Andrew Williams, JAG, BDH

From Military.com, "Navy JAG Resigns Over Torture Issue":

"It was with sadness that I signed my name this grey morning to a letter resigning my commission in the U.S. Navy," wrote Gig Harbor, Wash., resident and attorney-at-law Andrew Williams in a letter to The Peninsula Gateway last week. "There was a time when I served with pride ... Sadly, no more." Williams' sadness stems from the recent CIA videotape scandal in which tapes showing secret interrogations of two [suspected] al-Qaida operatives were destroyed.

The tapes may have contained evidence that the U.S. government used a type of torture known as waterboarding to obtain information from suspected terrorists.

Torture, including water-boarding, is prohibited under the treaties of the Geneva Convention.

It was in the much-publicized interview two weeks ago between Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, who is the chief legal adviser at the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions, that led Williams to resign.

In the interview, Graham asked Hartmann how the uniformed legal community should respond if the Iranian government used waterboarding to torture a U.S. soldier into disclosing when the next U.S. military operation would occur.

Hartmann responded: "I am not prepared to answer that question."

For Williams, a former naval Lieutenant Commander and member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG), this answer went against "every training I had as an attorney" and as a member of the military. ...

From Williams' letter:

"Thank you General Hartmann for finally admitting the United States is now part of a long tradition of torturers going back to the Inquisition. In the middle ages the Inquisition called waterboarding "toca" and used it with great success. In colonial times, it was used by the Dutch East India Company during the Amboyna Massacre of 1623.

"Waterboarding was used by the Nazi Gestapo and the feared Japanese Kempeitai. In World War II, our grandfathers had the wisdom to convict Japanese Officer Yukio Asano of waterboarding and other torture practices in 1947 giving him 15 years hard labor. Waterboarding was practiced by the Khmer Rouge at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. Most recently, the United States Army court martialed a soldier for the practice in 1968 during the Vietnam conflict."

Comments

[THX1138]

Good on him! Its a bloody shame it has to come down to resignation, but he's got a hell of a lot more of my respect than many of these other bastards.

[Caravelle]

So... anybody think somebody in the US will ever get convicted to 15 years of hard labor ? (to be fair, a lot of that might have been those "other torture practices")

[Toby]

On the Knight Ridder discussion forum, some have already dismissed the story on the grounds that Williams was just a lawyer, and that he already had a career outside of the military. So while the resignation undoubtedly took some courage, it is not as striking a symbol as one might hope for.

Any high-ranking career officers care to step up?

[Froborr]

15 years nothing. I want to see the leadership of this government sent up before the Hague for war crimes.

[THX1138]

Ugh. The majority of the comments on that article are really depressing.

By the way, the U.S. Army Field Manual does SPECIFICALLY forbid water torture (sorry, I refuse to use the Owellian "waterboarding") as well as the cold cell and other techniques that are now part of US policy.

The United States is spreading a lot of something, but it sure isn't "democracy."

[THX1138]

Froborr: "15 years nothing. I want to see the leadership of this government sent up before the Hague for war crimes."

I couldn't agree more!

[Chris Adams]

In case anyone wants to read the entire thing: http://www.gateline.com/opinion/story/295.html

[MikhailBorg]

On the Knight Ridder discussion forum, some have already dismissed the story

Because, y'know, anything they didn't have to do must have been an easy choice to make.

[Geds]

I take the post title as further proof that Fred reads the comments. Seeing as how we have a proclivity toward four- or five-hundred comment threads a few times a week, might I suggest you might want to get out more, Mr. Fred? Take a walk. Meet a girl. Take over the government and tell us all how to spend our money and be appropriately compassionate (TM). Y'know, live a little...

Those morons who say he didn't give anything up are clueless. Walking away from a career, and one which demands so much of one (body, and soul) because the institution is failing itself.... that's a hard row to hoe.

He has my every sympathy, respect and support. If he ever shows up someplace with so much as a lapel pin; I'll stand up and salute.

No reservations.

I'm glad for the man. Would that ten thousand like him resign on their principles the same way.

[Robin Z]

Oh, 04:19 was me - I think my cookie vanished when I hit "Preview".

[lightning]

Good for Cmdr. Williams!

Unfortunately, about all that someone in the military can do to protest is to resign.

I worry about those who don't.

