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Former Army Officer, 'Birther,' Terry Lakin Freed from Prison, Arrives BWI

Former Lt. Col. Terry Lakin arrived in Maryland Saturday after serving five months in prison for disobeying orders to deploy to Afghanistan. He claimed President Obama had no legal standing to be president.

Family and several dozen supporters greeted former Army doctor and “birther” movement leader Terry Lakin as he arrived at Baltimore Washington International Airport Saturday after his release from federal prison for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan.

“I’m so happy to be with my family,” Lakin said after embracing his wife, Pili, and three children. “They’ve been through a lot.”

A military physician who served in the Army as a lieutenant colonel, Lakin publicly questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States and therefore qualified to be commander in chief.

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He made his case in YouTube videos that got thousands of views, admitting he was disobeying orders to go to war “because I believe all servicemen and servicewomen and the American people deserve the truth about President Obama's constitutional eligibility to the office of the presidency and the commander in chief.”

Lakin faced court-martial at Fort Meade near Odenton, MD, and pleaded guilty in December to disobeying orders requiring him to deploy from Fort Campbell, KY, and board a flight to his destination in Afghanistan. It was to be his second tour of duty.

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He was discharged from the Army and sentenced to six months in military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Lakin was released Friday after serving five months.

Lakin's name became synonymous with the "birthers," a description for some in the Tea Party movement and others who claim Obama was not legally elected. Democrats have criticized Tea Party and Republican leaders for not denouncing the birther point of view.

The White House last month released a long form birth certificate for Obama from a Hawaii hospital, largely putting the debate to rest, but Lakin’s supporters said they were unconvinced of Obama’s status as a natural-born U.S. citizen.

The long-form document “is a forgery,” said Linda Mercaldo of Staten Island, NY. “There is enough evidence now to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this man in the White House is a pretender and a fraud.”

Two fact-checking groups, FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, have concluded the certification of live birth was authentic, according to The New York Times. A reporter for The Honolulu Advertiser also found two separate newspaper announcements of the president’s birth, one in The Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961, and another in The Honolulu Star-Bulletin the next day. Both carried the words “Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6085 Kalanianaole Highway, son, Aug. 4,” The Times reported.

“I’m excited that [Lakin] is home, but heartbroken that he went [to prison] at all,” said Tonya Franklin of Chicago, one of the supporters at the airport. “I believe he’s still dedicated to the cause and believes in the Constitution.”

Pili Lakin said the family has not decided what to do next.

“We’re just going to enjoy our lives,” she added.


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