Will The Senate Ask “Cmdr. Harmon “Harm” Rabb Jr.” To Testify Next?

Posted on July 18, 2006

Next Tuesday, the complete first season of the 1990’s series “JAG” will be released but the US Senate got a “head start” last Thursday by inviting Flag Rank JAG Corp Officers to testify on how to go forward “post Hamdan:”

“The top lawyers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines contradicted the Bush administration on Thursday on how to bring terror suspects to trial, endorsing an approach that extends more human and legal rights to detainees than one that administration lawyers have pressed Congress to authorize.”

After the testimony, the following responses from Senators were clearly planned in advance because the outcome was already known:

“When Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the committee, suggested that “none of you believe we should simply ratify” the president’s approach, he was met with a string of nods from the uniformed lawyers on the panel.

And when Mr. McCain asked if Secretary England had done the right thing in declaring that the Geneva Conventions extended to detainees, the panel nodded again.

“This panel has got it right,” Senator Graham said.”

Senator Graham, the panel does not have it right! I guarantee that a panel of Combat Arms Officers, who will have to follow these guidelines that you wish to make, will disagree with you completely!
Unlike the television series “JAG,” never in the history of warfare, has an Officer assigned to the JAG Corp broken down a door or planned a raid to capture a terrorist. If the US Senate was serious, they would conduct Field Hearings in places like Ft. Stewart and Ft. Benning and take testimony from the men that will be breaking down those doors, conducting those raids and ultimately responsible for gathering “evidence.”.

The House had it right on immigration when they chose to conduct field hearings and posed questions to those individuals on the front lines. Lets hope they do the same and conduct field hearings on this very important issue at places like Ft. Stewart, Ft. Benning, Ft. Campbell and Ft. Bragg.

» Filed Under News, War On Terror

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One Response to “Will The Senate Ask “Cmdr. Harmon “Harm” Rabb Jr.” To Testify Next?”

meatbrain on July 20th, 2006 10:34 am

Ed Brayton concisely points out the problem with Oak Leaf’s argument:

But this issue has nothing to do with what the men in the field do or don’t do. This issue only has to do with how we will handle any legal proceedings we pursue against those who are captured. The combat soldiers should not change their actions in the slightest. His argument is like saying that we should just let the cops decide what to do with criminals. But that is precisely what our constitutional system does away with, allowing the same person to act as judge, jury and executioner.

The troops will continue to take into custody those they capture. But it’s not up to them what will happen to them then, anymore than it’s up to the cop on the beat to hold the trial and pass judgment on someone he arrests. That is the proper role of the courts and the courts are bound by the law. It was John Adams who coined the phrase “we are a nation of laws, not of men”, which means that we are a nation which sets up clear standards by which we judge accused criminals and we do not jettison those standards whenever we feel like it. That’s the difference between a republic and a dictatorship.

Oak Leaf is right about one thing: this is an important issue. It is important that the United States remain a nation of laws, not of men. Unfortunately there are far too many who, like Oak Leaf, would abandon our laws in a futile attempt to ensure security though lawlessness.

Where laws are ignored, there can be no security.