Payback

Lt. Cdr. Charles Swift is a true American hero. He's the Navy JAG who represented Salim Hamdan, in the case that led the Supreme Court to declare the administration's plan for military tribunals unconstitutional. So, what has his courage and ability got him? Forced retirement from the Navy, that's what.

Swift has been passed over for promotion to Commander, and under the Navy's up-or-out system, that means he must retire next spring.

Does Swift's representation of Osama bin-Laden's driver (for that's what Hamdan is accused of having been) have anything to do with ending his Navy career after 20 years? Perhaps not. And the Moon might be made of green cheese.

I suppose we should not be surprised at this development, and I suspect that Swift is not. Still, I had harbored--perhaps naively--hope that the Navy would accept that the Lieutenant Commander was only doing his duty (and acting in the best tradition of the bar) in zealously representing the client to whom he had been assigned. Instead, we have yet another example of how corrupt our system of government has become.