Military Justice
The incomparable Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe noted last December that the White House drops veto bid on promotions
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is dropping a plan to take control over the promotions of military lawyers, following an outpouring of alarm over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly objected to the White House’s policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.
Sometimes retired flag officers write open letters [PDF] to the President to show him that he is not doing right.
When those signing include people like John Liu Fugh, Major General USA JAG (retired) [first Chinese American to make flag rank and former Judge Advocate General of the Army], John D. Hutson Rear Admiral USN JAG (retired) [former Judge Advocate General of the Navy], and David M. Brahms, Brigadier General USMC JAD (retired) [Director of the Judge Advocate Division of the Marines], you know something is wrong.
Lieutenant Commander Charles D. Swift, USN JAG defense attorney was not promoted and retired after winning Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006) [most people accept it was because he won].
Colonel Morris Davis, USAF JAG chief military prosecutor at the Guantanamo tribunal left after being informed that he would be placed under a staff lawyer, Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, USAFR JAG, rather than the head of the Military Commissions. Colonel Davis complained of political interference in the process of the Military Commission.
Lieutenant Commander Andrew Williams, USNR JAG, resigned when Brigadier General Hartmann refused to state that waterboarding was torture. Commander Williams offered as an example if waterboarding were used on a US pilot captured by Iranian authorities.
Colonel Peter Brownback, USA JAG judge was himself dismissed after dismissing all charges against Canadian youth Omar Khadr on several grounds, including the prosecutors not providing discovery evidence to the defense. Colonel Brownback served with Special Forces with two tours in Vietnam, and was not a member of the JAG Corps prior to his recall. He was called out of retirement to be a judge, and does have legal training.
The military justice system is different than the civilian justice system in the US, but that doesn’t mean there is less justice. The Hedgemony was operating under the assumption that it could just order people tried and convicted to promote its political goals, but military lawyers tend to be sticklers for the rules and procedures. The Hedgemony keeps calling up reservists like Hartmann hoping to “game” the system, but the regular military JAGs are not going to go along with him, which is why they tried to gain control of the promotion system.
Military lawyers, more than most of their profession, understand the meaning of “support and defend the Constitution of the United States”. Now if we could just find a few more Supreme Court Justices who are familiar with the concept…
