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DefenseWatch – Nov. 21, 2001 Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) Weekly Newsletter When we assumed the Soldier, We did not lay aside the Citizen. General George Washington, to the New York Legislature, 1775 In this week’s Issue of DefenseWatch: New Tactics for the War on Terrorism ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EDITORIAL and ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed Offley Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] J. David Galland Deputy Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] David H. Hackworth Senior Military Columnist Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chris Humphrey SFTT Webmaster Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary: Military Tribunals a Necessary Weapon of War, by Ed Offley Hack’s Target for the Week: It’s Time to Set the U.S. Army Straight Article 01 – Oh No, Not the ‘Tuesday Lunch Bunch’ Again! By Paul Connors Article 02 – ON THE RECORD: Rumsfeld Response to Targeting Controversy Article 03 – The Terrorist Threat and the American Left, by Patrick Hayes Article 04 – In Hand: A Revolution in Command & Control, by Robert G. Williscroft Article 05 – FEEDBACK: States’ Response for Homeland Security Medal of Honor: Article 06 – COLE, ROBERT G. Lt. Col. USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY: Military Tribunals a Necessary Weapon of War ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Ed Offley The two teams of four covert attackers infiltrated the United States on a mission of sabotage and murder. Wearing civilian clothes to blend in with the population, they carried disguised explosive devices and planned to attack key industrial plants and railroad facilities and their civilian workers. Fortunately for the United States – still reeling after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor six months earlier, and an ongoing German U-Boat anti-shipping campaign that was lighting up the eastern Atlantic with the fires of torpedoed oil tankers from Maine to Florida – the German saboteurs were quickly rounded up by the FBI just days after they came ashore in mid-June 1942. It is how the U.S. government dealt with these enemy agents that lies at the heart of a budding controversy in the ongoing war against terrorism. Several weeks after the German teams (which included two naturalized American citizens who had returned to Nazi Germany and later volunteered for the sabotage mission), President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that anyone planning to commit sabotage or espionage would be “subject to the law of war” and turned over to military jurisdiction instead of facing indictment and trial in the federal judiciary system. In this case, justice was swift. Three weeks after they came ashore on Long Island and in Florida, the eight saboteurs faced a closed military tribunal of seven general officers appointed by the president. U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle and Maj. Gen. Myron C. Cramer, the War Department’s judge advocate general, prosecuted the case and two Army colonels defended the accused. The proceedings ended on Aug. 4, 1942, and four days later Roosevelt announced that all eight had been convicted and six had already been executed in the District of Columbia’s electric chair. The other two – who authorities credited with assisting the FBI in arresting the rest of the two team members – had their death sentences commuted to lengthy prison terms at the request of Biddle and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Ten weeks after al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airliners and destroyed the World Trade Center and heavily damaged the Pentagon, killing thousands of civilians, President Bush has issued a military order that directs Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to establish a similar tribunal with the authority to try, convict and execute surviving terrorists or their supporters involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and earlier incidents. To no one’s surprise, the president’s order has sparked criticism from both liberals and conservatives who decry what they believe is an unconstitutional measure. Liberal columnist Nat Hentoff this week derided Bush for “abandoning more and more of the fundamental rights and liberties that he – and his unquestioning subordinates – assured us they were fighting to preserve.” On the right, New York Times columnist William Safire criticized the administration for having “assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or execute aliens … [a] replacement of the American rule of law with military kangaroo courts …. ” It is the relaxed legal processes of the military tribunal that have sparked this bipartisan opposition: the trials may be held in secret; there will be no independent jury (with its rigorous selection and membership challenge process); a guilty verdict will not require a unanimous decision, but only two-thirds of the military officers on the tribunal; rules of evidence will be relaxed in contrast to current federal court rules; and there will be no appeals allowed upon conviction. In normal times, the arguments against creating such a process would be compelling and cogent. But the opponents of the military tribunal concept seem to be omitting a single, compelling fact that undercuts their position: We are at war with an organized enemy who slaughtered thousands of innocent lives in a pre-meditated operation that violates every civilized precept including the law of war itself. For the past three decades, the U.S. government has wavered between responding to terrorism as a criminal event or dealing with it as a quasi-military threat. Despite former President Clinton’s willingness to throw Tomahawk cruise missiles at empty