Rep. Allen West, American Hero

Rep. Allen West, American Hero

Allen Bernard West was a virtual unknown entity outside the U.S. Army before he burst on the political scene in the Republican rout of 2010 when he was elected the first GOP African-American congressman from Florida in 134 years.

West is also an un-sung American hero.

Although I had read Rep. West was a conservative and Tea Party supporter, I hadn’t known anything about his military record or his outspoken and heroic sense of patriotism until recently.

The 50 year old West, who followed generations of his family in joining the Army in 1983, served for 21 years in the 325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team, the 377th Field Artillery Regiment, and the First Infantry Division among other posts, saw action in both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2004.

Those achievements alone command the respect and admiration of every American. On the other hand, the incident that led to his forced retirement deserves exposure as an example of our military’s official gutlessness and ignorance in conducting a war.

LTC West was relieved of his command after he was accused of assaulting an Iraqi prisoner in Taji suspected of plotting to ambush his men.

During intense combat, a few of those men under West’s command were captured and one suspected insurgent was also captured.

With the lives of American soldiers in danger and knowing what Iraqis customarily did to captives, when our interrogators were getting nowhere in locating the American prisoners, West forcefully demanded the Iraqi reveal the location of his soldiers. When he still refused, West placed his pistol near the prisoner’s crotch, fired, and advised him the next shot wouldn’t miss.

Evidently not as dumb as he looked and hoping to procreate more jihadists, the prisoner spilled his guts, the Americans were rescued, a jihadist-sympathizer alleged Lieutenant Colonel West had been guilty of misconduct, and the Army drummed him out.

Not the jihadist-sympathizer, LTC West. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=12222.)