JAG CENTRAL

PFC Lynddie England and Son Before Court Today (AP)

From the NY Times, Judge Tosses Out Abuse Plea After Ringleader Testifies:

The surprise mistrial canceled what had seemed to be a pro-forma punishment phase and sent the case back to the Army commander at Fort Hood, Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, for re-examination. Government and defense lawyers said they would meet as early as Thursday to consider their options.

The judge, Col. James L. Pohl, ordered the mistrial after Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr., testifying on behalf of Private England, his former lover, portrayed their handling of a leashed prisoner as legitimate, contradicting her sworn admission of guilt and said she had acted at his request in helping to remove an obstructive prisoner from his cell.

"I was asking her as the senior person at that extraction," Private Graner said.

Clearly taken aback, Colonel Pohl broke in, lecturing the defense lawyers. "If you don't want to plead guilty, don't," he said. "But you can't plead guilty and then say you're not. Am I missing something here?"

Laurance A. Franklin, Defense Analyst Arrested Wednesday (AP)

In other news, Pentagon Analyst Charged with Disclosing Military Secrets ("The analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, turned himself in to the authorities on Wednesday morning in a case that has stirred unusually anxious debate in influential political circles in the capital even though it has focused on a midlevel Pentagon employee. The inquiry has cast a cloud over the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which employed the two men who are said to have received the classified information from Mr. Franklin. The group, also known as Aipac, has close ties to senior policymakers in the Bush administration, among them Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to appear later this month at the group's annual meeting."); Ammo Seized in Columbia; 2 G.I. Suspects Are Arrested ("Two American soldiers stationed in Colombia have been arrested on charges of smuggling thousands of rounds of ammunition, the police said Wednesday, and the authorities are trying to determine if the bullets were bound for a paramilitary group of death squads that have killed thousands of people in the drug-fueled civil war. The arrests, coming five weeks after five American servicemen stationed here were arrested on charges of cocaine trafficking, have badly tarnished Washington's $3.3 billion anti-drug offensive. A Colombian senator, Jairo Clopatofsky, is calling for hearings to determine if other Americans are involved.") ANALYSIS: As the story clearly and correctly points out, a 31-year old Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Columbia mandates that American soldiers can only be tried in American courts. If Senator Clopatofsky gets his way, this would most certainly break the treaty.

In other news, Air Force Sets New Inquiry at Academy ("The Pentagon is sending investigators to the Air Force Academy to look into complaints that evangelical Christian faculty members, officers and cadets routinely proselytize and intimidate those on campus who do not hold the same religious beliefs. The inquiry follows accusations that these other cadets have long been subject to a climate of religious intolerance. To address the problem, the academy, in Colorado Springs, began requiring its faculty and students in March to attend 50-minute sensitivity training classes. But last week the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a report to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld saying the problem remained and was systemic.").

From the Washington Post, Judge Rejects Guilty Plea in Iraq Abuse Case; Defense Analyst Charged With Sharing Secrets.