Analyst's note: Yet another U.S. General is apparently about to "bite the dust." The need for political correctness is a difficult path. For those who think there are no politics in the senior ranks of the U.S. military ... think again. It is a long article, but following this review, well worth the read of the entire original article Semper Fidelis
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A military judge did something extraordinary last summer when he ordered the Marine Corps‘ top officer to submit sworn statements in a sexual assault case.
The answers from the commandant, Gen. James F. Amos, have some in Marine legal circles wondering whether he told the full truth.
Gen. Amos, a Joint Chiefs of Staff member, faces charges from defense attorneys that his words and actions have unleashed a wave of unlawful command influence over jurors who venerate the commandant.
A fellow general said the commandant ordered him to “crush” Marine defendants in the desecration cases of those caught on videotape urinating on Taliban corpses. Defense attorneys call that order blatant, illegal command interference.
[....] In signed and sworn answers to defense attorneys’ questions on July 31, 2012, Gen. Amos told a military judge that he did not intervene in cases in which he delivered a series a speeches on moral conduct and the need to punish wrongdoers.
“At no time did I directly or indirectly intend to dictate any course of action in any particular case or type of cases,” he said in the statement.
[....] Six months earlier, he ordered Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, in a one-on-one meeting in the Middle East, to “crush” the defendants in the urination case and make sure some of them were court-martialed, according to Gen. Waldhauser.
“The fact that the military judge ordered the commandant to answer written interrogatories is pretty amazing. That happens rarely,” said Charles Gittins, a former military defense counsel. “But now he has a bigger problem: His statement in the interrogatories is false. And he had to know it was when he signed the thing. Amazing bit of hubris.”
[....] Gen. Waldhauser is now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s senior military assistant and is soon to take a job as a staff director for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
Washington was jarred in January 2012 when a YouTube video showed four Marine snipers urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters they had killed. Obama administration officials, sensitive to Muslim outrage, condemned the conduct.
Gen. Amos ordered an investigation and named Gen. Waldhauser, then in charge of U.S. Central Command Marines, to oversee judicial cases for more than a half-dozen defendants.
[....] Gen. Waldhauser, in a written declaration, said the investigation was months away from being completed, so he expected his session with Gen. Amos to be simply an update.
“I do not necessarily remember the exact words or sequence of what was said, but the [commandant] did make a comment to the effect that the Marines involved needed to be ‘crushed,’” Gen. Waldhauser said. “The [commandant] went on to say that he wanted these Marines to be discharged from the Marine Corps when this was all over.”
Gen. Waldhauser said he was considering a range of actions, from nonjudicial punishment to more serious charges that would mandate a court-martial. He said he could not guarantee that the Marines would be discharged, as the commandant wanted.
Gen. Amos said: “Why not, or will you give them general court-martials?” — which could result in what amounts to felony convictions.
“No, I am not going to do that,” Gen. Waldhauser said.
Gen. Amos then reminded Gen. Waldhauser that he had the power to fire him.
[....] Mr. Gittins said any commander who violates court procedures can be charged under Article 98 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the federal law that contains the armed forces’ criminal code and dictates how courts-martial should be conducted.
