West Point professor calls on US military to target legal critics of war on terror

[kristopher]

West Point professor calls on US military to target legal critics of war on terror
US military academy official William Bradford argues that attacks on scholars’ home offices and media outlets – along with Islamic holy sites – are legitimate

Spencer Ackerman Saturday 29 August 2015 08.00 EDT


An assistant professor in the law department of the US Military Academy at West Point has argued that legal scholars critical of the war on terrorism represent a “treasonous” fifth column that should be attacked as enemy combatants.

In a lengthy academic paper, the professor, William C Bradford, proposes to threaten “Islamic holy sites” as part of a war against undifferentiated Islamic radicalism. That war ought to be prosecuted vigorously, he wrote, “even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage”.

Other “lawful targets” for the US military in its war on terrorism, Bradford argues, include “law school facilities, scholars’ home offices and media outlets where they give interviews” – all civilian areas, but places where a “causal connection between the content disseminated and Islamist crimes incited” exist.

“Shocking and extreme as this option might seem, [dissenting] scholars, and the law schools that employ them, are – at least in theory – targetable so long as attacks are proportional, distinguish noncombatants from combatants, employ nonprohibited weapons, and contribute to the defeat of Islamism,” Bradford wrote.

West Point is the revered undergraduate institution north of New York City where ...

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/29/west-point-professor-target-legal-critics-war-on-terror

[guillaumeb]

1. And this fool is a professor of law?

Did he graduate from Liberty University?

Consider that his legal theory would also justify the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on US soil because legitimate targets would be whatever the attacker cared to define.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Berekely make John Yoo Professor of Law.

And Condi Rice was teaching at another Univ. after the Bush reign of Terror ended.


What is scary is that West Point yahoo was not dismissed for his fascist thinking.
But then again, West Point is not exactly a hotbed of liberalism and free thinking.

[Historic NY]

2. Hired August 1st 2015....

fired.......real soon.

[atreides1]

4. Still on probation!

Which means he can be told to pack his bags and go!

[Historic NY]

9. With all his inconsistent claims of his military career someone is going to...

up the creek w/o a paddle besides him.

One part of Bradford’s offensive involved talking with Ruth Holladay, a columnist for The Indianapolis Star who wrote a column supporting him in June. Holladay wrote about Bradford’s impressive military service. On his faculty profile, Bradford is identified as having served in the Army infantry from 1994 to 2001, and he had claimed to have been a major in the Special Forces.

Some of Bradford’s deceptions seem obvious. For example, Desert Storm ended in 1991, and Bradford got a Ph.D., a J.D., and an L.L.M. during his supposed years of combat. Other deceptions were less easily penetrated. That’s why it took Ret. Army Lieut. Col. Keith R. Donnelly contacting Holladay with his suspicion that Bradford did not win a Silver Star to bring clarity to that issue. Both Donnelly and Holladay independently requested Bradford’s military records. In her column Sunday, Holladay reported that Bradford had seen no active duty, had won no awards, was discharged as a second lieutenant, and was not in the infantry. Bradford had been in the Army Reserve from September 30, 1995, to October 23, 2001, but saw no active duty.

http://www.legion.org/legislative/215862/stolen-valor-act-2013-signed-law

[cheapdate]

3. Holy crap. Leaving aside the moral arguments

and the traditional understanding of the war convention regarding who may be legitimately designated a combatant, if this fool actually believes that blowing up mosques and universities across the Muslim world will contribute to the "defeat of Islamism" then he's out of his mind.

[atreides1]

5. Here's an older story about Bradford.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/12/06/bradford

[kristopher]

8. That is valuable context. Thank you.

A RWNJ with an emphasis on the NJ.

[shadowmayor]

10. Braggadocio

So this- small-minded man felt the need to lie about his service record, lie about being in combat, lie about various awards, and West Point still hires him? Quite the vetting process at our academy eh? He's a turd, and those that hired him are incompetent. Typical right-wing cry-baby whining about being picked-upon by those seeking the truth. What a phony butthead.

[bobthedrummer]

11. West Point law professor who called for attacks on "Islamic holy sites" resigns (Spencer Ackerman

8-31-15 The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/31/west-point-law-professor-william-bradford-resigns

[Art_from_Ark]

12. Well, that didn't take long

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

13. Wow.

The man actually makes Kubric's General "Buck" Turgidson seem reasoned and sane...