Court-Martial Goes Easy On Army Medic New Convicted Of Disobedience, Discharged For Refusing U.N. Insignia, Command

A U.S. soldier who refused to serve under U.N. command was convicted of disobedience Wednesday and given a bad-conduct discharge.

Spc. Michael New, 22, is the first American serviceman court-martialed for refusing to accept foreign command on a United Nations operation.

The jury could have slapped New with a dishonorable discharge, six months’ incarceration and a loss of pay. New’s attorney said he thinks the less-severe sentence indicates the jury believed New’s concerns were legitimate.

New, a medic from Conroe, Texas, stood impassively as the seven-man jury returned the verdict after 20 minutes of deliberation.

Outside the courtroom at Leighton Barracks U.S. Army base, New smiled again when reporters asked him how he felt, but he did not answer any questions.

His attorneys say he will appeal.

New’s case has been championed by American conservatives who oppose placing U.S. armed forces under U.N. command. About 100 members of Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, have sponsored legislation making it illegal to order a U.S. armed-services member to wear U.N. insignia.

New’s father, Daniel, said the verdict was a foregone conclusion. “We certainly were not surprised because, frankly, no military court is qualified to rule on something of this constitutional importance,” he said from Texas. “We’re ready to go to federal court.”

The elder New said that when his son was told he could be court-martialed and lose his benefits for refusing to wear the U.N. gear, his son replied: “If I have to go to prison, I’ll go, and why would I want those benefits if I have them in a country that isn’t free?”’

Daniel New brought wide attention to his son’s case by appearing on radio talk shows. New’s mother went to Germany to plead for clemency. Her son “always loved his country,” Suzanne New told the court-martial.

In October, shortly before his unit shipped out from Germany to be part of a U.N. monitoring mission in Macedonia, New refused to wear the U.N. insignia.

The United States provides about half of the 1,100 troops who have been in the former Yugoslav republic since 1993 with the aim of preventing the spread of fighting from neighboring Bosnia.

New has said he was willing to go to Macedonia but that it was unconstitutional for him to wear U.N. gear or answer to the general designated to head the U.N. operation.

In December, New told the U.S. military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper that the decision to reject the U.N. insignia was “pretty simple to me.”

“I am not a political person,” he said. “I made my decision based on my beliefs and the ideals I have been taught.”

Prosecutor Capt. Gary Corn said New had committed a crime “against the good order of the U.S. Army.”

In closing arguments, Corn said there was fear that New’s conduct could spread like a “cancer” through the unit if it were not punished.

Before testimony began Tuesday, the judge, Lt. Col. W. Gary Jewell, had ruled that the order to wear U.N. insignia was lawful.

New’s lawyer, Henry Hamilton of Columbia, S.C., told the jury there was confusion about how the order had been given and about the legality of wearing U.N. patches on an American Army uniform.

“The judge said this is for Congress to decide. We hope, in fact, Congress will take it up,” Hamilton said after Wednesday’s verdict.

The verdict will be appealed to a higher Army appellate court in the United States and, if necessary, to the Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces, which consists of civilian judges, he said.