Duty and honor
From the Seattle Times:
Guantánamo defense lawyer forced out of Navy
The Navy lawyer who took the Guantánamo case of Osama bin Laden's driver to the U.S. Supreme Court — and won — has been passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, said last week he received word he had been denied a promotion to full-blown commander this summer, "about two weeks after" the Supreme Court sided against the White House and with his client, a Yemeni captive (Salim Hamdan)...
Bonus link: from Balkinization, here is a good (and long) contemplation by Scott Horton titled "When Lawyers Are War Criminals". It's dedicated to one moral officer and lawyer, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, and in the comments brought this wish for the future job prospects of another:
A just outcome would be for the next administration to employ Lt. (Cmdr.) Charles Swift in the AG's office for the specific purpose of prosecuting administration officials for their war crimes. What a beautiful ending that would be...
Comment: Blogger Beta is blocking me from commenting, but I'd respond to the Swift-boating in the comments to say, it's true that I get some of my views from second-hand experience. My dad was a naval aviator in WWII and got in his 20 in the reserves. His first-hand opinion of military bureaucracy (occasionally shared with me on runs to the NEX at NAS Whidbey) probably wouldn't be changed by the way today's Navy handled an LCDR who can win at the U.S. Supreme Court. Another WWII vet, Paul Fussell, might refer to it as "chickensh*t."
1 Comment:
This is obviously the eeeevil ChimpyMcBusHitler administration "getting even", right?
Minor detail - this is his second FOS (Failure of Selection), and given that he's at twenty years, he's not being booted so much as running out of time. Given the usual promotion points, he probably had his first FOS 3 to 5 years ago, long before he became involved in the Gitmo business.
At every promotion level, the number of slots for "real" lawyers vs admin types decreases (staff vs line command) and at full Commander, there isn't much call for courtroom lawyers and a lot for leadership positions. His wonderful ranking as a lawyer has to be balanced against the Navy's need for command officers, and, it's apparent, the Promotion Board judged him deficient in this respect, not once, but twice.
The "just outcome" in this case has yet to be determined, despite wishes obviously driven (much more obviously than the PB) by political desires.
You may be a lawyer, but it's apparent that you have little experience with the military.
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