U.S. Army Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, an army doctor , an 18-year veteran and Bronze Star Medal recipient, is facing a court martial for refusing to go to Afghanistan because he has not seen a copy of the president's birth certificate.
Lakin is a "birther," a group that believe that President Obama was not born in the United States despite extensive evidence to the contrary. Lakin said he considers any orders from the president, who is the military's commander in chief, to be "illegal."
Lakin did not report to Fort Campbell, Ky., this week for deployment, opting instead to go to the Pentagon, where, he was informed by his brigade commander, Col. Gordon Roberts, that he would face court martial. His was also stripped of a pass to enter the Pentagon and a government laptop computer.
During the presidential campaign, the Obama team posted the president's Certification of Live Birth. Hawaiian state law prohibits the release of the original birth certificate outside of specific extenuating circumstances, and the state considers the Certificate of Live Birth to be the birth certificate.
The director of the Hawaii State Department of Health says she has seen and verifies the original birth certificate. In addition, records show that Mr. Obama's 1961 birth announcement was printed in two Hawaii newspapers.
