thedrifter
06-30-06, 12:55 PM
June 30, 2006
Record producer: Marine will not record ‘Hajji Girl’
By John Hoellwarth
Times staff writer
Cpl. Joshua Belile won’t be punished for his song about killing Iraqis. Just don’t expect to hear him sing it again until he’s out of the Corps.
Corps officials announced on Monday that Belile did not violate any of the articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by singing his song, “Hajji Girl,” which was posted on the Internet this spring and drew the ire of an influential Islamic advocacy group.
“No further investigation into the matter is necessary,” said Maj. Shawn Haney, spokeswoman for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
She said Belile received “administration action” as a result of the investigation, but that it was non-punitive in nature. Plus, Belile had said he was free to perform the song, as long as he didn’t do it in uniform.
But according to a record producer who was planning to record Belile’s song for free, the corporal’s command has forbidden him from singing or recording the song — even when he’s off-duty.
Belile’s song tells the first-person story of a Marine who falls in love with an Arab woman at a Burger King in Iraq. After the woman lures him to her house, her brother and father confront him with AK47s. The Marine in the song uses the girl’s little sister as a human shield when the brother and father open fire, then ducks behind a television to load his weapon before killing the men who attempted to ambush him.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the video of Belile performing the song during a deployment to Iraq with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167, which was later uploaded to the popular Web site www.youtube.com upon the unit’s return to New River in March, “glorifies the killing of Iraqi civilians.”
Prompted by CAIR’s insistence that the Corps “identify and discipline” those responsible for the video, the Marine Corps declared the song “clearly inappropriate” and ordered a preliminary investigation into the matter.
Hooper said that the investigation ends the matter for him and his organization.
“We said initially that we would leave it in the Marine Corps’ hands, and I guess we just have to accept what they decided,” Hooper said. “Everyone has the right to do stupid things. We consider the matter closed.”
Belile, in a June 26 e-mail exchange with conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, which she posted on her Web site, explained the outcome of the investigation.
“Although I was reprimanded for performing such a song while in uniform, my rights as an American, to include the First Amendment, have not been compromised. And as long as I am not performing as a U.S. military representative, to put it bluntly, I can sing whatever I want.
“I am planning on recording and releasing a professionally produced and engineered version of ‘Hajji Girl’ which will be aired on the Mike Church [radio] Show, and will be available for sale through their Web site within the coming weeks. I have decided to take this step to show that I am in full support of every American’s right to his or her own freedom of speech, military or civilian, to include my own.”
But by June 29, Belile was singing a different tune.
Jimm Mosher, record producer and co-owner of Hit Music Incorporated of Spencer, N.C., said his studio is on retainer for radio’s internationally syndicated Mike Church Show, which often produces and features satirical songs.
He said Belile was scheduled to record his song there for free until he called and canceled June 29.
James Parker, the show’s senior executive producer, said he tapped Mosher to record Belile “as an independent artist, outside of the Marines, not as a representative of Marines, but as Josh the civilian.”
According to Parker, Belile agreed on the day of his exoneration to record “Hajji Girl” with the Mike Church Show Band after being advised by Marine officials that he was free to perform the song “as long as he didn’t do it as a Marine in uniform.”
But by the end of the week, according to Mosher, the Corps’ position had changed.
“I just got off the phone with Josh and he acted like it was something he couldn’t do because of his command,” Mosher said June 29. “He just said he had talked to his superiors and I was led to believe they told him it was now a no-no.”
Col. David Mollahan, commander of Marine Aircraft Group 26, did not respond to a June 29 e-mail asking whether Belile is permitted to perform or record the song, and under what circumstances.
Haney said she couldn’t discuss whether or not Belile had been ordered to reverse his decision to record the song, but said that “anything that has been done has been done administratively” and is therefore not releasable to the public.
When contacted by Marine Corps Times, Belile confirmed that he had canceled the free studio time, but declined to specify whether he had changed his mind or if it had been changed for him.
Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said an order that prevents Belile from performing and recording the song in his off hours “certainly raises a First Amendment question in my mind.”
“They could get him for disobedience, but there is still a question about whether the order is lawful,” Fidell said.
