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Title: Gitmo win likely cost Navy lawyer his career 'Fearless' defense of detainee a stinging loss for Bush
Source:
Seattle PI via Raw Story
URL Source: http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle ... national%2F276109_swift01.html
Published: Jul 2, 2006
Author: By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
Post Date: 2006-07-02 08:22:12 by Zipporah
Keywords: None
Views: 160
Comments: 13
Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift -- the Navy lawyer who beat the president of the United States in a pivotal Supreme Court battle over trying alleged terrorists -- figures he'll probably have to find a new job. Of course, it's always risky to compare your boss to King George III. Swift made the analogy to the court, saying President Bush had overstepped his authority when he bypassed Congress and set up illegal military tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees such as Swift's alleged al-Qaida client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The justices agreed, ruling 5-3 Thursday in favor of dismantling the current tribunal system. Despite his spectacular success, with the assistance of attorneys from the Seattle firm Perkins Coie, Swift thinks his military career is coming to an end. The 44-year-old Judge Advocate General officer, who was recently named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country by The National Law Journal, was passed over for promotion last year as the high-profile case was making headlines around the world. "I may be one of the most influential lawyers in America," the Seattle University Law School graduate said, "but I won't be in the military much longer. That irony did strike me." Swift's future in the Navy now rests with another promotion board that is expected to render its decision in the next couple of weeks. Under the military's system, officers need to be promoted at regularly scheduled intervals or their service careers are essentially over. "The way it works, the die was cast some months ago," he said. "The decision has been made. I don't know what it is yet." But he thinks his chances are slim. Asked if he believes he was passed over for promotion last year for political reasons, Swift would not speculate. "I don't know," he said. "I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't volunteer for this. I got nominated for it. When I got it, I just decided to do the best I could." Swift has worked under two officers as a member of the small team of lawyers defending "enemy combatants" being held at Guantanamo Bay. Both of them spoke highly of Swift Friday and said they gave him very high ratings on his annual review, called a fitness report. "He's doing a fantastic job," said Swift's current boss at the Office of Military Commissions (tribunals), Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan. Sullivan spoke of the crucial importance of the case decided Thursday by the Supreme Court. "It's a fundamental constitutional question about the powers of the president," Sullivan said. Asked about Swift's aggressive legal challenge of the commander in chief, Sullivan saluted Swift's "moral courage." "He has been absolutely fearless is pursuing his client's interests. And also he has exhibited an extraordinary level of legal skill. His legal strategy has been brilliant. "We all take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and he has certainly done that, literally." Swift spoke Friday about his "immense pride" in the military justice system. "I don't feel that because you join the military you should lose rights. If there is anyone who deserves the protection of those rights, it's the people who are willing to lay down their lives for it." So the question is will Swift lay down his career because of his vigorous defense of a Yemeni tribesman who was Osama bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan. Swift's first supervisor at the Office of Commissions was Col. Will Gunn, who said Friday that he gave Swift two annual fitness reports and "I gave him very high ratings overall." Asked whether he thought politics might have played a role in Swift being bypassed for promotion, Gunn focused on Swift's atypical career as a military lawyer. "Charlie has spent a lot of time as a litigator, a trial advocate. That's really unusual in the JAG. You find that people in the more senior ranks have moved around and proved themselves in a variety of settings." Most of Swift's career has been spent in the courtroom. "While Charlie is a brilliant guy, a tenacious litigator, he does not have all the blocks checked like some other folks have," Gunn said. He called it a "breadth-of-experience" issue. Swift clearly believes that his vigorous defense of Hamdan was, in a very real way, a vigorous defense of military justice and the Constitution. "If they are calling the commissions (tribunals) military justice, it's got to live up to what military justice is. It means something. It's about the law, not what the leaders want. The greatest thing about the JAG Corps is ... I had the opportunity to work every day in a system I believe in." Swift figures he'll hear around the second week of the month whether he's been passed over for promotion again. If so, he says, it will be time to dust off the resume. He doesn't know what might be next, but when asked if he might move back to the Puget Sound area, he said: "I lived in Seattle for 6 1/2 years. I love Seattle." He proceeded to reminisce fondly about sitting in the Kingdome's outfield bleachers watching the Mariners play. "And my wife is an airplane pilot. She could live anywhere." P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift first represented Hamdan two years ago in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
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#1. To: Zipporah (#0)
He was crazy, too.
