Compare Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich‘s trials and tribulations to those of Kelly A. Stewart, the former Green Beret whose life story is chronicled in my book, Three Days In August: A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier’s Fight For Military Justice, and you’ll find things could have been worse for the former Speaker of the House.
On the same day Gingrich picked up an endorsement from Rick Perry after the Texas governor dropped out of the GOP primary race, ABC News began floating details about its soon-to-be-broadcast interview in which one of the former House Speaker’s ex-wives said Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as President and had actually sought an “open marriage” arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife.
Whether or not you think Gingrich lacks the necessary moral character depends largely on your belief system, so I won’t go further into that issue. Instead, I’ll pose a “what if” question that puts everything the Georgia Republican is accused of doing by his ex-wife into perspective with the situation in which Stewart, a highly-decorated combat veteran, found himself.
Imagine this timeline of events taking place a decade or so ago:
Gingrich and Callista, the one-time mistress and House staffer who is now the third “Mrs. Gingrich,” have a one-night stand in a Washington, D.C., hotel room;
Three months later, Callista decides to go to the police and tell them Gingrich raped and kidnapped her in brutal fashion, leaving her bruised and shaken;
Two months later, Gingrich is charged with rape and kidnapping, but allowed to remain outside of jail and not under house arrest or any sort of escort or observation;
Seven months later, Gingrich finds himself in a courtroom facing a prosecutor he had defeated in his most-recent congressional race and a jury comprised entirely of Democrats against whom he had fought many battles in the House chamber; no physical evidence is presented and no eyewitnesses could be found to corroborate her story; critical information from Callista’s medical records are not allowed to be presented to the jury; and he’s found guilty, sentenced to several years in prison and branded as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
If you think the fictitious chronology of events outlined above seems implausible, think again. It comes close to mirroring what actually happened to Stewart and ended in a U.S. military courtroom in Germany during three days In August 2009.
Though Stewart’s name hasn’t been in the news much, you can read more of the gut-wrenching details about his life in the book, Three Days In August: A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier’s Fight For Military Justice.
WARNING: Reading this book may cause increases in blood pressure, confusion, mood swings and feelings of general discomfort and disgust; however, everything in it is true and deserves your attention.