[Anna]

I happen to know anecdotally (close correspondence with several JAG members who were high school friends that stayed in touch) that dozens of lesser JAG have already resigned in protest to either waterboarding or the revocation of habeas corpus. They won't get the recognition that Williams will (mostly because they weren't ranked as highly; Lt. Cmdr. is a big deal), but there is a definite undercurrent of unease among our nation's JAG corps.

Good on him, though, for making an issue of morality, as well as law, out of Hartmann's testimony. It's true that we've condemned people in the past for similar practices,

[burgundy]

Geds: I take the post title as further proof that Fred reads the comments.

And I am plenty tickled that a throwaway Firefly reference became not only a shorthand in the thread itself but part of the title for another post. I feel like a real Slactiv(suffix) now.

[Elpheba]

This type of news is what keeps me in this country. We've clearly gone down a very dark and dangerous path, but there are a lot of people who are quietly tugging us back in the other direction.

[Boze]

BDH indeed!

[Robb]

This type of news is what keeps me in this country.

AMEN!

I'm a little saddened that there isn't someone more high profile, but it's still terrific news. Every veteran I know will be extremely proud to read this.

[Robb]

I take the post title as further proof that Fred reads the comments. Seeing as how we have a proclivity toward four- or five-hundred comment threads a few times a week, might I suggest you might want to get out more, Mr. Fred?

Seriously, how does anyone do that? Personally, I like the bare aesthetics of this site, but when reading the comment threads, it's not only hard to keep track of where you are (lots of scrolling up & down), but I get headaches staring at the screen that long. Damn you fellow commenters for being so fascinating!

[jamoche]

I have one window with tabs for each of the posts I'm following, then I click the bottommost timestamp, which sets the URL to the anchor for that comment, then hit reload - so the reloaded page goes straight to the last comment before I reloaded.

[Froborr]

I have one window with tabs for each of the posts I'm following, then I click the bottommost timestamp, which sets the URL to the anchor for that comment, then hit reload - so the reloaded page goes straight to the last comment before I reloaded.

Except for the tabs (I prefer opening new windows so that I can use the same button combination to jump from one Firefox window to another as I use to jump from a Firefox window to, say, iTunes), that is *brilliant* and I'm going to use that method from now on.

[Corbie]

On the Knight Ridder discussion forum, some have already dismissed the story on the grounds that Williams was just a lawyer, and that he already had a career outside of the military. So while the resignation undoubtedly took some courage, it is not as striking a symbol as one might hope for.

Y'know, lots of people assume that having a law degree (any law degree) guarantees you a gold-plated job that pays in the six figures at a top law firm. Ain't so. Most law firms are looking for 20-somethings fresh out of law school and willing to work 80 hours a week, rather than a 40- or 50-something lawyer with experience in military justice rather than, say, intellectual property law or something more relevant to life in the civilian world. Yes, there are jobs to be had, but switching careers in your 40s or 50s isn't quite as rosy a picture as non-lawyers tend to believe. (My dad's a retired Navy JAG.)

[bellatrys]

Too bad Lawyer Williams isn't intellectually honest enough to admit that the US military has a long history of waterboarding, too - we had congressional hearings on our killing of Filipino POWs via "the water-cure" almost exactly 100 years ago.

Nothing was done about it then, either, except for a few slaps on wrists.

After all, we were bringing them liberty and civilization.

[Jon H]

the downside is that the remaining military is now a smidge closer to being Pure Distilled Evil.

[Bill K]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "BDH" stand for?

Thanks y'all, and may y'all have a happy new year. :)

[burgundy]

Bill K: Pardon my ignorance, but what does "BDH" stand for?

If you pop over to the TFWOT comments, you'll find that BDH stands for Big Damn Hero. The more specific context is that it describes someone who goes above and beyond, who displays extraordinary courage and goodness at a level it would be unrealistic to expect in everyone all the time.

[Victoria]

Bill K, it stands for "Big Damn Hero." See the comments in the previous thread (TFWOT).

[kodiak]

to add to the BDH reference, I think (as do others above) that it likely started out as a quote from Firefly (the tv show). The quote from ths show:

Mal: Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?
Zoe: Big damn heroes, sir!
Mal: Ain't we just?

[Caravelle]

Too bad Lawyer Williams isn't intellectually honest enough to admit that the US military has a long history of waterboarding, too - we had congressional hearings on our killing of Filipino POWs via "the water-cure" almost exactly 100 years ago.

