- MONTEREY - An Air Force officer
has been relieved of duties at the nation's primary foreign-language training
institution here after publication of his letter to the editor accusing
President George W. Bush of having advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
Lt. Col. Steve Butler was serving as vice chancellor for student affairs
at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center when he wrote
the letter, published in The Monterey County Herald May 21.
The letter accused Bush of allowing the attacks to occur for political
reasons.
The letter read in part: "Of course Bush knew about the impending
attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because
he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama.
"His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American
people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative supreme court
(if you really want to know why the justices voted like they did, I suggest
'Supreme Injustice' by Alan Dershowitz), the economy was sliding into the
usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on."
Butler's letter called the president's course of action "sleazy and
contemptible."
Army spokesman Sgt. Mitch Frazier said Butler "has been administratively
suspended from his position as vice chancellor/student affairs pending
the outcome of an investigation."
"Further details are not available at this time as the investigation
is ongoing," Frazier said.
Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states "any commissioned
officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, the vice president,
Congress, the secretary of defense, the secretary of a military department,
the secretary of transportation or the governor or legislature of any state,
territory, commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present
shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."
The last Article 88 court-martial came in 1965 when an Army second lieutenant
was prosecuted for taking part in an anti-war protest in Texas, said Lt.
Col. Maritza S. Ryan of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
Butler couldn't be reached for comment yesterday but his wife, Shelly Butler,
said the military had given her husband "a lot of grief" over
the letter.
Butler was relieved of his duties at the language school and has been assigned
to temporary duty at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, 55 miles northeast
of San Francisco, his wife said.
She said Butler plans to retire in a few weeks after 24 years in the Air
Force, including duty as a combat pilot in Desert Storm.
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