"Benjamin Franklin was shown the new American constitution, and he said, 'I don't like it, but I will vote for it because we need something right now. But this constitution in time will fail, as all such efforts do. And it will fail because of the corruption of the people, in a general sense.' And that is what it has come to now, exactly as Franklin predicted." -- Gore Vidal
"Later in his reign George III suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. It is thought now that he suffered from mental and nervous disorders as a consequence of the blood disease porphyria, which struck several British monarchs.".. yeah sort of a parallel.. the only diff is George the 2nd has been crazy from day one.. ;P
Did anyone notice that he is a "Swift" boater. That his name is Swift and he is a sailor. Very ironic as it was the Swift boaters who helped defeat Kerry.
The Truth of 911 Shall Set You Free From The Lie
It's just a matter of time before the Swiftboaters proceed to Swiftboat LCDR Swift.
They do seem to quickly take on the role of GW's hitmen don't they..
Did you notice how that prowar veterans group turned out to be run out of the White House (or at least by a recent White House operative)?
No I didnt.. I've not been online much lately...what happened?
Pro-War "Vets for Freedom" Tied to Bush's PR Team.
Asked if he believes he was passed over for promotion last year for political reasons, Swift would not speculate. "I don't know," he said. "I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't volunteer for this. I got nominated for it. When I got it, I just decided to do the best I could." An interesting man, he might want to even consider living abroad awhile.
Well crap, that guy is doomed for sure. No place for those ACLU lackeys in the NWO. You can watch Lt. Cmdr. Swift on C-Span here - Richard W.
As things are going..it might have to be a LONG while...
I was an extremely capable and bright PFC working as a helicopter mechanic who couldn't keep his mouth shut about politics. It first got me damned with faint praise that kept me out of Army Warrant Officer Flight School, and then got me my first of many planned non-judicial punishment attempts (Article 15s) to build the case to boot me from the Army. Which is what usually happens if someone is strongly disliked by their immediate command. I hired a Swift. I paid good money and got a brilliant lawyer who had left the Army after being passed over for promotion too after I took the Article 15 to Summary then Special Court Martial to fight my commander, Major Turner E. Grimsley with everything I had. I decided I was going to go for it. I had no choice but to hire Jack Carter as my attorney as the JAG they gave me was an idiot and had an office right next door to the guy prosecuting me. It was thrown out as the prosecution failed to prove a Prima Faxie case, in that there was - as per the First Sergeant's testimony - compliance to render a proper hand salute prior to and subsequent to the alleged incident. After the dismissal of charges I left for a completely different battalion, kept my mouth shut about politics, and made sergeant E-5 two years and three months after first enlisting and entering the Army as a private E-1. I also became a crew chief with my own UH-1H helicopter trading jump pay for flight pay. I wish this gentleman all the luck in the world and I salute him. His being passed over for promotion is a de facto admission he has principle and is talented. He will do better away from the system he is now in anyway.
Describing Vets for Freedom as a “pro-war group with deep Republican ties,” the Buffalo News revealed that Taylor Gross, who until last year worked as a spokesman for President Bush under White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, is conducting PR work for Veterans for Freedom. Gross attempted to convince the Buffalo News and other papers that two decorated military veterans with the group, Wade Zirkle and David Bellavia, could report cheaply for the newspapers from Iraq while embedded with the U.S. military. Good for http://sourcewatch.org Govt infiltrators may not be a bad career choice, for the amoral.
King George III.
#2. To: YertleTurtle (#1)
He was crazy, too.
#3. To: Zipporah (#0)
#4. To: Horse (#3)
#5. To: aristeides, Horse (#4)
It's just a matter of time before the Swiftboaters proceed to Swiftboat LCDR Swift.
#6. To: Zipporah (#5)
#7. To: aristeides (#6)
Did you notice how that prowar veterans group turned out to be run out of the White House (or at least by a recent White House operative)?
#8. To: Zipporah (#7)
#9. To: Zipporah (#0)
Of course, it's always risky to compare your boss to King George III.
#10. To: Zipporah (#0)
"We all take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and he has certainly done that, literally."
#11. To: robin (#9)
An interesting man, he might want to even consider living abroad awhile.
#12. To: Zipporah (#2)
“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.” Plato
#13. To: aristeides, loner, Fred Mertz (#8)
Citizen journalists on SourceWatch have been investigating and exposing the many Republican connections and the partisan pro-war political agenda behind Vets for Freedom, a new organization with mysterious funding and a flashy web site designed by Campaign Solutions, part of the Donatelli Group. Vets for Freedom’s hollow claim of “non-partisanship” took another blow Sunday, June 25, when the Buffalo News published a front page story by Jerry Zremski, their Washington correspondent, linking Vets for Freedom to the Bush White House.
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