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Sometimes It Takes A Hero


This article, on the Navy lawyer whose representation of Guantanamo prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan led to the Supreme Court decision that, among other things, the Geneva Conventions can't just be ignored, is a must read.

Odds are that Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift's career is over, as a result of his standing up for the Geneva conventions, and for the man he was assigned to represent.

Yet, as with Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, who saved civilians at My Lai, and was reviled as a traitor by many military men, Swift is a hero who has upheld the military's honor against those who would sully it. Hopefully he, unlike Thompson, will not have to wait 30 years to be forgiven for doing so.

Bill Arkin on the same topic, here. ~spk


Ian Welsh June 30, 2006 - 3:15pm
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A man of honor and courage

Lt Cmdr Swift has upheld moral behavior and the rule of law in the military, and perhaps more importantly in the civilian nation as well. The Bush administration has contorted the Congressional AUMF (authorization for the use of military force) beyond any possible recognition. Bush pretends that this legislation allows him to contravene military, US and international law as he sees fit. Not only in military matters, but in the civilian world as well. It is the specious basis for many of the outrages that have been perpetrated on our Constitution.

The practical effect, will only be more perversion of the law. We have seen how weak our democracy is to the depredations of internal malefactors. Bush and his ilk are not done with us yet, but this verdict gives us the first palpable hope we have seen in a long time.

m June 30, 2006 - 3:55pm
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Specter is already getting

Specter is already getting ready to make it ok, by making it all legal again, unfortunately. We'll see if Democrats and the few Republicans who aren't Bush's lapdogs have the spine to stop him.

Ian Welsh June 30, 2006 - 3:59pm
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One would actually hope that Congress

would come up with a set of procedures under which the detainees could obtain due process. The alternative is that they languish in Gitmo in perpetuity until the end of the war on terror. It is unlikely that will mean trials in US courts. The alternative will likely be something modeled on the military justice system if for no other reason than the military lawyers know how that works.

How this plays out will be very interesting. The Bush admin keeps saying these guys are dangerous killers. The JAG people or private lawyers who are likely to represent the detainees will certainly challenge the guilt by being in the wrong place at the wrong time theory.

I think we need to trust the integrity of the military lawyers, once this is handed back to them, to sort it out properly. My guess is that the Bush admin will continue to send the detainees home and try very few of those remaining because they never had the goods on most of them in the first place.

Mark July 1, 2006 - 11:25pm
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