A long-time friend from my Special Forces days emailed August 6th.
Please see that email.
Please consider following Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon).
After another ten or so days with the British, will go with the United States Marines.
Your writer,
Michael Yon
Please remember that Michael Yon's website accepts no advertisement and is dependent on your support.
Disturbing Developments
06 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan
Paul Mundt is a long-time friend from my Special Forces days. Paul emailed today regarding some disturbing developments on the home front. He emailed the following to the Special Forces Association. The reader should find it self-explanatory. I've known Paul for a long time. Considering the source, my instinct is that this topic is introduced with great merit.
The following email was written by Paul Mundt and transmitted to the Special Forces Association:
Sir, as a matter of introduction my name is Paul Mundt, member 5001 and I served as the Chapter 5 President in 1996 and 1997. I retired from active duty in 2002, moved to Tampa and have worked at CENTCOM and SOCOM since then. Recently I was approached by a private organization, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) on a significant issue. I have worked with FDD in the past and trust their judgment and intent. You can find info on FDD at http://www.defenddemocracy.org. The issue that I was approached on is a recent ruling by Judge Bates, a DC Federal Circuit Judge. Succinctly this ruling extends Habeas protections to all detainees world-wide and the ramifications on US current ops, especially SOF, are significant. FDD in conjunction with a DC based legal team is filing an appeal to this judge’s ruling known as an Amicus brief. For the Amicus brief to be successful they will need “plaintiffs” that can demonstrate that they will be harmed by the judge’s ruling. This “harm” could come in the form if increased exposure on a target due to increased dwell time to gather evidence, etc… Please contact me soonest atmundtpd@gmail.com and I can provide additional information to include an information paper. What I am asking is that the SFA reach out to its members, disseminate this information and ask, if interested, that SFA members contact the head of the legal team, Mr. David Rivkin. David is preeminent DC lawyer and is pursuing this appeal pro-bono. Essentially David needs statements from service members with recent ground experience that would be willing to say that Judge Bate’s ruling will have a negative impact on their operations. I apologize for the short fuse but time is short as this appeal will go forward in early September. I will also be in Fayetteville next week for a conference and can further discuss. Finally, this is not about politics. This is addressing a bad ruling by a judge that was never challenged when it was made. We need to fix this soonest.Thank you in advance, Paul
Reasons to have a representative sample of former special forces personnel participate as friends of the court in the United States Court of Appeals’ review of Judge Bates’ April 2, 2009 decision in the Maqaleh case
Background
In 2008, the Supreme Court decided the Boumediene case, which ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees are entitled to review by United States district courts of the government’s decision to detain them as enemy combatants. In justifying this decision, which overturns longstanding Supreme Court precedent and hundreds of years of prior practice, the Court’s majority relied on a multi-factor test, one of the factors being the extent of the "practical difficulties," caused by making habeas review available to captured enemy combatants.
In April of this year, Judge Bates (a federal district court judge in DC), applying Boumediene's framework, extended the habeas process beyond Guantanamo Bay, and to several Bagram-based detainees who were originally captured outside Afghanistan. Judge Bates also considered, but at least for now, rejected the option of extending habeas to all Bagram-based detainees, including those captured in Afghanistan, stating that to do so would be viewed as an affront to the Karzai government and harmful to U.S./Afghan relations. While the media praised Judge Bates’ “moderation”, the Maqaleh decision, in addition to being legally flawed, has negative implications for the U.S. ability to conduct successful combat operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
What Needs To Be Done Going Forward
The Maqaleh case could have been argued much more effectively by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). Although DOJ made legally correct arguments, the government’s lawyers neglected to emphasize the disastrous policy consequences of the ruling sought by the detainees and also failed to win in the court of public opinion. As courts take an increasing role in micromanaging military operations, these considerations have only become more important.
When it came to "practical difficulties" prompted by the extension of habeas to even a subset of Bagram-held detainees, all the DOJ told Judge Bates was that conducting habeas hearings in a war zone would be burdensome to the government. This is true, but not enough. The Court of Appeals needs to understand that extending habeas to people captured through special forces operations (which is the most likely scenario for captures outside of Afghanistan) will cause severe "practical difficulties." The teams/personnel effecting these captures would have to collect forensic and other evidence sufficient to enable DOJ to prevail in the habeas process, often under fire. All things being equal, complying with these requirements would cause special forces personnel to spend more time in the target area and complicate operational planning, increasing the prospects of additional casualties and even mission failures.
Another consequence of the Maqaleh case will be a reduction in the tempo and effectiveness of special forces operations in the Afghan theater. In this regard, we understand that FBI agents are now being tasked to join special force teams when they go out on missions, both to help in evidence-gathering and to read Miranda warnings to captured enemy combatants. We also understand that steps have been taken to ensure that no enemy combatants captured outside of Afghanistan are brought into Afghanistan. These steps are being taken even while the government is appealing Judge Bates’ decision. This underscores just how much a decision by a single district court judge may impair military operations.
