Posted on 11/29/2019 8:01:33 AM PST by billorites
The latest hero of the Never Trumpers — the ex-secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer — is out with an op-ed column on what he learned from getting fired. The answer, it appears, is not much. His column, which appears in the Washington Post, turns out to be an exercise in constitutional misconception, self-righteousness, whinging, bellyaching about his superiors, and tin-eared politicking.
Mr. Spencer, a Marine, was fired Sunday for misleading Secretary of Defense Esper over the case of Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher. The Navy had accused Gallagher of murdering a war prisoner — and of more than a dozen serious crimes. It turns out, though, that Gallagher wasn’t guilty of murder. A court martial acquitted him of that and all other charges against him save for posing with a corpse.
One would think that all those acquittals would have given Mr. Spencer, as secretary of the Navy, at least some sense of humility. Yet it seems that the only one who gained an early sense that something was wrong with the case against Gallagher was the commander-in-chief. Mr. Trump twice got on the blower with Mr. Spencer to tell him to ease up on the pre-trial conditions in which the accused was being held.
Incredibly, Mr. Spencer boasts that he “pushed back.” He blames that on the presiding judge in the case, who felt it was important that Gallagher be harshly confined before the trial. Hard to see why that would be, given that Gallagher turned out to be not guilty. We wouldn’t suggest that a secretary should be a yes-man. Yet Mr. Spencer seems to be suggesting the president was “interfering.”
The idea that a president is “interfering” when he’s exercising a constitutionally granted power is one of the constitutional misconceptions under which Mr. Spencer seemed
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
You’re right. And while it’s not popular to say so, and I too hope people go to prison for what they did, in the end exposing and putting safeguards in place to, as the Presdient always says “Make sure this cannot happen to another President ever again” is the highest priority, and the thing that will preserve the nation. Putting individual bad apples in jail while leaving the rotting barrel to produce more like them would only be a temporary respite.
That is why Trump uses the words he does. You don’t hear him bitching and moaning about “none of these people will every face justice”. There are many forms of punishment other than prison, and ones that do not require the same standard of proof or convincing a DC jury.
“What stank about this, is that once it was realized that he was innocent, it looks like the Navy felt they had to get him on something, hence the photograph charge.
Others, please jump in.”
Okay..
Gallagher was found innocent of all of the charges except the one concerning the photograph and rightly so. He made himself available for court-martial on that one with the public photos and may get a number of people killed or mistreated by his actions.
Please research the Hebdo incident. Here’s one site:
There’s more than meets the eye in war. Please research the Geneva Convention article 16 in particular. It will possibly change your mind on why the charge concerning the photo was determined to be guilty.
rwood
Lesson is dumb scary evil folks get Peter Principled to the top.
Good find. Good article.
Mr. Spencer should be hiding under a rock with embarrassment. He should apologize for his rude insubordination.
How many more of his ilk are remaining around to sully the military with their anti-American behavior?
Yes, and the CNO cetainly isn't a profile in courage. After watching this debacle, if I were the CNO I'd tell Navy's JAG and Admiral Green to clean house ASAP with his JAG Offs involved in this. Next, Admiral Green and me would have a discussion about his pending retirement. AFIK, Admiral Green hasn't backed off of what his plans were even with the SECNAV's canning. I wouldn't be waiting around for the new SECNAV to ask me if there was still lingering Gallagher issues. I don't think the new SECNAV would be impressed if I told him I was waiting for him to give me instructions on how to proceed.
Any Marine here who wants to comment on this perfumed prince.
So much for the famed NCIS.
Step me though how taking a photo with a dead zipperhead is going to get anyone deader or more tortured than they're going to get anyway! LOL!!
Are you saying the Taliban signed on to the Geneva Convention?
the Navy felt they had to get him on something, hence the photograph charge.....Exactly. They were embarrased by the medals they “high fived” each other with.
Spencer tried to con Trump by saying he’d “put in a fix” to make sure Gallagher’s hearing didn’t yank his Trident. Of course, Spencer was lying and would have done quite the opposite and put Trump in an untenable position. Trump wouldn’t play that.
Yes, Flag officers can return to active duty.
Thanks!
Yep...Spencer is a snake, he has way too high an opinion of himself.
“Are you saying the Taliban signed on to the Geneva Convention?”
We did. If we don’t follow it, we re no less the animal than they are. And if we don’t it causes more people to get hurt by example. Read about Charlie Hebdo and his screw up. He put Allah in a series of cartoons and that got a business fire bombed and 12 people murdered.
“Step me though how taking a photo with a dead zipperhead is going to get anyone deader or more tortured than they’re going to get anyway! LOL!!”
It’s really simple. Look up Article 16 of the GC and it will tell you what is and is not legal to do. I retire from teaching soldiers about terrorist in 2012. And when you can figure out who is and is not a terrorist, dead or not, you better copyright it. I was in the business for over 30 years and everyone I talked to couldn’t tell the difference. To me and everyone I know, good or bad looks exactly the same until they pick up a weapon or discharge HE.
The GC is not the best thing out there as it is fallible. But it’s the law and not following it is a criminal act. Gallagher didn’t follow it and may get someone else killed that doesn’t deserve it.
rwood
Really?
You are using Hebdo as an example?
Good grief.
Don’t screw with the Commander in Chief?
10 U.S. Code § 690: Each service may have not more than 15 general or flag officers recalled to active duty at any one time. Those ordered to active duty for less than 60 days are not counted. With some exclusions, each service may have not more than 25 officers recalled to active duty at any one time.
Interesting. I wonder if anyone has had any contact with those officers that Obama booted.
Really.
He printed negative about Allah, and it caused people to be killed. Gallagher mocked a dead former ISIS fighter, making appear like he was too tough and had killed him with a knife. It is exactly the same scenareo.
The Islamic groups are sadistic and will look for any excuse to go out of their way to attack the infidels. And we are they and are expected to keep peace in the area. Antagonizing them is just plain stupid when history shows it can and has caused a loss of control.
rwood
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