Free Republic

Yeah, it’s Army camo. Tell it to the Marines.Bad Pentagon civilian leadership brings about one of two outcomes — really principled, good uniformed leaders emerge, or really corrupt, bad ones. USMC Commandant General James Amos is cementing his image as a really corrupt, bad one by attempts to ‘crush’ Major James Weirick. Weirick is the JAG whistleblower whose revelations about Amos’s perseverating Unlawful Command Influence led to the prosecution giving up on a case — we covered that prosecution collapse last month, and have further coverage (Google search) of the Case of the Micturating Marines. Maj. Weirick, a staff judge...

A former US Marine who was caught urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters got his conviction thrown out this week thanks to the unlawful actions of a retired general — who “severely and systematically” interfered with the case, a report says. Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin had been reduced in rank for the infamous 2011 incident, sentenced to 30 days confinement and ordered to pay a $500 fine after he pleaded guilty to wrongful desecration, failure to properly supervise junior Marines, and posing for photographs with battlefield casualties. What he didn’t know at the time was that the...

President Obama's first appointment to the Joint Chiefs of Staff is continuing, rather than settling, the divisive debate among the nation's top military officers on gays in the military. The disagreement comes as doubts grow over whether Democrats can muster enough votes in Congress' lame-duck session next week to repeal the Pentagon ban on open gays, known as "don't ask, don't tell." Pro-gay activists are sounding pessimistic, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is not guaranteeing a vote will happen. Mr. Obama handpicked Gen. James Amos to be Marine Corps commandant, who replaced Gen. James T. Conway, considered the military's...