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HH6/Resident Beerwench
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| Report: Navy lawyer denied promotion Swift led successful Supreme Court challenge of military tribunals The Associated Press Updated: 7:29 p.m. ET Oct 8, 2006 MIAMI - The Navy lawyer who led a successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration’s military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been passed over for promotion and will have to leave the military, The Miami Herald reported Sunday. Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, will retire in March or April under the military’s "up or out" promotion system. Swift said last week he was notified he would not be promoted to commander. He said the notification came about two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with him and against the White House in the case involving Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was Osama bin Laden’s driver. "It was a pleasure to serve," Swift told the newspaper. He added he would have defended Hamdan even if he had known it would cut short his Navy career. "All I ever wanted was to make a difference — and in that sense I think my career and personal satisfaction has been beyond my dreams," Swift said. The Pentagon had no comment Sunday. A graduate of the University of Seattle School of Law, Swift plans to continue defending Hamdan as a civilian. ‘Quite a coincidence’
The 36-year-old Hamdan was captured along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan while fleeing the U.S. invasion that was a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Hamdan has acknowledged that bin Laden paid him $200 a month as his driver on a Kandahar farm, but he says he never joined al-Qaida or engaged in military fighting. Hamdan turned to civilian courts to challenge the constitutionality of his war-crimes trial, a case that eventually led the Supreme Court to rule that President Bush had outstripped his authority when he created ad hoc military tribunals for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Swift’s supervisor said he served with distinction. "Charlie has obviously done an exceptional job, a really extraordinary job," said Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, the Pentagon’s chief defense counsel for Military Commissions. He added it was "quite a coincidence" that Swift was passed over for a promotion "within two weeks of the Supreme Court opinion." ‘Unrequited love’
Washington, D.C., attorney Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said Swift was "a no-brainer for promotion." Swift joins many other distinguished Navy officers over the years who have seen their careers end prematurely, Fidell said. "He brought real credit to the Navy," Fidell said. "It’s too bad that it’s unrequited love."
- "Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. "
George W. Bush
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Hard Charger
 
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Here is a man in uniform who could have done a perfunctory job, who could have seen Hamdan as an assignment, or as an evil and not a human being; who could have saluted and followed orders; who risked promotion and now faces certain retirement without it. He is the hero of Guantanamo, and his action and behavior should be a stiff slap in the face for those Beltway generals and admirals who whimper about Rumsfeld when they are safely out of uniform. But most important, it should be a message for the American people that we need to reject the terrorist nightmare and the power it holds over us.
The Swift doctrine: We can't be scared out of who we are. - from an article in the Washington Post by William M. Arkin 6/30/2006
"Let's Go Downtown" - Flight of the Intruder
http://www.327infantry.org/second/c_co Same Mud Same Blood - NBC documentary filmed 1967 RVN, chronicle Frank McGee
IMOFSGT Nelson P. Henry101st 2nd/327th -NO SLACKKIA October 28, 1967 in QuangTin Province RVN
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Stare Master
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First, he is not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that we are even having to try the terrorists is a travesty. Second, I was under the impression that you had to be passed over at least twice before retirement became your only option.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS
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Hard Charger
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509Trooper (10/9/2006)
First, he is not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that we are even having to try the terrorists is a travesty. Second, I was under the impression that you had to be passed over at least twice before retirement became your only option.I agree, hero he is not. Obviously, some think he is one though from this article. As for the passover, I guess it would depend on if he was In, Above, or Below Zone...I'm not up to speed on navy officer grade promotion boards, but it seems to me LCMDR Swift wasn't complaining.
"Let's Go Downtown" - Flight of the Intruder
http://www.327infantry.org/second/c_co Same Mud Same Blood - NBC documentary filmed 1967 RVN, chronicle Frank McGee
IMOFSGT Nelson P. Henry101st 2nd/327th -NO SLACKKIA October 28, 1967 in QuangTin Province RVN
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82nd_Raider
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but it seems to me LCMDR Swift wasn't complaining.
He probably has something lined up already on the outside. As a civilian, and going against the Bush administration, the Democrats will love him.
All the way, sir!!! 
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Hard Charger
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Ted (10/9/2006)
but it seems to me LCMDR Swift wasn't complaining.
He probably has something lined up already on the outside. As a civilian, and going against the Bush administration, the Democrats will love him. Probably got a book deal already lined up from a freakin foreign publisher too....I'd gladly throw that one on the fire for heat! I can't see why the Navy would want to put an officer in a position like this, and then give him the cold shoulder unless his career is like his name and he made grade too fast! Or maybe he's lacking in other areas, like physical fitness, moral qualifications, or integrity. I think if you are passed over for promotion one time when you are above the zone, you have to seperate or retire. SMSB
"Let's Go Downtown" - Flight of the Intruder
http://www.327infantry.org/second/c_co Same Mud Same Blood - NBC documentary filmed 1967 RVN, chronicle Frank McGee
IMOFSGT Nelson P. Henry101st 2nd/327th -NO SLACKKIA October 28, 1967 in QuangTin Province RVN
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Regular Joe
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| Promotion Board looks at your entire career, Navy is geting smaller and promotion oportunities are reducing. My Bro-in-Law just got passed over on this board, and we all (including his C O) assumed he'd make it. The article didn't say how many got picked up, and what the percentage was. There are other factors involved also, does he have any Sea Duty? What kind of ship etc. He may have politiced for the job to avoid sea duty, or another combat related assignment.
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Seasoned Vet
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Or he could just be a worthless POS who thinks more of the law and the terrorist scum he represented than the well being of his country. He seems just a little too happy to stick it to the President and the tribunal...must be another traitorous Liberal in Uniform...but not for long...Pogue.
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