64 year old deserter might be tried.

The Us military will seek charges on a 64 year old deserter who fled his post in 1965 in to N.Korea and will be arriving in Japan on Sunday but the US army want Japan to hand him over for charges. Isn't he a little old to be tried?

U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman, said, "Sgt. Jenkins' travel to any country would not change the position of the U.S. He is charged with serious offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (the U.S. military legal code), and those charges should be addressed through the appropriate military judicial or administrative process."

story.news.yahoo.com.../nm/20040715/ts_nm/japan_abductee_jenkins_dc

Bah they haven't done anything to his this far, so why even bother? Sounds pretty vindictive to me.

well there is no satute of limitations for this.

i think its kinda dumb but hey, break the law and pay the price.

Bad charges. This can't be ignored no matter the age. If found guilty the sentance will be light, or commuted, but it has to be addressed.

Did you notice that in that article no one wanted to be named or put on the record? It would be a public relations nightmare to go after some 65 year old man for deserting during the Korean war. I'm sure the US would try the man to show that they are tough on deserters and he would be found guilty but I would be shocked if he really had to go to prison.

Get BUSH!!!!!

I think that they have to prosecute the guy. What kind of a message would it send if they didn't? It would say commit a crime, but as long as you go into hiding and don't get caught and a numberr of years later you do finally get caught that they should just forget about it.

It does suck, but had the guy faced justice when he should have, he would have has hist debt for his crime paid off now. It doesn't matter that he is 65 and it happened almost 40 years ago.

I'll be interested to see what happens. We only know bare facts, not what he was doing there, or what role he might have played there. For all anyone knows he could be a treasonous snake. Or he could be an old dude who used to be a young dude who deserted and nothing sinister about it. I'd like to find out his side and all the facts before saying he should be punished OR given a pass.

I think he will get jail and that is a good punishment because as I recall desertion is punishable by death isn't it? Or is it just jail.

home.nycap.rr.com...

For almost one more year, Onoda continued to live on his own. He was prepared to die on the island. Then, February 20, 1974, he encountered a young Japanese university dropout named Suzuki living alone in a tent. Suzuki had left Japan to travel the world and told his friends that he was �going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order. (He found Onoda, he could go to any big zoo to see the panda, but one can�t help but wonder if he ever found the Abominable Snowman.) Onoda approached cautiously and the two soon struck up a conversation that lasted many hours. The two became friends, but Onoda said that he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders.

Suzuki left and promised that he would return. And he did.

On March 9, 1974, Onoda went to an agreed upon place and found a note that had been left by Suzuki. Along with the note, Suzuki had enclosed two photos that they had taken together the first time that they met along with copies of two army orders. The next day, Onoda decided to take a chance and made a two-day journey to meet up with Suzuki. His long hike paid off handsomely. Suzuki had brought along Onoda�s one-time superior commander, Major Taniguchi, who delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender his sword.

Hiroo Onoda�s thirty-year war was now over. He returned to Japan to receive a hero�s welcome. He was a media sensation and was hounded by the curious public everywhere he went.

Yet, Onoda�s mind was still living in 1944 Japan, and he had a strong dislike for what he now saw. After publishing his memoirs, he took his newly found fortune and moved to Brazil to raise cattle. He then married a Japanese woman and moved back to Japan to run a nature camp for kids. (We can be quite sure that he had a lot of expertise about nature.)

Useless? Useful? I�ll leave that for you to decide.


Comment:

Trying a deserter from the Korean War is just as stupid, besides he was probably brainwashed anyway.

I think that he needs to be tried but I'm either way about the punishment. I do think though that if he is sent to jail or whatever, it will cause a large storm of protests and demonstrations. Either way, they'll find someway to make the indicent Bush's fault.

A deserter is a deserter.

He ran like a coward, helped the North Korean propaganda machine,...and now to treat the issue otherwise would mean he had a valid reason for his desertion.

Try him, convict him, and lock him up like any other cowardly criminal.

Originally posted by smirkley
A deserter is a deserter.

He ran like a coward, helped the North Korean propaganda machine,...and now to treat the issue otherwise would mean he had a valid reason for his desertion.

Try him, convict him, and lock him up like any other cowardly criminal.

I don't know if it was a "cowardly" act but it was definately a treasonist one. I agree, it has to be dealt with.

i think this person should be welcomed back simply for the intelligence bonanza he would provide.

similar thread: www.abovetopsecret.com...

-koji K.

Originally posted by koji_K
i think this person should be welcomed back simply for the intelligence bonanza he would provide.
-koji K.

They're going to get that anyway. Whatever he has will be outdated, so not much there. The position that HAS to be protected is that a treasonist act WILL NOT be tollerated, no matter how long it takes.