"The rule of law is what I fight for. Men die for this. Don't stop."

This is a compelling, heartfelt piece by Lt. Commander Charles Swift, defense counsel in the Office of the Chief Defense Counsel in the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Military Commissions. He is currently detailed to represent Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who is facing trial by Military Commission in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. His piece begins:

It's time for some perspective, please. It's time to close Guantanamo Bay. Yes , I am the military officer who sued my commander in chief and the secretary of defense on behalf of a Guananamo Bay detainee named Salim Hamdan.

What I sought was simply that the president, just like the soldiers, sailors, and marines under his command, be required to comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions. Because I believe that resorting to secret prisons, coercive interrogations, and the abandonment of the rule of law is not the way to keep our country safe from a handful of fanatics. Last summer, with the help of my civilian co-counsel, Professor Neal Katyal, and the law firm of Perkins Coie, I won the case in the Supreme Court of the United States. The problem is that the victory, as big as it was, was disdained by the administration, which has attempted to defy the Supreme Court and the rule of law by building Guantanamo up in the wake of the decision, instead of down. That needs to change.

Why did I sue my chain of command?
Before I go any further, let me introduce myself. I am from a small town in western North Carolina called Franklin. I have been in the Navy since I entered the United States Naval Academy in the summer of 1980. Before going to law school, I spent seven years serving as a surface-warfare officer in the greatest navy the world has ever known. After law school, I returned to active duty in the Navy as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. That means that I am both a uniformed officer in the United States Navy and a licensed and practicing attorney. This May I will retire from active service. Serving in the United States armed forces as both a combat officer and a lawyer is the greatest privilege I will ever have, because of both who we are and what we defend. And part of who we are and what we defend are the Geneva Conventions.

I say that not just because I am Hamdan's lawyer; I say that because it is what I was taught from plebe summer on. General John Vessey, who retired after serving as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Reagan, summed up those teachings better than I ever could in a recent letter to Senator John McCain. In the letter, he quoted General George Marshall:

"The United States abides by the laws of war. Its Armed Forces, in dealing with all other peoples, are expected to comply with the laws of war, in the spirit and the letter. In waging war, we do not terrorize helpless non-combatants, if it is within our power to avoid so doing. Wanton killing, torture, cruelty, or the working of unusual hardship on enemy prisoners or populations is not justified under any circumstance. Likewise respect for the reign of law, as that term is understood in the United States, is expected to follow the flag wherever it goes...."
It does not matter that Al Qaeda does all of the terrible things that General Marshall enumerated and more. It is not about them. It is about us.
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