and crashed into the mountain. Now engine #2 was loosing oil so needed to be shut down or "freeze up." They then restarted #1 and luckily it didn't start fire. H had to "fight" the plane knowing that they couldn't abandon because of all the extra passengers, including children, who didn't have parachutes. H asked Blaisdell the coordinates of the Seahawk, and to get help with the captain, from Washington.
Sturgis Turner was assigned the capital prosecution of seaman Weston for treason after trying to kill his fellow soldiers as a secret member of an al Qaeda cell. He flailed at Bud for not noticing that the Xerox machine had missed page three of a document. B offered to withdraw, saying he knew the only reason he was second, was because of Chegwidden's insistence. He further pissed off T by observing that the case was a "slam dunk." Mac was assigned the defense but didn't have her heart in it. Weston claimed that he was innocent. He kept a low profile on his religion (wasn't hiding it) for fear of prejudice; the email to his cousin from his base in Bahrain, about it being "easy to kill soldiers in the chow hall" was merely a comment on the laxity of security; and, the "confession" of a prisoner implicating him, was a "complete lie." M reviewed the interrogation tapes where Sabet admitted that he had met with Weston three times and had been asked for Sarin nerve gas to release in the chow hall on Friday where over 100 men would be killed. M noticed a trigger device in the interrogator, Abu Kamel's, hand and demanded to talk to him. Kamel was a haughty, arrogant man, glib about all the equipment the American's had bought him. He gloated in the 50,000 volt stun belt that he used and said that it was "better than the older method." He bragged that "we in the middle east have been dealing with terrorists longer than the US" and that "you will come around to our ways." M seemed to only argue the morality issue, not the "finding the real truth" issue, and T told Bud that his opinions were irrelevant. Chegwidden had to defuse the argument and told them that he was bringing Imes back from Europe to replace H. Before the hearing M argued to suppress Sabet's testimony on moral grounds, T cited previous allowed torture testimony but got flummoxed at the judges questions. B bailed him out with logical responses. The judge said that he did believed Sabet's testimony would be under threat of torture, but it wasn't from the US so he would allow the members (jury) to decide for themselves of its truthfulness. M didn't seem upset with the ruling, said "I thought I had you there," and "now I'm stuck defending him." She complimented B, so did T except with "you had my back, unlike last time."
M, trying to calm Weston down, said she could bring witnesses to show his testimony can't be trusted. Weston replied, "I shouldn't have trusted him either." Then he whined that "they'll kill me," and M said "I guess since you just confessed to me, you can't complain." He pontificated that his only complaint would be that he "couldn't do anything useful before I got caught." He went into a diatribe about "his peoples" oppression of slavery and "his prophets work." He wanted to cop a plea to guilty to avoid the death penalty because he "didn’t want to die, could do the prophet's work in prison, and be alive when the great American Empire is destroyed." M merely, disgustedly, said "who ever taught you to hate like that should be in prison too." She tried to get T to deal but he refused. She got into it with him in the hall asking him "what's the matter with you? last week you wanted to throw a guy in the brig for refusing to kill a 10 year old boy, now you're being hard nosed to point of absurdity." They were intercepted by C, into his office. M continued - you support torture even though you wouldn't do it, then you want to electrocute him, even though you wouldn't pull the switch." T told her, "I see no contradiction in that." C agreed with T in the presence of M, then excused her to talk to T. He told T that "you've been under stress since your conduct unbecoming case. You may be trying too hard to prove yourself all over again." T said, "I don't see it." C said, "Well I do, you don't have to prove yourself to me." Regarding the plea bargain, he pointed out that, even though he would like to see him executed as well, T should consider the possibility that M would win - and he should "make the best choice." T went immediately to M and accepted the offer, to her puzzlement.
The joint chiefs flash messaged Capt Johnson of the Seahawk to provide all feasible assistance. C-130 doesn't have tail hook, 3 times bigger than any previous landing plane, wings so big all aircraft needed moving in less than 25 minutes. O'Neil guessed at a "lens angle of 4.0, more or less," H presented it with certainty to the Captain. The Seahawk shot off all excess planes, moved all others so their tails were off the deck, reset the lens to 4, removed the landing wires so the nose gear wouldn't get caught, and couldn't put up barriers because the cable might hit the cockpit. O'Neil gave their only three life preservers to the kids. Then they realized there was a hydraulic failure so they had no brakes. They dumped all but 1000# fuel to slow approach and would reverse engines at the threshold. The captain told them that there was only 3 knot's of headwind and the ship could only give them 45 knot's with speed. H told him to give them all they've got and the Captain demanded to know what was going on. H told him their predicament and that they would use "reverse thrust at threshold and a stiff headwind." They dumped more fuel as they got closer then found that their landing gear wouldn't go down. O'Neil had Labdoni manually crank down the wheel. There was no lock on the gear until after they had already gotten so close that they engaged flaps. When throttling back on their only two good engines, one engine flamed out. They hit the deck with screeches taking them to where their nose was off the end of the ship before they stopped. H got out first and helped everyone down, he was carrying a child when the CNN reporter shoved a camera in his face, (not good for a CIA spook)!
