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Former Santa Clara University Law Student Resigns Commission from Navy JAG Corps

?It was with sadness that I signed my name this grey morning to a letter resigning my commission in the U.S. Navy,? wrote attorney-at-law Andrew Williams. ?There was a time when I served with pride ... Sadly, no more.? Why can't this Santa Clara Law grad (class of '91) any longer serve his country? From the military.com story:

Williams' sadness stems from the recent CIA videotape scandal in which tapes showing secret interrogations of two Al Qaeda operatives were destroyed.

It's unclear why interrogating two people who want kill as many Americans as possible would cause one to resign from the military. Maybe it's the intentional destruction of the tapes? Personally, I don't have a problem with using water boarding in certain situations. As I've mentioned before, waterboarding has already saved thousands of lives. But I can understand why some bleeding hearts would be against it. I don't agree but I understand. What I don't understand is why one would resign a military commission for rare coercive tactics used by the CIA against Al Qaeda? Why is that beyond the pale? Was he sitting down for breakfast one morning, whistling ?America the Beautiful?, open up the paper, read the story, and said to himself, ?Our government is doing what?? Seriously, one can watch 24 or one of the Bourne movies and be somewhat aware that, yes, our government gets dirty sometimes in trying to keep our country safe. And even if you don't like it, or any particular government policy, one should work from within the government to change the policy, not throw your hands up and quit.

Well at least I'll be on active duty soon and keep the Santa Clara Law quota up in the Navy JAG corps.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on January 12, 2008 (boomark / email).