thedrifter
12-12-06, 01:47 PM
Blowhards, beware
Congress passes Stolen Valor Act, targets false military award claims
By John Hoellwarth
Marine Corps Times Staff writer
Watch what you say at the bar — telling the wrong war story could be a felony by the start of next year.
The one about that night in Thailand is still legal, but running your mouth about unearned military decorations could cost you jail time and thousands of dollars in fines under legislation passed by Congress on Dec. 6.
The House passed a Senate-approved bill that would close a loophole that allows posers to escape prosecution as long as they don’t physically wear the decorations they claim.
If signed into law by President Bush, the Stolen Valor Act would impose up to six months in jail and up to $5,000 in fines for anyone who falsely claims “verbally, or in writing” to have received an award authorized for members of the U.S. armed forces. Penalties would be doubled for fraudulent claims to decorations specifically awarded for combat valor, such as services’ crosses, the Silver Star and the Medal of Honor.
And it’s not just medals — the legislation specifically includes badges, ribbons, buttons, rosettes, “or any colorable imitation of such item.”
“People are going to have to watch their p’s and q’s when they start telling stories,” said National Institute of Military Justice president Eugene Fidell. “Congress presumably meant what it said here. Blowhards and fakers, beware.”
Though the law would apply to service members, Fidell said infractions by active-duty personnel likely would be handled under the Uniform Code of Military Justice at the discretion of commanders, not by federal prosecutors.
Even so, passage of the Stolen Valor Act is “a useful reminder of the seriousness of these matters,” Fidell said.
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who introduced the House version of the legislation in the summer of 2005, said the bill re-establishes a precedent set by George Washington in 1782.
When Washington established the Badge of Military Merit, the nation’s only military award at the time, said Salazar, the general wrote: “Should anyone who is not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”
During floor debate on the bill, which was passed unanimously by the Senate on Sept. 7, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., cited recent cases in Illinois and Missouri of men claiming to be Marine officers and recipients of the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor.
The Missouri case involved Jim Fields, a legitimate Marine Purple Heart recipient who served in Vietnam but never earned the Navy Cross he wore while making a Veterans Day speech to the Chillicothe, Mo., chapter of the American Legion.
When Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., Field’s congressman, found out about the incident in late November, he contacted Salazar’s office to become one of the bill’s 110 co-sponsors. His last-minute endorsement may have provided the impetus for House Republican leaders to get the bill to the floor at a time when congressional insiders were doubtful it would be put to a vote before the end of the current session.
Chris Thorne, spokesman for Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who introduced the legislation in the Senate, said a call from the House Republican leadership to Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, got the ball rolling on an effort to pass Conrad’s nearly identical version of Salazar’s bill.
“Clearly, something happened to put some momentum behind this legislation. Perhaps it was the revelations in Missouri,” said Ron Carleton, Salazar’s chief of staff. “Whatever it was, we’re just happy we were finally able to make this happen.”
Ellie
Congress passes Stolen Valor Act, targets false military award claims
By John Hoellwarth
Marine Corps Times Staff writer
Watch what you say at the bar — telling the wrong war story could be a felony by the start of next year.
The one about that night in Thailand is still legal, but running your mouth about unearned military decorations could cost you jail time and thousands of dollars in fines under legislation passed by Congress on Dec. 6.
The House passed a Senate-approved bill that would close a loophole that allows posers to escape prosecution as long as they don’t physically wear the decorations they claim.
If signed into law by President Bush, the Stolen Valor Act would impose up to six months in jail and up to $5,000 in fines for anyone who falsely claims “verbally, or in writing” to have received an award authorized for members of the U.S. armed forces. Penalties would be doubled for fraudulent claims to decorations specifically awarded for combat valor, such as services’ crosses, the Silver Star and the Medal of Honor.
And it’s not just medals — the legislation specifically includes badges, ribbons, buttons, rosettes, “or any colorable imitation of such item.”
“People are going to have to watch their p’s and q’s when they start telling stories,” said National Institute of Military Justice president Eugene Fidell. “Congress presumably meant what it said here. Blowhards and fakers, beware.”
Though the law would apply to service members, Fidell said infractions by active-duty personnel likely would be handled under the Uniform Code of Military Justice at the discretion of commanders, not by federal prosecutors.
Even so, passage of the Stolen Valor Act is “a useful reminder of the seriousness of these matters,” Fidell said.
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who introduced the House version of the legislation in the summer of 2005, said the bill re-establishes a precedent set by George Washington in 1782.
When Washington established the Badge of Military Merit, the nation’s only military award at the time, said Salazar, the general wrote: “Should anyone who is not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”
During floor debate on the bill, which was passed unanimously by the Senate on Sept. 7, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., cited recent cases in Illinois and Missouri of men claiming to be Marine officers and recipients of the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor.
The Missouri case involved Jim Fields, a legitimate Marine Purple Heart recipient who served in Vietnam but never earned the Navy Cross he wore while making a Veterans Day speech to the Chillicothe, Mo., chapter of the American Legion.
When Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., Field’s congressman, found out about the incident in late November, he contacted Salazar’s office to become one of the bill’s 110 co-sponsors. His last-minute endorsement may have provided the impetus for House Republican leaders to get the bill to the floor at a time when congressional insiders were doubtful it would be put to a vote before the end of the current session.
Chris Thorne, spokesman for Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who introduced the legislation in the Senate, said a call from the House Republican leadership to Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, got the ball rolling on an effort to pass Conrad’s nearly identical version of Salazar’s bill.
“Clearly, something happened to put some momentum behind this legislation. Perhaps it was the revelations in Missouri,” said Ron Carleton, Salazar’s chief of staff. “Whatever it was, we’re just happy we were finally able to make this happen.”
Ellie