Military officers file brief against Bush's policy in Guantanamo

[weldon_berger]

Two former Navy judge advocates general and a retired Marine brigadier general with expertise in prisoners of war treatment have filed a friend of the court brief in the case of 16 Guantanamo detainees pending before the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON - Navy Rear Admiral Don Guter felt the Pentagon shudder when an airliner hijacked by terrorists crashed into it on Sept. 11, 2001. He helped evacuate shaken personnel and later gave the eulogy for a colleague killed that day.

"I would have done anything that day, and I fully support the war on terrorism," said Guter, who served as judge advocate general, the Navy's chief legal officer, until he retired last year.

Nonetheless, he's joining his predecessor and a retired Marine general with expertise on prisoner issues to challenge the Bush administration's indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at the Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Guter, Rear Adm. John Hutson and Brig. Gen. David Brahms worry that lengthy incarcerations at Guantanamo without hearings will undermine the rule of law and endanger U.S. forces.

"For me it's a question of balance between security needs and due process, and I think we've lost our balance," Guter said.

I have very little confidence in the Supreme Court's willingness to run counter to the will of the White House, but I'm told there's a chance that this could be yet another 5-4 decision in favor of the plaintiffs. Meanwhile, I hope to track down the email addresses of the retired officers so I and, I hope, others can congratulate them on their decision.

There may be an inclination in the military to go along with indefinite detentions, Guter said, but it's misplaced.

"We took an oath to defend the Constitution," he said, "not the president or secretary of defense."