ROTFLMAO!

I feel the same way. Especially since - as military professionals - we know exactly what that statement means.

While in Afghanistan, our JSOTF had a really good JAG. He was great to have on our side. He would tell us that a JAG should do everything - legal - in his power to ensure that the commander and his men stay out of trouble so that they could be free to go after the bad guys.

Also, he was very serious about only pressing any charges on anyone, if there was real solid evidence behind it and all the proper procedures were followed. I hated loosing him to a PCS some months ago. All JAGs should be like him.

PS - As an elisted man, our JAG had been selected during SFAS. But, his life had changed and he commissioned after he attended law school. Maybe all our JAGs should go to SFAS :)

Sort of a reality/life appreciation course...Pre-law

Ok, let me get this straight. Gen. Kearney throws two of his hard core professional soldiers under the preverbial "legal bus" under a section 32 investigation for "Pre-meditated murder" charges and then in the end when they are cleared of all aledged wrong doing he states basically that it was an experiment, his own, to determine if the military justice system actually works ??

Does anybody want to serve under this Generals command ?

More like "under his staff-car"

I wonder how much this test of the military justice system cost our guys out of their own pockets???

Can you imagine the stress not only on them, but their families???

And Mark Waple is good, but he does not come cheap. At the same time, given the relative inexperience of many of the JAG Trial Defense lawyers, what is your freedom worth?

TR

Congressman Walter Jones (NC) Calls for Gen Kearney Investigation
 

Saw this in the Early Bird this morning and thought you all might like to see it.

Washington Times
October 10, 2007
Pg. 1

General Rebukes Special Operations Forces

Lawmaker requests probe of Kearney's actions

By Sharon Behn, Washington Times

A crusading three-star general has sparked outrage within the Army Special Forces and Marine Special Operations Command by publicly condemning and twice bringing legal actions against members of their forces.

None of Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney's actions has resulted in a conviction, but they have roiled the military community, led to the resignations of several top-trained Marines, and sparked accusations of improper command influence.

Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, worried about the effect on the military, has asked Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to investigate Gen. Kearney, who currently heads the Special Operations Command. The case also has attracted widespread comment in military publications and blogs.

The general's actions "have damaged the lives of many of our special operators and deserve to be investigated," Mr. Jones said in an Oct. 3 letter to Mr. Gates.

Col. Hans Bush, special forces public affairs officer for the Special Operations Command, said yesterday that Gen. Kearney stood "ready to support any investigation directed by the secretary of defense in this matter."

But, he said, "it would be inappropriate to provide further comment prior to the completion of ongoing investigations."

Gen. Kearney directed in June that charges of premeditated murder be brought against Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Troy Anderson and Capt. Dave Staffel, even though the two soldiers already had been exonerated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command.

The charges, stemming from the shooting death of an Afghan man, were later dropped when authorities decided the victim was a legitimate target.

In March, Gen. Kearney finalized a decision to redeploy all 120 members of the Marine Special Operations Command Fox Company out of Afghanistan, halfway through an internal preliminary investigation into the Marines' response to an ambush on March 4.

The Marines were accused of shooting indiscriminately at bystanders along a road in the town of Banikot.

"I think too many times when we ask our men and women to go to war for this country, that in certain situations there is a rush to judgment that should not be judged," Mr. Jones told The Washington Times yesterday.

"I think the integrity of the Army and Marine Corps should not be questioned unless you are absolutely sure it must be questioned," he said.

Fox Company members were held incommunicado and questioned in Kuwait for weeks before they were allowed to return to the United States.

Seven of the 120 remain under investigation, suspected of violating the rules of engagement.

Gen. Kearney and Col. John Nicholson, commander of the 10th Mountain Division's Third Brigade Combat Team, commented on the case to the press in April and May in what lawyer Mark Waple, who is representing one of the Marines, says was unlawful command influence in a case.

"We found no brass that we can confirm that small arms fire came at [the Marines]," Gen. Kearney was quoted as having said on April 8.

Col. Nicholson was quoted as saying on May 8: "The death and wounding of innocent Afghans at the hand of Americans is a stain on our honor."

Those public comments, Mr. Waple said in an interview, "convicted these Marines months before the completion of any criminal investigation."

"My client, and other Marines on the ... patrol, were presumed to be guilty rather than innocent and they have suffered the stigma," said Mr. Waple, of Waple and Associates based in Fayetteville, N.C.

His client, the Marine company commander, has been relieved of his command.

The preliminary investigations resulted in Gen. Kearney's decision to direct a Navy criminal investigation which was completed six to eight weeks ago.

In an unusual move, the command now has decided there will be courts of inquiry — a very formal investigatory body provided for by the Uniform Code of Military Justice — convened at Camp Lejeune to further investigate the matter.

"This is extraordinarily rare," said Mr. Waple.

The father of one of the Marines of Fox Company who was forced to leave Afghanistan has said he hopes the general will be taken to task.

Jerry Olson, in a letter to the department of defense inspector general, also has called for an investigation of Gen. Kearney for "possible criminal conspiracy."

