During the start of the war in Iraq in 2003 I remember seeing a good number of news items on TV chronicling the involvement of the JAG officers embedded with infantry units on the spearhead of the invasion.
[More after the jump]
The impression that many of the stories left was that there was at least one JAG officer attached to every officer of a rank I can not immediately recall, but who clearly had wide ranging command discretion in the field. In some cases their were reports that more senior field officiers deferring combat orders to the judgment of the JAG lawyers when such orders seemed to cross the line of the laws of war.
This seemed like a good idea to me at the time and makes me wonder if the Pentagon has any such procedures in place now.
I know it's not as easy as Yes, there are JAG officers out patrolling with the Marines as they go house to house searching for insurgents. "War," in terms of the initial invasion, seems easier to define and I haven't the foggiest idea as to what the legal definition of the current situation in Iraq would be (civil FUBAR?).
But there if Haditha and any of the other alleged misconducts of US troops in Iraq suggest anything, it seems to be that there is a good argument for restoring or cooperation between the boots on the ground and the JAG corps if for no other reason than the lawyers serving as a form of "quality control."
I'm not talking about seminars or discussion groups regarding the salient details of international law or the law of war, but an actual working relationship between commanders and lawyers. This doesn't have to be in the form of periodic written reports or even JAGs doing ride-alongs during every mission, but some sort of system the would enable soldiers to have a accessible resource of information for situations that that do not seem to offer a clear cut answer. Soldiers would be able to learn from these experiences and would be able to apply them to future events where the proper legal response would otherwise seem murky.
Plus, the JAG corps can be a "voice of reason" to units that may be caught up in the frustration and anger of a given moment, like what apparently happened in Haditha. Unfortunately, the Bush administration's contempt for the law makes this highly unlikely. I know JAGs can't be everywhere all the time, but it's not ridiculous to think that some of their legal expertise would rub off on some of their fellow soldiers and go a long toward winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis.