According to an article in the
Seattle PI, Navy Lt. Commander Charles Swift--Who beat the Bush Administration in the battle over the status of the Yemeni who once served as Bin Laden's chauffer--now believes his career as a Navy Litigator is over.
Despite his spectacular success, with the assistance of attorneys from the Seattle firm Perkins Coie, Swift thinks his military career is coming to an end. The 44-year-old Judge Advocate General officer, who was recently named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country by The National Law Journal, was passed over for promotion last year as the high-profile case was making headlines around the world.
"I may be one of the most influential lawyers in America," the Seattle University Law School graduate said, "but I won't be in the military much longer. That irony did strike me."
Lest some detractor say that he is getting his just deserts for taking the task merely to politically grandstand, Swift did not chose this job:
Asked if he believes he was passed over for promotion last year for political reasons, Swift would not speculate.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't volunteer for this. I got nominated for it. When I got it, I just decided to do the best I could."
This is what true patriotism looks like. It is not blind allegiance to a party or a man, but strict allegiance to the foundation of our nation--The Constitution.
Swift says it all very stirringly in this clip from an interview on MSNBC (hosted by Crooks and Liars).
Whether or not Swift's predictions of the end of his career bear out or not, the fact he believed he put his career at risk to do what he believed was right shows how patriotism is supposed to work.
And it makes the dimestore patriotism of flag-burning amendments and pledge-protection legislation look cheap and tawdry in comparison.