While challenging Judge Bates’ ruling, the Obama Administration is unwilling to raise the difficulties of having to treat special forces operations like police raids. For ideological reasons, it can never admit that applying the habeas framework to any aspect of wartime operations is other than a cost-free exercise. Hence, this point needs to be raised by “friends of the court” or amici.
Although we have written numerous amici briefs in post-September 11th national security cases, these have typically been on behalf of law professors, law practitioners and former government policy officials. In this case, however, the most compelling – and therefore the most difficult to ignore – amici would be former special forces personnel. The goal to explain to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (which is reviewing Judge Bates’ decision) and, ultimately, to the Supreme Court, that additional American combat casualties and reduced effectiveness of special forces operations will result unless Judge Bates’ mistaken Maqaleh decision is reversed. While we cannot guarantee success at either the D.C. Circuit level (a lot depends on which judges are assigned the case) or at the Supreme Court level, we believe that a strong amicus brief would be taken very seriously by the Court.
Process and Timeline
Our amicus brief must be filed by September 7. The government’s brief is due on August 31; since we are supporting the government’s position that Judge Bates’ decision should be overturned, we have to file within 7 days of the government’s filing. We will draft the brief – it will be short and focused on the practical consequences of the Maqaleh decision – and circulate it to all participating amici for their review. The front part of the brief will have to include “amici qualifications”. This is a section that serves to tell the court who the amici are.
We would like to include as much detail as possible. Length of service, rank attained, medals/awards, participation in combat operations and so forth are among the information we would like to list for each amici. We would certainly not include any sensitive operational details or any past mission-specific descriptions. Indeed, to make sure that everybody is comfortable, we would ask each amicus to present us with the first draft of the language describing his qualifications.
You can help support this mission through paypal, all major credit cards, or e-check.
Comments (24)
served with Paul for some time myself and am proud to call him a friend. Unfortunately (in many respects) I don't have recent "ground experience" and thus am not a good candidate as a witness.
...
...
...
...
Let's lighten up on the judge...
I understand two-g Gregg's vexation with the judge's ruling, but under our system of government he had all the qualifications he needs to make this judgment, and he can only go on (well, he's only supposed to go on) what the contending lawyers and amici put before him. It looks like the DOJ dropped the ball (or took a dive, to mix sports metaphors). Still, what the judge's lack of knowledge of our little world suggests is, that lawyers in general (including the appellate judges who will hear this argument) are pretty isolated from our facts of life. (When you think about it, that is as it should be. You guys argue cases and we'll handle the armed enemies).
Thanks to one-g Greg for the background on Mr Rivkin. My layman's understanding suggests that appeals are always a bit uphill and to know our attorney is considered an authority helps (hopefully he is as authoritative to legal trogs who only read law reviews).
I am sure that the terrorist will have the very best lawyers from the best white-shoe firms, lavishly supported and funded by the terror networks' bottomless reservoir of oil money. And the DOJ lawyer will probably be a knob sent to make a pro forma effort. But hey, outnumbered and underfunded, with allies of doubtful merit? Situation normal in our world.
Re:Gregg - About Judge Bates
It doesn't mean that he saw combat, but he was military.
...
Thank you both. I'm grateful and honored to be called your friend.
I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD SAYING; "WHOM SHALL I SEND, AND WHO WILL GO FOR US?"
THEN I SAID, "HERE I AM SEND ME."
ISAIAH 6:8
-------------------
All, thanks for engaging on this. As has been stated Judge Bates's ruling is IAW his authority. The real issue here was that this ruling wasn't appropriately challenged when it was put into effect. The Amicus brief is an attempt to remedy that....what is expiditiously needed are those statements from service members with current combat experience who feel that this ruling puts their lives and the mission at grave risk. PLEASE assist in socializing this request to that audience.
On a personal note. The work of FDD and David Rivkin (as well as others...) are critical to the national defense. They fight from the edges without the accolades. I can say from personal experience that they are having strategic effect in the security of our nation. Below is a more current bio of David Rivkin.
Very Respectfully,
Paul Mundt
DAVID B. RIVKIN, JR.
David B. Rivkin, Jr., is a partner in the Washington office of Baker Hostetler LLP, Co-Chairmen of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Visiting Fellow at the Nixon Center, and a Contributing Editor of the National Review magazine. He specializes in regulatory – e.g., energy and environmental matters, export controls -- and appellate litigation work, with a particular emphasis on complex constitutional, international law and public policy issues. His particular area of litigation expertise covers defense against Alien Tort Statute-based claims.
Before returning to the private sector in 1993, Mr. Rivkin served in a variety of legal and policy positions in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush Administrations, including stints at the White House Counsel's office, Office of the Vice President and the Departments of Justice and Energy. While in the government, he handled a variety of national security and domestic issues, including intelligence oversight, export controls, environmental and energy policy, tax, trade and constitutional issues. Prior to embarking on a legal career, he served during the 1970s and 1980s as a defense and foreign policy analyst, focusing on Soviet affairs, arms control, naval strategy and NATO-related issues. Mr. Rivkin holds a JD degree from Columbia University Law School, a Masters degree in Soviet Affairs from Georgetown University, and a Bachelors of Science degree from the Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Rivkin is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a prolific writer and commentator and, over the years, has published numerous papers, articles, op eds, book reviews, and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, National Review, Policy Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Policy, American University Law Review, Administrative Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and University of Chicago Journal of International Law.
