A Shakespearean Perspective on DOD Firings

WASHINGTON - Feb. 23, 2025 - PRLog -- The firing of the top lawyers in the Department of Defense [DOD] can be analyzed in terms of one of the most famous - but typically misunderstood - lines from a Shakespearean play, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

At the New York Times explained (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/politics/hegseth-firings-military-lawyers-jag.html), "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to fire the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force represents an opening salvo in his push to remake the military into a force that is . . . potentially less hindered by the laws of armed conflict."

In support of its thesis it cited law professor Rosa Brooks who wrote that: It's what you do when you're planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down."

That's exactly the concept suggested by William Shakespeare when, more than 400 years ago in Henry VI (Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2) he penned the famous line:  "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

This line is widely quoted, by those who don't understand the concept, to suggest that lawyers should be killed because they are evil, harmful, bad for society, etc.; a theme underlining numerous and often vicious so-called lawyer jokes (http://banzhaf.net/LawyerJokes.html).

But the famous line is actually uttered by the notorious Dick the Butcher who, in addressing an angry mob as part of his plan to destroy decent society and turn everything into anarchy, wisely notes that a first step in his infamous plan is to get rid of those who are in a position to enforce the rule of law, says Banzhaf.

The key function of the three fired judge advocates general, also known as "JAGs," are to help insure that military officers obey all U.S. laws, including the U.S. Constitution, as well as the laws of war which are part of the Geneva Convention and dictate what can and cannot be done during armed conflict.

So Hegseth's action is a natural followup to the criticism expressed in this book, "The War on Warriors."

In it he is very critical of these lawyers - whom he refers to as "jagoffs" - for allegedly imposing overly strict and restrictive legal rules of engagement which weakened our troop's ability to fight, and allowed the enemy to win when it should have lost, notes Banzhaf.

Only time will tell if eliminating these rule-of-law JAGs, and/or replacing them with officers less likely to oppose questionable if not illegal orders, will lead to most successes - and/or more illegal excesses - on the battlefield
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