Ellie
Record producer: Marine will not record ‘Hajji Girl’
By John Hoellwarth
Times staff writer
Cpl. Joshua Belile won’t be punished for his song about killing Iraqis. Just don’t expect to hear him sing it again until he’s out of the Corps.
Corps officials announced on Monday that Belile did not violate any of the articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by singing his song, “Hajji Girl,” which was posted on the Internet this spring and drew the ire of an influential Islamic advocacy group.
“No further investigation into the matter is necessary,” said Maj. Shawn Haney, spokeswoman for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
She said Belile received “administration action” as a result of the investigation, but that it was non-punitive in nature. Plus, Belile had said he was free to perform the song, as long as he didn’t do it in uniform.
But according to a record producer who was planning to record Belile’s song for free, the corporal’s command has forbidden him from singing or recording the song — even when he’s off-duty.
Belile’s song tells the first-person story of a Marine who falls in love with an Arab woman at a Burger King in Iraq. After the woman lures him to her house, her brother and father confront him with AK47s. The Marine in the song uses the girl’s little sister as a human shield when the brother and father open fire, then ducks behind a television to load his weapon before killing the men who attempted to ambush him.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the video of Belile performing the song during a deployment to Iraq with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167, which was later uploaded to the popular Web site www.youtube.com upon the unit’s return to New River in March, “glorifies the killing of Iraqi civilians.”
Prompted by CAIR’s insistence that the Corps “identify and discipline” those responsible for the video, the Marine Corps declared the song “clearly inappropriate” and ordered a preliminary investigation into the matter.
Hooper said that the investigation ends the matter for him and his organization.
“We said initially that we would leave it in the Marine Corps’ hands, and I guess we just have to accept what they decided,” Hooper said. “Everyone has the right to do stupid things. We consider the matter closed.”
Belile, in a June 26 e-mail exchange with conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, which she posted on her Web site, explained the outcome of the investigation.
“Although I was reprimanded for performing such a song while in uniform, my rights as an American, to include the First Amendment, have not been compromised. And as long as I am not performing as a U.S. military representative, to put it bluntly, I can sing whatever I want.
“I am planning on recording and releasing a professionally produced and engineered version of ‘Hajji Girl’ which will be aired on the Mike Church [radio] Show, and will be available for sale through their Web site within the coming weeks. I have decided to take this step to show that I am in full support of every American’s right to his or her own freedom of speech, military or civilian, to include my own.”
But by June 29, Belile was singing a different tune.
Jimm Mosher, record producer and co-owner of Hit Music Incorporated of Spencer, N.C., said his studio is on retainer for radio’s internationally syndicated Mike Church Show, which often produces and features satirical songs.
He said Belile was scheduled to record his song there for free until he called and canceled June 29.
James Parker, the show’s senior executive producer, said he tapped Mosher to record Belile “as an independent artist, outside of the Marines, not as a representative of Marines, but as Josh the civilian.”
According to Parker, Belile agreed on the day of his exoneration to record “Hajji Girl” with the Mike Church Show Band after being advised by Marine officials that he was free to perform the song “as long as he didn’t do it as a Marine in uniform.”
But by the end of the week, according to Mosher, the Corps’ position had changed.
“I just got off the phone with Josh and he acted like it was something he couldn’t do because of his command,” Mosher said June 29. “He just said he had talked to his superiors and I was led to believe they told him it was now a no-no.”
Col. David Mollahan, commander of Marine Aircraft Group 26, did not respond to a June 29 e-mail asking whether Belile is permitted to perform or record the song, and under what circumstances.
Haney said she couldn’t discuss whether or not Belile had been ordered to reverse his decision to record the song, but said that “anything that has been done has been done administratively” and is therefore not releasable to the public.
When contacted by Marine Corps Times, Belile confirmed that he had canceled the free studio time, but declined to specify whether he had changed his mind or if it had been changed for him.
Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said an order that prevents Belile from performing and recording the song in his off hours “certainly raises a First Amendment question in my mind.”
“They could get him for disobedience, but there is still a question about whether the order is lawful,” Fidell said.
Ellie