Bush taking more authority over military lawyers

[babylonsister]

This guy is way too dangerous; why can't Pelosi see that?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/061114.php

Bush taking more authority over military lawyers
12.15.07 -- 9:24AM
By Steve Benen

The Bush administration? Undermining the independence of military lawyers with a dubious power grab? You don't say.

The Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.

The administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps - the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal force - can be promoted.

A Pentagon spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the reasoning behind the proposed regulations. But the requirement of coordination - which many former JAGs say would give the administration veto power over any JAG promotion or appointment - is consistent with past administration efforts to impose greater control over the military lawyers.

The former JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers' role as a check-and-balance on presidential power, because politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of JAGs who they believe would speak up if they think a White House policy is illegal. (emphasis added)

Charlie Savage's piece, which is well worth reading, adds that the plan would direct broad new power over the JAGs to William "Jim" Haynes, the Bush-appointed general counsel at the Pentagon, best known for writing the Pentagon's infamous 2002 policies endorsing physical and mental duress on terror prisoners, and reportedly cutting top military lawyers out of the loop if they were likely to object.

[tekisui]

1. He is moving fast.

It's the endgame.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. It certainly is and they have much more to do to finish it by January 2009.

:(

[Toots]

6. He say he is in "Sprint mode"

I suspect that everything we have seen in the last seven years woin't hold a candle to what is coming up..He has absolutely nothing to lose and he knows now is the time.. The Democrats are helpless.

[spanone]

2. the shit pile deepens with every passing hour.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Bottom Line

The infusion of conservative values in the JAG corps will do away with competence as a gage for promotion. Lawyers in conservative world should talk politics, not the truth.

[OregonBlue]

5. Please K & R. This is under the radar.

[tekisui]

7. kick.

[babylonsister]

8. .

[HuffleClaw]

9. soviet-style 'political' officers ?

wow, what a horrid concept

[Marie26]

10. They're trying to prevent another Lt. Swift

Guantánamo defense lawyer forced out of Navy

By Carol Rosenberg

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift defended bin Laden driver

NEWARK, N.J. — 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 at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. ...

Still at Guantánamo as an enemy combatant, Hamdan halted his war-crimes trial by challenging the format's constitutionality through civilian courts.

The justices ruled in June that Bush overstepped his constitutional authority by creating ad hoc military tribunals for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, sending the Pentagon back to the drawing board for the trials.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003294468_lawyer08.html

[Warren Stupidity]

11. This is a very dangerous move.

It will end any independence within the JAG and consequently remove their ability to check unconstrained illegal military activities by the executive, for example torture of prisoners, illegal tribunals, and other war crimes.

It is another step toward dictatorship.

[kickysnana]

12. kick n/t