Beauchamp: Silence and the Severity of the Matter
Friday, July 27, 2007
There is one thing about which I agree with our friends from the Left, including John Cole. It is time for a period of silence on the legal issues surrounding this case. I realize this is an unpopular opinion here, but please allow me to explain my thinking.
First, the military's only authoritative response to the issue so far is this PAO release denying some of the charges raised in Beauchamp's writings, and calling the others into question. It is reasonably clear at this point that there will be an investigation into the question of the charges.
Second, if the military finds that the charges are false -- as the PAO's initial inquiry suggests -- there are potentially serious legal ramifications. I am not a lawyer, so what I am about to say is not a suggestion that these charges are the proper ones to bring, but merely an illustration of how serious the matter could be. Raising false charges of war crimes, that result in the need for your unit to disrupt operations to investigate claims you knew to be false, can reasonably be read by a layperson as a violation of UCMJ 899 art. 99:
Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy—(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.