Military lawyers say "Sit down sir!"
"White House drops veto bid on promotions"
Looks like the Cheney/Bush plan to take control over the promotions of military lawyers in order to get control of the JAG corps has been shelved ...for now. No doubt they will try something else.
See, if all JAG promotions were approved by politically appointed lawyers, it could ruin the career of any JAG lawyer who has the temerity to disagree with the White House. Like--"You buck us on torture, you don't get promoted."
Hmm...me thinks the Bushies believe the feces is going to hit the fan sooner, rather than later, over those torture tapes.
From Boston Globe: "WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is dropping a plan to take control over the promotions of military lawyers, following an outpouring of alarm over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly objected to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.
Under the proposal, first reported by the Globe on Saturday, politically appointed lawyers in the Pentagon would have gained the power to veto the appointment or promotion of any member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal officers group.
Retired JAGs loudly objected to the proposal, which they characterized as an attempt to politicize the corps of military lawyers by allowing the administration to block the advancement of officers considered likely to speak up if they thought the White House had issued an illegal order to the military.[..]"
The JAG Corps is the military’s legal branch. It was created to uphold the law within the military...NOT to serve at the pleasure of the president.
Gah! Is there anything this White House hasn't tried to corrupt and politicize? The Justice Dept./Attorneys General stink was bad enough...but now JAG?
'Quality control' my Aunt Fannie. It's an attempt to politicize JAG because there have been too many military lawyers raising objections to certain policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism. They were among the first to challenge Bush's Guantanamo and torture policies. The Geneva Conventions are very important to the military.
That veto power would have ended JAG's role as a checks-and-balance on presidential power... politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of certain JAGs who they believe would speak up if a White House policy is illegal.
It's a sad day for our country when we've reached the point where it's actually a relief to see the military stand up to the president and say, loudly and clearly, "No!"
But, with all the political meddling that goes on...I'm just glad the military still has the cajones to stand up to him.
