| Date: | Sunday October 05, @03:12PM |
|---|---|
| Author: | ewing2001 |
| Topic: | News |
| from the Canoe.ca dept. | |
PACE, Florida (AP) -- Two Florida National Guard soldiers who married Iraqi women against their commander's wishes are being investigated for allegedly defying an order, their families said.
The men, both Christians who converted to Islam so they could be married under Iraqi law, had expected to return to Florida this month, but a new army policy that requires troops to remain in Iraq for 12 continuous months may keep them there until April.
In the meantime, Sgt. Sean Blackwell, 27, of Pace, and Cpl. Brett Dagen, 37, of Walnut Hill, want to send their wives to the United States because of threats from anti-American Iraqis.
Vickie McKee, Blackwell's mother, said yesterday her daughter-in-law has asked that the women not be identified for that reason. Both women are physicians.
"She's being threatened over there on almost a daily basis," McKee said. "He just wants to know that she's safe."
McKee, who said the army is trying to prevent the women from coming to the United States, has delivered letters from her son and his wife to the district office of Representative Jeff Miller. Dan McFaul, a spokesman for Miller, said the congressman can do nothing until the women request visas.
Blackwell's wife, now working as an interpreter for an American firm in Baghdad, wrote that the army has prevented him from contacting her since the double wedding on Aug. 17.
"Is this freedom in U.S.?" she wrote. "Where is the human right? Where is justice?"...
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printed from US Soldiers: Iraqi Weddings not allowed on 2004-04-30 10:42:11