"I believe evidence will show a coordinated malicious attack was perpetrated against Fox Company. Further, I am accusing Lt. Gen. Kearney and all senior officers that conspired against Fox company of illegal command influence," Mr. Olson said in a letter dated Oct. 5.

Mr. Olson said that a number of highly qualified Marines, including the lead gunner, were leaving the Marine Corps in humiliation over the accusations.

"These guys [are] at the top of their career," said Mr. Olson, a former Air Force sergeant in Vietnam.

"I think that has permanently injured [the Marine Special Operations Command] and their ability to attract and keep the top Marines in the Marine Corps. That is what this is all about: Their lives and careers have been ruined."

Gen. Kearney is a 1976 West Point graduate and former Ranger who has spent time in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. He became commanding general of Special Operations Command-Central in March 2005. In March 2007, he took over the Special Operations Command.

Mark Waple on Fox News tonight
 

I've been told that Mark Waple will be talking to Bret Hume tonight on Fox News. Mark Waple is the lawyer for Capt. Dave Staffel & MSG Troy Anderson.

From what I understand Mr. Waple is going to "unleash" on LTG Kearney.

Team Sergeant

What time tonight?

Hopefully it makes YouTube for those who miss it.... :munchin

http://www.foxnews.com/specialreport/index.html#

Page down to the Inside Washington for the clip regarding the aforementioned interview. Edit to correct that: It is not the interview just a piece that Hume did on it. Sorry for the mislead. Good to see Fox is stepping up to the plate on this one.

Will wonders never cease? Ok I'll go ahead and admit it: The MSM isn't all bad all the time. Good luck to the Gentlemen.

Geezus. Is there going to be a new SF MOS, 18Lima for Lawyer? Are A-Teams going to be accompanied by legal representation everytime they go out on a mission? I wonder how lawyers respond to an RPG whizzing by their ear? As I have said before, time to get SF out of SOCOM.

An Update, Gen Kearney
 

What goes around comes around, but an IG investigation seems a little weak.

Informed Source Bulletin, www.informedsource.info

After months of congressional pressure, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation of an Army general who tried to bring murder charges against U.S. troops.

The investigation, requested by Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, will probe whether Lt. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III overstepped his bounds and/or compromised legal proceedings in two Afghanistan incidents, one involving Marines and the other involving two Special Forces soldiers.

The general's orders, to redeploy a Marine unit and probe the soldiers, were first reported in The Washington Times in October.

"I am troubled by the premeditated-murder charges levied against Master Sergeant Troy Anderson and Captain Dave Staffel" of Special Forces, said Mr. Jones, in an October letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. "Based on his own statements, Lieutenant General Frank Kearney directed that charges be brought against these two American heroes despite the fact that the two soldiers were exonerated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command."

Mr. Jones was notified this month that the IG Office had opened an investigation and was reviewing documents and conducting interviews.

The IG "has been provided with a copy of Representative Jones' letter to the secretary of defense regarding Lieutenant General Kearney and is looking into the matter," said Gary Comerford, spokesman for the office. "Since this matter is under review, it would be inappropriate to make any further statements."

The three-star general angered many Army Special Forces and Marine Special Operations Command members when he tried twice to bring legal actions against U.S. forces.

In June, Gen. Kearney directed that charges of premeditated murder be brought against Sgt. Anderson and Capt. Staffel, even though the two Special Forces soldiers had been exonerated in the shooting death of an Afghan man, whom military authorities determined was a legitimate target.

The investigation the general sought ended without charges shortly after The Times report. However, Gen. Kearney's involvement in the case led to a public outcry against the commander by angry members of Congress and military personnel.

According to professor Jeffrey F. Addicott, a former senior legal adviser to the Green Berets and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Gen. Kearney did not act as a neutral commander under military law but exerted "command influence" against his own subordinates.

"This is a very serious, serious charge in the military," Mr. Addicott told The Times yesterday. "If this inspector general investigation finds that command influence occurred, then General Kearney could be fired from his job by his superior or forced to resign or retire. In my opinion, there is clear evidence that he exerted command influence."

In March, Gen. Kearney was criticized again when he made a decision to redeploy all 120 members of the Marine Special Operations Command Fox Company out of Afghanistan. The company was only halfway through an internal preliminary investigation into the Marines' response to an ambush on March 4 that left 19 civilians dead. They were accused of shooting indiscriminately at bystanders along a road in the town of Banikot.

In November, Marine Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, head of Marine Corps Special Operations Command, said the Marines took the appropriate measures in the ambush against them and should not have been pulled out of the region.

Neither Kearney action has resulted in any convictions, but some Marines in the specially trained Fox Company resigned in protest.

An IG investigation must be done if a complaint is filed.

The results of the investigation may not be used as a basis for punitive action. If criminal acts are discovered in the course of the IG investigation, the case may be referred to the commander with a recommendation for further legal or criminal investigation.

I doubt that anything more serious than LTG Kearney missing his next star will come of this, and likely not even that.

TR