honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, April 20, 2001



Waddle case tests U.S.-Japan relations anew

 •  Navy officers explain action to Japanese

By Johnny Brannon and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Reprimanding the former commander of the USS Greeneville and accepting his resignation in lieu of a court-martial would give the Navy a swift and certain end to an embarrassing incident that has strained U.S.-Japan relations, some military justice experts say.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is expected to announce as early as today how he will punish Cmdr. Scott Waddle, who was in charge of the fast-attack submarine when it rammed and sank the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru on Feb. 9, killing nine people.

The Navy last month convened a court of inquiry to investigate the accident, and the three-member panel of admirals who presided over the proceeding forwarded recommendations for discipline in the case to Fargo.

Many in Japan have called for court-martial of the submarine commander, but such judicial proceedings for a commanding officer are rare in today's Navy and carry no guarantees of conviction. And it is highly unlikely that such a proceeding would result in prison time for Waddle, said John Jenkins, former judge advocate general for the Navy and now a senior associate dean of the George Washington Law School.

Waddle's actions did not show malicious intent, Jenkins said.

"It was an accident," he said. "Maybe the accident was caused by Cmdr. Waddle's negligence, but there was no intent on his part to bring about deaths."

Among the nine people who died on the training vessel were four high school students from the Uwajima Fisheries High School in Uwajima, Japan.

A U.S. military liaison team is currently meeting with families of Ehime Maru victims in Uwajima. The team, which includes representative of the Pacific Fleet's Commander Naval Forces and Naval Legal Services offices, is explaining the status of the case to local leaders, as well as helping family members file restitution claims.

Wednesday, Fargo told The Advertiser that he had not made his decision on whether to court-martial Waddle, despite published reports in the United States and Japan that he had concluded Waddle should receive an honorable discharge from military service. That position was reiterated yesterday by Navy Pacific Fleet spokesman Jon Yoshishige.

"I can tell you that Adm. Fargo is still deliberating," Yoshishige said. "He has not made a decision yet. There is no word yet on when the announcement will be made."

Deciding against a court-martial in such a serious case would have profound implications for the future of the Navy's culture and legal system, said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington.

Court-martials have grown increasingly rare in the United States, even following serious accidents that claimed lives. The Navy has not court-martialed the commanding officer of a vessel for actions taken at sea since 1976, when the commander of the cruiser USS Belknap was acquitted after his ship collided with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, killing eight sailors and injuring 48 others.

"There's a moment of truth that the Navy has to deal with here," Fidell said. "When Adm. Fargo acts, we will know whether a sea change has occurred. Have courts-martial gone the way of iron men and wooden ships? I think this is a cultural test case, a hinge of history for military justice for a particular kind of case — a crisis of command. Is 'The Caine Mutiny' going to be the last court-martial movie ever made? This case raises the question, is it all pau?"

If Fargo decides Waddle should not be court-martialed, he could call a far-less severe administrative disciplinary proceeding known as an "admiral's mast" to decide punishment.

Waddle has the right to reject an admiral's mast in favor of a court-martial, which would allow legal representation and cross-examination of witnesses. But his attorney, Charles Gittins, has said his client would accept non-judicial punishment and submit a request for resignation once proceedings were concluded.

"He has said from the beginning he desires to leave the Navy, and he will do so," Gittins said. "But I can assure you it is entirely voluntary and in no way forced."

Retired Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, flag officer of the Kennedy at the time of the Belknap disaster, said an admiral's mast "would be like a parking ticket, totally irrelevant and insignificant."

To not hold Waddle and the Navy itself to the highest standards of accountability would set a dangerous precedent, said Carroll, vice president of the Center for Defense Information, a military think tank in Washington.

"I think it would send the signal that we're all human, we all make mistakes, forget about it," he said. "I don't think we can have a military operating that way."

But Jenkins said an admiral's mast would likely deliver the strongest punishment in this case. By bringing Waddle's career to an early end, the Navy would deprive him of the opportunity to earn additional retirement pay that could amount to several hundred thousand dollars, Jenkins said.

Carroll said Japanese sentiment should have no bearing on Fargo's decision regarding Waddle.

"To say we have strong political ties with Japan that we want to nourish and strengthen should be totally irrelevant, and we should not be afraid to tell the Japanese that," he said. "Adm. Fargo should not sacrifice Cmdr. Waddle's well-being or equitable treatment for political reasons or what he perceives as Japan's interest in the matter."

Navy sources said Fargo has been rushing to complete all the proceedings in the Greeneville case even though he had until May 14 to make his decision because Rear Adm. Al Konetzi Jr., commander of the Pacific Fleet's submarine force, is scheduled to leave his post for a new command on April 25.

Konetzi, who was a mentor to Waddle, will be promoted to the grade of vice admiral and named deputy commander and chief of staff for the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Va.

Advertiser Staff Writer Tanya Bricking and Washington Correspondent Susan Roth contributed to this report.