Iraqi intelligence buildings or Afghan caves, it was still the FBI that responded in force to Yemen last year after al Qaeda suicide bombers nearly sank the USS Cole. What Mohamed Atta and his fellow thugs finally did on Sept. 11 was to provide the United States with unavoidable proof that al Qaeda was waging war against every American – military or civilian, man, woman and child – whether or not we recognized it as such. Our fight to protect ourselves from further terrorist strikes calls for effective means to do so. And despite the critics, there is a record of law that supports such a stark legal approach as this. The U.S. Supreme Court “has made it clear that the protections given the American people under the Constitution do not apply to people outside our boundaries,” one legal expert told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper this week. University of Virginia law professor Robert F. Turner, associate director of the school's Center for National Security Law, added that the closed proceeding is also important in order to “safeguard some of your secrets and sources” used to locate and apprehend the terrorists. The military tribunal is a legitimate weapon of war. Use it wisely. But use it. Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hack’s Target For The Week: It’s Time to Set the U.S. Army Straight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By David H. Hackworth It was only two weeks ago that the media armchair commanders and the likes of Sen. John McCain were saying George W. Bush had followed LBJ's dark path into the swamps and that – as with Vietnam – huge numbers of conventional ground troops would be needed to nail the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Thanks to the Big Ranger in the sky, they were all dead wrong. But what frightened me to the core was that maybe naysayers like McCain, with access to classified info, might be right. And that our wonderful grunts, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and majors who regularly give me the real skinny were firing blanks. Another pundit, retired Gen. Robert Johnson, said, “To have any success in Afghanistan ... you need conventional forces to secure territory.” Johnson, a former Marine commander of our beleaguered forces in Somalia (who, by no coincidence, resembles an antagonist in my book The Price of Honor), suggested that at least 100,000 U.S. fighters would be needed. This would mean that U.S. Army divisions such as my beloved 101st Air-Assault, the 82d Airborne, the 25th, the 10th Mountain and the once-vaunted 1st Cav would soon find themselves slugging it out in Afghanistan. If so, they'd be instant walking body bags, made dying soft by eight years of presidentially imposed political correctness that's clobbered combat standards and training priorities. Sure these units still have many good soldiers and leaders, but their fighting starch and skill, warrior ethic and willingness to take the risks that fighting wars are all about are now duller than a plastic spoon. President Bill Clinton wanted to build a global village and guard it with kinder, gentler cardboard soldiers who no longer have the right stuff to close with and destroy the enemy. Unfortunately, he, Hillary and other do-gooders like former congresswoman Patricia Schroeder have almost accomplished their mission. Now that our air and unconventional Special Ops warriors – who only just escaped a similar gutting because they're all male – have easily zapped the foe, conventional units will be deployed to Afghanistan. And they'll be OK securing the rear – they have lots of experience directing traffic in Bosnia and Kosovo and can squat behind a barricade or man roadblocks with the best of U.N. Robo Cops. But Afghanistan is just Round One of this war. Bet your boots that before you take your Christmas tree down, some of the units I mentioned will be significant players in zapping another terrorist state. And after the next round of this long war against terrorism, there'll be still other swamps to drain and snakes to kill, all requiring the sharp standards, skill, discipline and levels of proficiency that our soldiers' brothers, cousins, fathers and grandfathers displayed so well from Desert Storm to Overlord and now in Afghanistan. In six months, our Regular Army could be turned around and made combat hard and ready to fight. GWB should appoint a commission of retired warriors – the Stormin' Normans, Hal Moores and Hank (the Gunfighter) Emersons – to assess ASAP what needs to be done and report back directly to our no-nonsense defense secretary. We're at war, and there's no room for social experiments that produced the likes of retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, whose final contribution to the New Army was to take great pride in saying it was no longer “Your father's Army” – you know, the guys who won so many of our battles because they trained life-or-death hard. Claudia's other infamous parting gift was charging another general with hitting on her two years after the alleged incident because – as she admitted in a hissy fit – she didn't want to see him promoted to her three-star grade. There will be those fans who'll say I'm picking on the poor Army again because I didn't get a star. Hey, I refused attendance at War College and finally quit after six months in grade as a 40-year-old full colonel because I saw so much senior self-serving incompetency in Vietnam, which was directly responsible for the deaths of so many fine young men, that it flat broke my heart. Fortunately, today's senior leaders, who didn't resign when they saw their forces' fighting ability being emasculated by the Clintonistas, have a chance to set things right before more American boys die needlessly. Http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. 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