Anti-Obama GI's Afghan Orders Revoked
July 15, 2009
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
The attorney representing an Army major fighting deployment to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama is not legally his commander-in-chief is declaring victory after the Soldier's orders were revoked yesterday.
California lawyer Orly Taitz says any service member may now refuse any order by questioning Obama's legitimacy.
"Do you know what this means?" Taitz asked in a telephone interview with Military.com Tuesday, about an hour after hearing from Maj. Stefan Cook, the officer fighting his deployment to Afghanistan. "It means the Obama administration has blinked. They have no cards to play with. The moment I filed a lawsuit, they didn't even fight!"
"Can you imagine what are the consequences? This is disastrous" for the administration, she said. "We'll have no military. Because anytime any Soldier, any Sailor, any Airman does not want to follow any orders, all he has to do is call an attorney and say 'I don't want to follow this order because I question the legitimacy of the commander in chief.' "
U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, the reserve soldier who says he shouldn't have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president, has had his deployment orders revoked, Army officials said.
Lt. Col. Maria Quon, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command-St. Louis, said Cook was no longer expected to report today to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., for mobilization to active duty, according to a report in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer of Georgia.
The paper said Cook, as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee, had volunteered for a year's deployment to Afghanistan on May 8 and his orders were issued June 9. Quon told the paper that IMAs who volunteer may ask for a revocation up until their reporting date, but that Cook had not asked for this. Quon also told the paper she could not say why the Army had revoked his orders, citing the Privacy Act.
Taitz has been leading an effort to have Obama release a so-called "vault copy" of his birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii. While the birth certificate that Obama released previously showed he was born in Hawaii, Taitz and others -- who have been dubbed "birthers" for their passionate doubt of Obama's citizenship -- believe it's a phony.
Taitz claims she has 170 service members who have joined her legal battle against Obama.
Taitz filed Cook's case in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on July 8, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. In the lawsuit, she told the court that Cook does not believe Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen, and so cannot serve as president and commander-in-chief.
To follow Obama's orders, she argued, would put Cook in violation of international law because he'd be taking part in military operations outside the president's command, the paper reported Tuesday. A hearing was scheduled for July 16 on the complaint.
In February, Taitz took up the cause of Army 1st Lt. Scott Easterling, who is deployed to Iraq. Easterling, in a letter published on the Web site Defendourfreedoms.com, called Obama "a usurper to the Office -- an imposter."
Army officials told Military.com at the time they were aware of Easterling's statements but offered no further comment.
Taitz said Easterling is still in Iraq but she believes he will be returning home in August. She is attempting to have his case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already kicked it back once.
On Tuesday's "Countdown" show on MSNBC, host Keith Olbermann named both Taitz and Cook as his "Worst Person in the World" for the case they have brought in Georgia.
Olbermann criticized Taitz for the various "birther" lawsuits she has brought against Obama, calling her a "con woman." But he reserved his harshest words for Cook, who he argues is just using the birth certificate flap as an excuse to get out of duty in Afghanistan.
Recalling his own determination in the 1960s that, if drafted, he would oppose it because he didn't want to get shot and killed, he said: "too bad Maj. Cook doesn't have the guts to say that. Then he might be deserving of his rank rather than an embarrassment to all those who served without cowardice."
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