Iraq Veteran Jailed Over Stop-Loss Rap; It's Just a Song, Lawyer Says
When the rest of his unit deployed to Iraq recently, a U.S. Army specialist who already is a veteran of the war there stayed behind.
That’s because Marc Hall has been in custody since early December, accused by the military of making threats against others in a vulgar, violent rap tune that is posted on his personal website, reports Stars and Stripes. It protests the military’s policy of using “stop-loss” tactics to force veterans to continue to serve in Iraq even after they complete their original enlistment term.
Although the lyrics include graphic imagery—“Still against the wall, I grab my M-4, spray and watch all the bodies hit the floor I bet you never stop-loss nobody no more—in your next lifetime of course, no remorse”—they don’t specifically make actual threats against any individual, according to attorney James Klimaski of Washington, D.C., who hopes to represent Hall.
“Listen to rap songs,” Klimaski tells the military publication. “I mean there are a whole bunch of rap songs talking about killing people all the time. Nobody gets killed from them.”
“This is what it means to have a First Amendment,” agrees Eugene Fidell. President of the National Institute of Military Justice, he teaches at Yale Law School.
However, sensitivities have been heightened since 13 people were killed at Fort Hood in November in a mass shooting that an Army psychiatrist is accused of conducting.
And “the chain of command has a legal obligation to the citizens of the United States to investigate and deal fairly with SPC Hall’s alleged misconduct,” says a military spokesman in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “Anything less would be irresponsible to our citizens and soldiers.”
Hall’s military lawyer didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from the publication.
Hall’s website contains a link to the controversial rap tune.
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Authorities Probe Possible Link Between Fort Hood Shootings and Terrorism”
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer for Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Questions Whether He Can Get a Fair Trial”
TIME: “Fort Hood: Were Hasan’s Warning Signs Ignored?”
