[AndyJackson]

He should have been immediately arrested and summarily court martialed

This is not an authority that the JAG has, and if West demands a general court martial he is entitled to one.

[mdmathis6]

There is an authority though that could have had him arrested immediateley....right? He was accused of using threats of death on a prisoner...he should have been immediatley arrested and court martialed or accepted summary judgement...not offered a choice on retirement or courtmartial. The Military or some-one in the military was flouting its own principles of justice under the UCMJ. He accepted the court martial, and it has become very public...but is he confined at all? Is he in the brig? Some-one wanted this man to be publically embarrassed (because that is how the military has deteriorated), instead it shows every sign of back-firing on the military. It would have been better to have reduced his rank to Major as he asked, drummed him out on retirement, and try to quietly forget the whole thing... now we have a Clarence Thomas type charge being leveled at the military at a very critical time. Plus, our military is going to be known to our enemies as weak because we punish our most masculine warriors who practise 7th century tactics on 7th century terrorists with 21st century weapons.