The military lawyers at Gitmo

One of the reason the detainees at Guantanamo are not getting convicted and punished en masse (as would be the case if the current administration is as bad as its critics say it is), is that the accused terrorists are getting such excellent military defense attorneys who are staunchly defending their rights.

The New York Times has an article on the subject, focusing on a young JAG officer named Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler.

He is no natural agitator. At 37, he is in some ways deeply conventional. Married to the first girl he ever dated in high school, he is a self-described born-again Christian and conservative who has “never voted for a Democrat.” Tom Fleener, a former Guantánamo military defense lawyer, described Commander Kuebler, saying, “Take the average conservative guy in the street and multiply that by a million.” . . .

“It is a powerful way to be a witness for Christ,” he said, “by demonstrating your capacity to not judge the way everybody else is judging and to serve unconditionally.”

Commander Kuebler has been pulling out all the stops in defending his Guantanamo client, to the point of infuriating the prosecutors with his delaying tactics and his playing the media. Though now evidence has arisen that maybe his client is innocent after all.

I appreciate the way the NY Times, no less, brought out both his conservatism (protection of individual rights, after all, is a conservative ideal) and, especially, his Christianity. Since the proper work of a defense attorney is to be an advocate for the accused, isn’t this a good example of Christian vocation?

HT: Frank Sonnek