Military News - Military Times

Tarnished soldier runs for Congress

Retired Lt. Col. Allen West thinks the good people of Florida respect a leader who takes bold action to get results. He’s confident they’ll vote for him in November because of — and in spite of — an incident in which he took the law into his own hands in Iraq to protect his troops.

“It’s about individual accountability and responsibility, and that’s what people want,” said West, 46, who is running on the Republican ticket in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. The district stretches from northern Broward Country through to Palm Beach County and includes the areas of Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach and Coconut Creek.

In trying to reclaim a seat that had been held by a Republican for more than a quarter-century, West is running against Rep. Ron Klein, a first-term Democratic incumbent who defeated Rep. Clay Shaw in 2006.

A political novice with a campaign chest of about $50,000, West is taking on a much more politically connected and well-funded foe. Klein served in the Florida House of Representatives, then the Florida Senate, where he was minority leader. The 50-year-old lawyer and lobbyist has raised some $1.8 million in campaign funds.

But Klein has no military service and West considers his own character and track record as a military officer unassailable.

His goal is to land a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, where he believes he’s uniquely qualified to be an experienced voice for the troops.

Still, even with a solid 22-year Army career to back up his claims, he suffered a significant setback in October 2003, when he was relieved of command of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery, 4th Infantry Division for his illegal treatment of a detainee in Iraq.

He was punished after admitting that two months earlier, he fired a shot from his 9mm pistol as he held it next to the head of a recalcitrant detainee who West said had been stonewalling interrogators at a base near Taji, just north of Baghdad.

But the cop quickly caved in after West’s phony death threat.

After the gunshot, West recalled, the detainee screamed “ok, OK, OK!” and gave up the names of three individuals who were then taken off the streets, ending a cycle of roadside bomb attacks on West’s men that had been escalating the previous three weeks.

West said he knew firing the gun would probably end his career but nevertheless did it to protect his soldiers.

“My soldiers were my family over there. That’s how important they were to me,” he said in a Dec. 26 interview. “if there’s an opportunity to be proactive and prevent [harm to fellow soldiers], I think a commander has to take that responsibility.”

West, in a nonjudicial proceeding under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, was found guilty Dec. 12, 2003, of violating three counts of aggravated assault and one count of communicating a threat.

He paid a $5,000 fine and left Iraq five days later in an emotional sendoff in which some of his soldiers stood at attention with tears in their eyes. He landed in Fort Hood, Texas, to a hero’s welcome by friends, family and supporters who heard accounts of his tough interrogation tactics and applauded his no-nonsense style.

Since then, the tactics of U.S. interrogators have come under increasing scrutiny, and West said he is still hailed by supporters from all over the country who, he claims, consider his bold action the kind of trait they’re looking for in a leader.

After he left the Army, West taught history at Florida’s Deerfield Beach High School for a year before going to work for more than two years as a defense contractor with MPRI in Afghanistan and Arlington, Va.

A self-described conservative who grew up in a military family in Atlanta, West doesn’t drink or smoke and he listens to classical music. He and his wife, Angela, have two daughters.

As a high school teacher, he recalled, he was taken aback by the lack of direction he saw in the young, mostly black students, and now he wants to return as a legislator to nurture that community through seminars and other educational initiatives that will spark creativity.

“I want to be a role model. The black community is suffering and they need to have someone they can look up to, not these hip-hop guys with gold teeth. They need to be able to say, ‘This is what can happen in a neighborhood if you dedicate yourself.’”

West said he is not worried that Klein might try to attack him for the incident in Iraq.

“Don’t ever make a judgment on something you have never been willing to do,” West said, noting that Klein had “never worn the uniform.”

“If he attacks my character, he’s going to lose,” West said, inviting Klein to debate the issues instead.

West reflected on his actions that abruptly ended his Army career and said he’s “OK with it” because he’s clear in why he did it and vowed he would do it again if it meant protecting his soldiers.

If he were faced with counseling a young soldier on whether he should act the same in a similar circumstance, however, West said, “no, I made that decision and I’m not going to sit there and say that’s the right decision for you.”

Still, West made it clear he is ready to take some hits on the political trail for what he did.

“I am comfortable enough in who I am not to be worried about name-calling,” he said. “when all things are said and done, if a person is getting mugged in an alleyway, they wouldn’t mind if I walked by,” he said.

DISCUSS: Are Floridians willing to forgive and forget?