Thursday, December 11, 2008

Slow news day

If any military justice developments occurred today that are worth writing about, they've escaped the No Man's and my notice.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A report released Thursday by leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee said top Bush administration officials, including Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, bore major responsibility for the abuses committed by American troops in interrogations at Abu Ghraib in Iraq; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; and other military detention centers. ... It represents the most thorough review by Congress to date of the origins of the abuse of prisoners in American military custody.

Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti, "Report Blames Rumsfeld for Detainee Abuses," New York Times, December 11, 2008.

Anonymous said...

I saw that SSG Martinez gave some kind of quasi-interview via email with a newspaper, I believe. Among other things, he said he was "very, very, very innocent." Not kidding.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Jay Lenno's joke the other night: "Unfortunately, more people than ever are getting away with murder. But the good news: less people are getting away with stealing sports memorabilia."

The point being that divine justice will be served, one way or the other.

Cloudesley Shovell said...

Not really military justice news, but important nonetheless:

Navy active duty and reserve officer FY-10 selection board convening dates and zones have been published. NAVADMIN 352/08 and 353/08.

Anonymous said...

We could discuss what kind of society we would be living in if it was run by the defense bar: the death penalty would be abolished, most drug offenses would be de-criminalized, criminal conduct would not be punished by lengthy terms of imprisonment because that is cruel and unusual, and child ponography would be protected speech.

Paul said...

I am a prosecutor and even I find that to be ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the people on this blog would like to have an actual, bona fide discussion on the relative merits of the adversarial system. It seems easy for people to get lazy like Anon 1235 and just blame it all on the defense lawyers.

So what of it? Is the principle upon which our justice system is based too flawed to provide justice? Would we be better to adopt a European inquisitorial system? Or is the problem that the system is fine as long is it convicts those who we think are guilty, acquits those who we think are innocent, and then when things don't go our way we blame the defense bar for doing their job or the jury for being too stupid.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the world IS run by the defense bar. We are part of a oft-overlooked faction of the Illuminati. We meet tri-annually at a Wendy's in Omaha, Nebraska in order to discuss ways to weaken the moral fabric of society over Frosty's.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and in other MILJUS news, I learned yesterday that I had been selected for promotion to LCDR in the inactive reserve. It reminds me of a variation of an old Marine Corps joke: Do you you know what we call an O-4(select) in the IRR?

A: Mildly overweight.

Jason Grover said...

Rich,
Congrats! And I will see you at Wendy's, save a seat for me.

Anonymous said...

Jay-
Your in the RLSO now. Knock it off with the defense comments.

Jason Grover said...

Defense comments? Maybe, mostly I just wanted to visit Rich at Wendy's and get a free Frosty.

Anonymous said...

Check out "Martinez Analysis" for an update...