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October 08, 2006
Dishonor on the Discharger
Lt. Cmdr Charles Swift, who exemplified some of the best traditions of this country, has been all but pushed out of the Navy:
The Navy lawyer whose successful defense of Osama bin Laden's driver led to the Supreme Court's landmark Hamdan decision has been passed over for promotion.Under the Navy's "up or out" promotion system, the decision forces Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift into early retirement. He learned of the decision about two weeks after this summer's ruling in Hamdan, which was a historic rebuke to the Bush Administration, and not long after the National Law Journal named Swift one of the top 100 lawyers in America.
Military promotion practices are notoriously byzantine and take into account many factors, but I think it's safe to say that this is a disgrace and a black-eye for the Navy.
If only he had tortured people instead of actually defending the constitution, along with Salim Ahmed Hamdan. He might have gotten a handsome promotion.
Posted by zeynep at October 8, 2006 07:54 PM
Comments
hello Zeynep,
I wrote about Swift this summer, apropo of a Seattle P-I story about him. My understanding is that he knew that he was due to have his review as he was set to go before the Supreme Court. I interpreted it as them indicating, not so subtly, that he had "one last chance" to play ball if he wanted to salvage his career.
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at October 16, 2006 11:05 PM