Butch Bracknell on mirror-image UCI and the Gallagher case

Butch Bracknell

Butch Bracknell has written this no-holds-barred piece about presidential and congressional interference in the course of justice in the case of SEALs Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher. Excerpt:

Which brings us back to the crazed conduct of Representative Duncan Hunter, Jr. Hunter has embarked on a Congressional quest to shape the case against Chief Gallagher to the government’s disadvantage. In so doing, he is committing the mirror image of the UCI usually seen in military cases, in that he is disadvantaging the government’s ability to present its case without passion or prejudice. Hunter has embarked on an information campaign, and has made disingenuous statements, recasting the alleged murder of an injured fighter with a knife as he lay helpless on the ground with “compassionate combat” when in fact, such conduct, if proven would constitute a breach of the law of war and murder. Hunter recently asked “for this whole case to be dropped. It’s time we stop persecuting our warriors who go overseas and do what we ask them to do. Maybe if we persecuted them less, we wouldn’t be in Afghanistan 18 years later, still with no end in sight.” (Yes, Congressman, it’s the persecution of alleged war criminals that’s at fault, not the absence of coherent strategy, the unreliability of Afghan military and political partners, own-goals like the Kunduz CIVCAS strike, and the diversion of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq to fight a needless war in 2003.) And Hunter isn’t alone in his crusade to interfere with the legal process; 39 other Congressmen have weighed in on the issue as well.

Hunter and his cohort are clearly pandering to the retired military and veteran crowd unwilling to look closely at the issue at to see that Chief Gallagher’s actions, if proven by competent evidence and if the government doesn’t self-immolate, constitute a drastic departure from the standard of professional, ethical conduct America has traditionally demanded of its warrior caste. Hunter et al should stop prejudicing the government’s case, as it’s apparent the government may be doing an OK job of that all by itself. A mature, responsible Congressman would stay out of this issue and allow the process to run its course. If we believe in due process, we have to believe in process, and if Hunter believes there are reforms necessary in the Uniform Code of military justice, he has, for now, a fine position to propose legislation, even though he has been stripped of his assignment to the House Armed Services Committee as a result of his indictment.

For a Pulitzer-winning reporter's account of the challenges of uncovering the case see this piece by Timesman Dave Philipps.