Matthew Diaz: Convicted For A Mitzvah

Commander Matthew Diaz used to be a Navy lawyer serving as a legal adviser down in Guantanamo Bay. Now he is a convicted man, sentenced to six months and a discharge by his peers in a military jury. What happened between then and now has made a world of difference for victims of torture and the rule of law for our country. Yet the military saw it fit to punish him for it. Diaz knew what was going on down in Cuba was wrong, so he slipped the names of the detainees in a Valentine's Day card and sent it off to a human rights lawyer.

From The New York Times:

In early 2005, as he was concluding a six-month tour of duty as a legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Diaz sent an anonymous note to a New York civil liberties group containing the detainees' names.

The Center for Constitutional Rights earlier had won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that terrorism suspects had the right to challenge their detention. But the Pentagon was refusing to identify the men, hampering the group's effort to represent them.

''I had observed the stonewalling, the obstacles we continued to place in the way of the attorneys,'' Diaz told the newspaper. ''I knew my time was limited. ... I had to do something.''

Diaz later apologized to the court for his actions, but stayed resolute in why he acted so bravely for those being imprisoned at Guantanamo. As an officer his ultimate duty is to uphold the Constitution, not the criminal activities of the Bush Administration. He may now claim the act was cowardly, but it made a world of difference for those that have been unjustly detained and tortured for several years now.

The Supreme Court had already decided that the detainees deserved to be able to face their accusers in court, but the Pentagon stonewalled on revealing the names of the prisoners. Diaz fulfilled the obligation of the Army without the top brass' approval. For that he deserves a medal, not what was doled out in a military court. He still has a ray of hope however. Rear Admiral Rick Ruehe still has to approve the sentence. Hopefully the Admiral still has the decency to see what this case is really all about and dismiss the jury's verdict.