After 20 years of military service, I have an “acquired” deference for superior officers, active duty or retired.
While I still respect and appreciate the service of all who served in the military, junior or senior to myself, continued respect and admiration for higher ranking retired military do not seem to come unconditionally these days.
I have to be frank, politics and personal principles and values have a lot to do with it.
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post completely disagreeing with the words and tactics of one retired Brigadier General.
Today, I could not agree more with, or have more respect for, the words, views and actions of another retired B. G.
Writing today at the Huffington Post is James P. Cullen, a retired Brigadier General in the United States Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, who last served as the Chief Judge (IMA) of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
In “Standing Behind a Ban on Torture,” the General starts out:
Standing just behind President Obama in the Oval Office, I watched last week as the new President signed his name to three Executive Orders that will put our country in a stronger position to fight Al Qaeda.
Cullen was one of 16 retired Generals and Admirals the White House invited to the signing ceremony.
Cullen continues to tell us how, already in 2004, he was disturbed by the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and other places, and how “In December of 2004, Human Rights First, a New York City-based human rights group, organized an extraordinary, closed-door meeting of retired Generals and Admirals to discuss the use of torture. The meeting brought together dozens of retired officers including a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, four star generals and other prominent military leaders.”
During the next four years, Cullen and other high ranking officers continued to work with Human Rights First; continued to lobby the Bush administration and Congress; and were very active during the 2008 Presidential campaigns.
Finally, there he was in the Oval Office witnessing the President of the United States sign the three executive orders that ban torture, close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and end the CIA’s use of secret prisons.
President Obama had this to say about General Cullen and the other Generals and Admirals, including General Paul Kern, a four-star General who co-led an investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib :
The individuals who are standing behind me represent flag officers who came to both Joe and myself, and all the candidates, and made a passionate plea that we restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great, even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism…They’ve made an extraordinary impression on me. They are outstanding Americans, who have fought and defended this country, and for them to fight on behalf of our constitutional ideals and values, I think, is exceptional, so I wanted to make sure that they were here to witness the signing of this executive order.
According to Cullen, President Obama noted just before the signing ceremony that he would be criticized if the United States faced another terrorist attack. Yet, he said he was convinced that a clear anti-torture policy would make us safer.
Cullen concludes:
There will be grumblings in some quarters but I, like so many of my fellow military officers, am confident that the move will help restore the United States stature in the world. And I am certain this day will be remembered as a turning point in the struggle with Al Qaeda.
I am proud to have been there.
I, too, am proud you were there, General, as you have been all along on the right side of the Constitution and the rule of law.
