Depending on the outcome of a Vietnam veteran's federal lawsuit, the Marine Corps could be forced to abandon or censor its famed "Marine Hymn."

Jesse Nieto is a 25-year Marine veteran who works as a civilian employee at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He is also the father of Marc Nieto, a sailor who died in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. Marc Nieto is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The elder Nieto, 62, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Corps after being ordered to stay off all military installations when he refused to remove a bumper sticker from his privately-owned vehicle.

Nieto, who served two combat tours in Vietnam, began placing stickers on his vehicle a few months after his son died in the Cole bombing. The messages expressed such sentiments as "Remember the Cole, 12 Oct 2000," and a red line superimposed on the Islamic star and crescent with the words "WE DIED, THEY REJOICED."

According to the lawsuit, Nieto's dispute with Camp Lejeune officials began in July. His supervisor told him he must remove bumper stickers and decals expressing his anger at Islamic terrorists, or face firing. The retired Marine refused.

Two military police officers ticketed Nieto on July 31 for displaying "offensive material."

The ticket was issued even though other bumper stickers such as a Confederate flag with, "If This Offends You … You Need a History Lesson," a "Darwin fish" mocking Christianity, sexually explicit symbols such as silhouettes of nude women, one with "Your Child May be an Honor Student But Your Driving Sucks," another reading "Why experiment with animals when there are so many Democrats" and several versions of a cartoon character (similar to Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes) urinating on various symbols were allowed, the lawsuit said. Furthermore, according to the complaint, Camp Lejeune officials allowed decals with the star and crescent symbol and the worlds "Islam=Love," and consider none of these messages offensive.

In August, Lt. Col. James Hessen, the base's traffic court officer, ordered Nieto to peel off the anti-Islam decals, the lawsuit says. Nieto did so while a Marine observed. Two weeks later, Hessen ordered Nieto to remove the rest of his decals, including one that said "REMEMBER THE COLE, 12 Oct. 2000," the lawsuit said. Nieto refused.

Hessen ruled that the decals on Nieto's vehicle were "offensive," and when asked to explain, said, "It's just what I think," or words to that effect, the lawsuit states.

Base Order P5560.2m para.2001 (7) states: "Owners are prohibited from displaying extremist, indecent, sexist or racist messages on their motor vehicles in any format (bumper stickers, window decals, art, or other adornments)."

But according to information unearthed by Nieto's attorneys using the Freedom of Information Act, the order has not been enforced even once in at least five years.

The base magistrate then issued a written order requiring Nieto to keep his vehicle off the base until all decals and bumper stickers were removed. The order also banned the vehicle from all other federal installations, thereby preventing him from driving onto the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery to visit his son's grave. The order also prevents Nieto from visiting the U.S. Post Office, a federal installation.

Thomas More Law Center, in Ann Arbor, Mich., has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Nieto's behalf against the Camp Lejeune commanding officer and the base magistrate. The suit is in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The lawsuit charges that the military's ban on Nieto's vehicle decals violates his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and the equal protection of the law.

"The banning of these decals is political correctness run amuck in the military," charged Richard Thompson, the center's president and chief counsel. "Our troops are being killed by Islamic terrorists, 9/11 was caused by Islamic terrorists, these terrorists want to destroy America, the Islamic countries persecute Christians, and now the military is victimizing a father whose son was killed by Islamic terrorists while serving our nation."

Thompson speculated that the Marine command would have to eliminate the Marine's Hymn because "the phrase 'to the shores of Tripoli' celebrates the Marine victory over Islamic forces in the Barbary Coast War and the Battle of Derne."

Another conflict could be the Beirut Memorial built by civilian initiative, but aided by the Marines.

On March 24, 1983, the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, stationed at Camp Lejeune, received orders to Beirut, Lebanon, as a peacekeeping force in the conflict between warring Muslim and Christian factions.

Six months later, in the early morning of Oct. 23, 1983, the First Battalion, an Islamic terrorist-driven truck, laden with compressed gas-enhanced explosives destroyed the 8th Marines Headquarters building. The resulting explosion and the collapse of the building killed 241 Marines, sailors, and soldiers. Many of the victims of the atrocity were residents of nearby Jacksonville.

Subsequently, the city received help from the base in erecting the Beirut Monument very near the base and Camp Lejeune officials had no problem acknowledging Muslin terrorism in the Beirut incident.

Nieto's lawsuit alleges that military officials engaged in viewpoint discrimination prohibited by the First Amendment and violated the Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantee by allowing some messages to be displayed on civilian vehicles driving on the base, but prohibiting others.

Further, the suit charges that the military's ban on "offensive" speech is impermissible because there are no objective standards guiding government officials' decisions, thus granting them "unbridled discretion" to determine the acceptability or the unacceptability of speech, a statement from the Thomas More Law Center reports.

The lawsuit does not ask for monetary damages, although it does request recompense for legal fees and expenses associated with the trial.

Base Public Affairs Director Major Nat Fahy told a Jacksonville newspaper that commanders acted after Camp Lejeune's Equal Employment Opportunity office received several complaints about the "offensive nature" of Nieto's stickers.

"He had ample opportunity to remedy the situation on his own and was given an opportunity to be heard in three formal administrative venues," Fahy reportedly said. Nieto was not barred from going to work, only from taking his vehicle onto the base.

Camp Lejeune's standing order against vehicle owners displaying "extremist, indecent, sexists, or racist messages" contains no objective standards for determining whether a decal violates the order, Nieto's lawsuit says.

"During public addresses, the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces, President George W. Bush, has used the terms 'Islamic terrorists,' 'Islamic extremism,' and 'Islamic militants,' noting that the Islamic terrorists responsible for killing Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, are the 'same murderers … responsible for bombing the U.S.S. Cole,'" the lawsuit says.

"The Commander-in-Chief has indicated that the United States will give no quarter to these terrorists, stating that 'we must pursue them wherever they are' and we '[w]ill not let up until our enemies are defeated and our people are secure," the lawsuit continues.

"Consequently, it is unreasonable to conclude that the words, terms, or political viewpoint expressed by the Commander-in-Chief or those expressed by Plaintiff are prohibited on federal installations in the United States, including military bases such as Camp Lejeune."

Nieto's lawyer for the case is Robert Muise, who also has been defending Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking officer accused in the Rep. John Murtha-instigated prosecution of soldiers for a firefight with terrorists in the so-called "Haditha [Iraq] Massacre." A military judge recently dismissed the charges against Chessani, and the government has appealed the ruling. A decision by the military appellate court is expected in that case within the next few months.

Read the lawsuit: http://www.thomasmore.org/downloads/sb_thomasmore/
ComplaintonBehalfofJesseNieto.pdf

Contact Camp Lejeune: www.lejeune.usmc.mil/legal

Judge Advocate office; tara.smith@usmc.mil

Public Affairs Office (or call 910-451-7435)

For more information on the Thomas More Laws Center -- www.thomasmore.org