Nothing was done about it then, either, except for a few slaps on wrists.

After all, we were bringing them liberty and civilization.

I read about that on Andrew Sullivan's blog (which is where I get most of my waterboarding news, come to think of it), and I think there was some pushback from those practices. Like judges or legislators making it illegal from then on. Did the people involved really only get a slap on the wrist ?

Even if they did though, the moral to that story to me isn't that Americans do Evil Things (though some people obviously need to be made aware of this), but : Americans decided a hundred years ago that what this administration is doing is unacceptable. So they should stop waffling already.

[Tonio]

My paranoid side wonders if the waterboarding is part of a larger PMD push toward theocracy. There are so many things that seem to have sinister meaning when put together - torture used specifically against Muslims, the hiring of Blackwater whose chief holds fanatical Dominionist beliefs, Bush's "crusade" slip of the tongue after 9/11, the Air Force Academy becoming a Jesus Camp, the increasing evangelizing and harassment against non-Christian members of the American military, the Bush Administration's ties with educational institutions (Regent University and Patrick Henry College) that openly advocate theocracy, the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives favoring fundamentalist charities at the expense of even other Christian charities...did I miss anything?

[MikhailBorg]

Too bad Lawyer Williams isn't intellectually honest enough to admit that the US military has a long history of waterboarding, too - we had congressional hearings on our killing of Filipino POWs via "the water-cure" almost exactly 100 years ago

The guy throws away a career in hopes of exposing current abuses, and you demand more of him?

The guy throws away a career in hopes of exposing current abuses, and you demand more of him?

Most Americans know about the Spanish-American War, but few know about what happened in the Phillipines in the years that followed the war. I wouldn't be surprised if Williams didn't know.

[Tonio]

That was me at 10:01 a.m.

[Robb]

I have one window with tabs for each of the posts I'm following, then I click the bottommost timestamp, which sets the URL to the anchor for that comment, then hit reload - so the reloaded page goes straight to the last comment before I reloaded.

Ah. . . that's pretty brilliant, and would work great with my mac at home. Alas, at work, I'm not even supposed to use Firefox, so I just keep it open with 1 window, 3 or 4 tabs - just in case I need to quickly close it down & pretend it's not even installed (which it technically isn't).

[Nenya]

Robb--now I'm curious. How can a program not be "technically" installed, when you are using it? This is juju I wot not of! Cool....

[Caravelle]

Framakey ?
Also, I wonder why you're not supposed to be using Firefox at work ? (unless by Firefox you mean "a web browser")

[Raka]

Search for "Firefox Portable"-- it's designed to run on a USB drive (or what have you), but works just fine on a local drive. It runs as a plain exe and doesn't need to be installed ("installing" generally involves changes to the registry and depositing files in various system and user directories).

[Raka]

Caravelle: I wonder why you're not supposed to be using Firefox at work ?

Any company big enough to have an IT policy will generally limit the software that can be installed. The IT monkeys are the ones responsible for maintaining the security and functionality of the network and all the machines on it, which is pretty much impossible if you let people install whatever programs they want-- and while Firefox is pretty secure from a user's point of view, its flexibility (especially the awesome power of add-ons) makes it a nightmare from an administrative perspective.

Any piece of software on a business machine costs real dollars in maintenance (even if it's only preventative maintenance). IT is going to want to know what business need you have to justify that expense, and why your existing software is insufficient.

[Robb]

Yeah, it's Firefox portable, running from a networked virtual drive (a company owned network drive, I might add). Since it's an executable program, it's not installed on my computer, so once I close the program, it's gone. It's a bit of a pain opening my personal folder every morning at work, but to be able to have (almost) unrestricted browsing at work, as well as avoid Internet Explorer 6, it's well worth the hassle.

[Froborr]

Wish I could do that. Sadly, since my work computer is owned by the government, circumventing the site restrictions is a federal crime.

[Jeff]

I can't use Firefox at work either (which is why my day-time posts have more spelling errors than evening posts), but I can use IE 7, which allows tabs. So I do the same thing as jamoche -- one tab per thread. I usually go back to Main once I'm caught up and see what new comments have been added on the sidebar.

[Me]

"In the interview, Graham asked Hartmann how the uniformed legal community should respond if the Iranian government used waterboarding to torture a U.S. soldier into disclosing when the next U.S. military operation would occur."

War preplanning. Jesus, these people are insane.