Sturgis Turner was assigned the capital prosecution of seaman Weston for treason after trying to kill his fellow soldiers as a secret member of an al Qaeda cell. He flailed at Bud for not noticing that the Xerox machine had missed page three of a document. B offered to withdraw, saying he knew the only reason he was second, was because of Chegwidden's insistence. He further pissed off T by observing that the case was a "slam dunk." Mac was assigned the defense but didn't have her heart in it. Weston claimed that he was innocent. He kept a low profile on his religion (wasn't hiding it) for fear of prejudice; the email to his cousin from his base in Bahrain, about it being "easy to kill soldiers in the chow hall" was merely a comment on the laxity of security; and, the "confession" of a prisoner implicating him, was a "complete lie." M reviewed the interrogation tapes where Sabet admitted that he had met with Weston three times and had been asked for Sarin nerve gas to release in the chow hall on Friday where over 100 men would be killed. M noticed a trigger device in the interrogator, Abu Kamel's, hand and demanded to talk to him. Kamel was a haughty, arrogant man, glib about all the equipment the American's had bought him. He gloated in the 50,000 volt stun belt that he used and said that it was "better than the older method." He bragged that "we in the middle east have been dealing with terrorists longer than the US" and that "you will come around to our ways." M seemed to only argue the morality issue, not the "finding the real truth" issue, and T told Bud that his opinions were irrelevant. Chegwidden had to defuse the argument and told them that he was bringing Imes back from Europe to replace H. Before the hearing M argued to suppress Sabet's testimony on moral grounds, T cited previous allowed torture testimony but got flummoxed at the judges questions. B bailed him out with logical responses. The judge said that he did believed Sabet's testimony would be under threat of torture, but it wasn't from the US so he would allow the members (jury) to decide for themselves of its truthfulness. M didn't seem upset with the ruling, said "I thought I had you there," and "now I'm stuck defending him." She complimented B, so did T except with "you had my back, unlike last time."
M, trying to calm Weston down, said she could bring witnesses to show his testimony can't be trusted. Weston replied, "I shouldn't have trusted him either." Then he whined that "they'll kill me," and M said "I guess since you just confessed to me, you can't complain." He pontificated that his only complaint would be that he "couldn't do anything useful before I got caught." He went into a diatribe about "his peoples" oppression of slavery and "his prophets work." He wanted to cop a plea to guilty to avoid the death penalty because he "didn’t want to die, could do the prophet's work in prison, and be alive when the great American Empire is destroyed." M merely, disgustedly, said "who ever taught you to hate like that should be in prison too." She tried to get T to deal but he refused. She got into it with him in the hall asking him "what's the matter with you? last week you wanted to throw a guy in the brig for refusing to kill a 10 year old boy, now you're being hard nosed to point of absurdity." They were intercepted by C, into his office. M continued - you support torture even though you wouldn't do it, then you want to electrocute him, even though you wouldn't pull the switch." T told her, "I see no contradiction in that." C agreed with T in the presence of M, then excused her to talk to T. He told T that "you've been under stress since your conduct unbecoming case. You may be trying too hard to prove yourself all over again." T said, "I don't see it." C said, "Well I do, you don't have to prove yourself to me." Regarding the plea bargain, he pointed out that, even though he would like to see him executed as well, T should consider the possibility that M would win - and he should "make the best choice." T went immediately to M and accepted the offer, to her puzzlement.
The joint chiefs flash messaged Capt Johnson of the Seahawk to provide all feasible assistance. C-130 doesn't have tail hook, 3 times bigger than any previous landing plane, wings so big all aircraft needed moving in less than 25 minutes. O'Neil guessed at a "lens angle of 4.0, more or less," H presented it with certainty to the Captain. The Seahawk shot off all excess planes, moved all others so their tails were off the deck, reset the lens to 4, removed the landing wires so the nose gear wouldn't get caught, and couldn't put up barriers because the cable might hit the cockpit. O'Neil gave their only three life preservers to the kids. Then they realized there was a hydraulic failure so they had no brakes. They dumped all but 1000# fuel to slow approach and would reverse engines at the threshold. The captain told them that there was only 3 knot's of headwind and the ship could only give them 45 knot's with speed. H told him to give them all they've got and the Captain demanded to know what was going on. H told him their predicament and that they would use "reverse thrust at threshold and a stiff headwind." They dumped more fuel as they got closer then found that their landing gear wouldn't go down. O'Neil had Labdoni manually crank down the wheel. There was no lock on the gear until after they had already gotten so close that they engaged flaps. When throttling back on their only two good engines, one engine flamed out. They hit the deck with screeches taking them to where their nose was off the end of the ship before they stopped. H got out first and helped everyone down, he was carrying a child when the CNN reporter shoved a camera in his face, (not good for a CIA spook)!
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