Thank You Rob McGovern for Prosecuting Akbar and Terrorists in Iraq

I was incredulous when my mother called me one day saying that a cousin of mine that I never knew I had who was a few years older than me was killed in Kuwait by Sgt. Hasan Akbar in a planned fragging attack at Camp Pennsylvania. I never knew I had a cousin who was going to be a part of the war in Iraq and was from Idaho. But sadly, I had to learn such gross violation that day that marked the first Idaho casulty of the Iraq war whose enemy fired the first shot of the war that came from a traitorous convert from within.

My family has a solid tradition of having relatives and siblings who are a part of the Armed Forces history and they all have the firm belief that freedom comes with a cost. Everyone of them knows that when signing up they knew the risks and wanting, even more, to give something back to the United States because so much was given to them that no other country ever experienced or understood the true value of...freedom. Even when my great uncle while in the Army during WWII was killed by a Japanese sniper on one of the small Pacific islands while his small band of men scouted ahead on the island before the arrival of an Army battalion.

Sgt. Akbar changed his allegiance back in 1993 that directly and ultimately led to the fragging deaths of two officers at Camp Pennsylvania according to Rob McGovern who was interviewed by the Kansas City Star in a newspaper last week for his tireless prosecution work that all started with 9/11.

His time in Afghanistan ended. He came home and thought about going back to the Manhattan office. And that’s when he was given the case of his life.

On March 22, 2003, in the middle of the night, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar rolled grenades into tents and fired at fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. His stunning attack killed two and injured 14, and Akbar became the first American soldier since Vietnam to be prosecuted for killing Americans.

Rob McGovern was one of the three prosecutors.

“I know more about Hasan Akbar than I want to know,” he says.

McGovern interviewed people who had known Akbar going back to grammar school. He read 13 years of diary entries and said that was what sealed his fate.

In a 1993 entry, Akbar wrote about wanting to destroy America. “That’s fairly damning,” McGovern says.

He worked on the case for almost two years. He says he hardly slept, lost a lot of weight, obsessed over Akbar. In the courtroom, in his closing argument, McGovern cocked the M-4 rifle Akbar had used in the attack.

“Sgt. Akbar executed that attack with a cool mind,” he told the jury. “He sought maximum carnage.”

In April, Akbar was found guilty and sentenced to death.

“This was the ultimate opportunity to contribute to the war,” McGovern says. “This is a man who killed his fellow soldiers on the eve of battle. I can’t think of anything more damaging. I got a chance to stand up for the guys. I could not imagine doing anything bigger for my country.”

Yet, Rob McGovern did not stop after getting Hasan Akbar convicted but went to Iraq to convict many more terrrorists using old Iraqi laws against them that was signed in 1969 by, ironically so, Saddam Hussein.

Few people know that every day, American JAG officers work in Iraqi courtrooms with Iraqi judges. They prosecute insurgents. McGovern did not know. But after the Akbar case, he was sent to Iraq to do just that. He would charge insurgents with murder and attempted murder. If he did not have quite enough evidence to get them on those charges, he would bring them up on illegal border crossings.

He would argue his case using Iraqi laws signed in 1969 by Saddam Hussein.

In five months, he worked with more than 400 cases and had a 90 percent conviction rate. He often sat close to those insurgents everyone hears about on the evening news.

Rob McGovern, thank you for your tireless work to see that justice gets done and see that terrorists get convicted. Thank you for seeing that the death sentence get passed on to Hasan Akbar for his murderous role at Camp Pennsylvania murdering two officers and wounding so many others that night.

Rob McGovern was recently recognized and honored two weeks ago on December 4th before the Chiefs-Broncos game because he used to play in the NFL.


Other past blogs on Majory Gregory Stone:

Trial for Murder of Maj. Gregory Stone
The Plannned Murder of AF Maj. Gregory Stone and His Troop
Justice for Maj. Gregory Stone
Please visit Hero Bracelet
The Murder of Maj. Gregory Stone
In tribute of Maj. Gregory Stone

UPDATE: Welcome Betsy's Page readers. Take your time and read my blogs. Be sure to pass this around and let people know about Rob McGovern. He deserve our praise and respect. For those who don't know Betsy, she blogs for Michelle Malkin from time to time when she is in absentia (e.g. vacation time). Those two gals think alike, you'd swear they're sisters.

UPDATE II: Welcome The Dusty Attic readers. Thank you Dusty for helping spread the word to say "Thank you, Rob McGovern."

UPDATE III: Thank you Random Jottings for spreading the word to say "Thank you" to Rob McGovern.