In particular, Mr. Rivkin has written widely about various aspects of the international law of armed conflict, including jus in bello, treatment of unlawful combatants and jus ad bellum-related matters. He has filed amicus briefs in several leading post-September 11 national security cases and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows, including CNN, NBC and MSNBC, CBS, ABC/Nightline, FOX News, NPR, PBS, BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and numerous Australian, French, German and Swiss TV stations.
This is beyond me!
thank you very much
...
...
Suffice to say your buddy in the SF community is late, your friends in the current administration are heavily pushing the DIA and the Army to adopt the FBI interrogation methods which is to Mirandize and then lawyer them up. See, the FBI rep at a December 2008 meeting was happy to offer 40 years of statistics about confessions, even though you know that the military doesn't give a rats ass about confessions, they just want to kill the leader of the guys who plant the VBIEDs/builds the bombs/finances the bombs/moves the bombs into the country. Neither the Army nor the DIA kept stats - because they can't, a commander can use the information they recieve at their discretion or not, may wait for other evidence or might use the info to build a separate target package. Nobody tracks information A to result Q. So of course DoD will lose here.
But be happy. SF and regular troops dead (and not our allies, since they are abandoning us as fast as they can find an excuse - you know it) are ok as long as you Ivory Tower types feel good about yourselves.
Regards,
jg
The writ of habeus applies to everyone---
However, when assigning blame for this ridiculous decision, we need to look in the mirror. This is a prime example of the pendulum swinging. There is no doubt in my mind that military personnel have behaved dishonorably in our treatment of detainees. I’m not painting everyone with this broad brush, but we have ample evidence that some of us have violated AR 190-8 in our handling and interrogation of EPWs.
We use internment facilities to keep combatants off the battlefield, not as places of interrogation, not as places to gather evidence to prosecute crimes. When we start working outside the framework of the law, we should expect to be brought into check.
I was never SF, but am a combat veteran of Somalia and Iraq. I am a retired Soldier and practicing attorney. Take it for what you feel it’s worth.
They are being treated as U.S. citizens.
The short version is this: captured Taliban prisoners are being given the rights of a U.S. citizen. The area where Terry Taliban is captured will be treated as a crime scene.
So imagine, if you will, a scene from "CSI". But instead of the crime scene being in a neighborhood or some random place in "Anywhere, USA" it is in the butt crack of Afghanistan, while being shot at with RPGs, mortars and bullets.
@jg / wraith67
Matthew
Had we (the US and the Military) been content with just detaining these people and keeping them off the battle field, the outcomes would be different. Instead, we are setting up tribunals to try them for crimes. We only have the authority to try people (for crimes) that are within the jursidiction of the United States--in other words, by claiming they have committed crimes, and deciding to prosecute, we have brought them into the jurisdiction of the United States and its Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution will you find that rights apply only to citizens. The phrase used is "persons" and "people." There is, in fact, a Costitutional basis for allowing people charged with crimes access to the Court through the writ of Habeas Corpus.
Bates made the right decision
Take No Prisoners
Oh...you wanted a link. http://action.aclu.org/torture...ed/102405/
Whats the Diference
Just Curious
The Yamashita Precedent
You all need to read about the Supreme Court ruling after WW2 about General Yamashita. The six justices involved made about the same ruling that many posters believe that judge should have. Now any member of the US military is bound by the precedent set. Now most "military" legal experts wish those judges who had not seen combat had ruled other wise. We may condemn this judge today. But many who are condemning him today in the military may decades later understand. The power to hold anyone without charge or access to the courts along with the authority to declare anyone (ie yes in testimony some of GWB officials even extended that possibility to members of Congress) an enemy combatant without recourse to challenge that status is an extremely powerful and dangerous power for any government official to have. In fact this is the reason that the framers of the US Constitution addressed this issue directly. Stating that it could happen only during times of invasion or rebellion. So let us all take that last step, before we take the first step.
Jack E.
.
...
Just Curious
Dear Member,
They were not caught out of uniform. They were caught wearing the uniform of a member of the US Army. Also, to his great credit during WW2, when the British tried to kill General Rommel in North Africa they sent commandos dressed in German uniforms. When they were captured, Rommel ordered his people to strip off the German uniforms and finds some British uniforms for them.
Finally, if you are so fast to shoot people who are at war with us, then I guess you would have supported the British shooting the Minute Men at Lexington and Concord of the French and Philippine resistance during WW2?
Jack E.
.
It doesn't seem to matter
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/21/detention/index.html
afishfarted
...
No comments:
Post a Comment