Bush Attacks Military Lawyers

The Bush show trials of those non-entities known as prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is picking up steam. But since it's not enough to belittle the Red Cross, the Geneva Convention and all standards of decency (see Abu Ghraib), Bush is now taking out his anger on the military lawyers saddled with the miserable task of defending these prisoners under conditions that most lawyers would find unacceptable.

The military lawyers actually have done a spectacular job of providing excellent counsel by attacking the very legitimacy of the proceedings, giving it all a far more respectable air than they deserved -- something for which Bush should be grateful. Instead, these men and women are paying for fulfilling their oaths and their duties by having their careers torpedoed.

"One of those lawyers, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel, said he accepted the job after the Navy's top lawyer said it would be a historic opportunity. 'Not historic enough, I guess,' Commander Sundel said in an interview.
"'I found out in June I was not selected for promotion for the second year in a row,' said Commander Sundel, who has a strong reputation as a trial lawyer. Under the military's system that emphasizes promotion or resignation, he will leave the service. Asked if he believed the promotion denial was related to his representation of Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al-Bahlul of Yemen and his strong criticism of the tribunal system, he said: 'I have no way of knowing if it adversely impacted my situation. It didn't positively impact, it seems.'"