At War with the Army

The case involved Gerald D. McLemore, a black Army private charged with killing a white G.I. in Viet Nam. But a far broader issue soon emerged: McLemore's civilian lawyers claimed they could not defend him adequately because they had been prevented from communicating with him. At a recent military hearing in Saigon, McLemore's attorneys from the Lawyers Military Defense Committee documented an almost incredible story of how the Army had sabotaged their organization.

Organized seven months ago to provide free civilian counsel for G.I.s in Viet Nam, the L.M.D.C. opened a three-man law office in Saigon headed by Henry Aronson, a leading civil rights lawyer who had been active in both Mississippi and New York. The Army indicated that it would cooperate. But soon after the L.M.D.C. represented three soldiers seeking conscientious-objector status (TIME, Nov. 23), Army cooperation vanished. A classified order directed all Army law offices in Viet Nam to submit monthly reports on L.M.D.C. activities--including "comments on compliance with ethical standards." Moreover, the Army refused to let the lawyers use military mail or phone systems and gave them the lowest priority for military flights.

Four of 233. "To someone who has never been in Saigon, these obstacles may seem small," reports TIME Bureau Chief Jonathan Larsen. "In fact, they are gargantuan." In the company-town atmosphere of Viet Nam, the military has a near monopoly on most efficient forms of communication. Without military mail privileges, for example, a lawyer in Saigon who writes to his client upcountry can figure that his letter will be routed to the soldier's APO number in San Francisco. The letter will reach the soldier--perhaps a month later.

L.M.D.C. attorneys have also been regularly denied use of military flights that are often the only way of reaching a G.I. client. As for being denied military phones, Aronson introduced a newspaper clipping about a whorehouse that had such a phone and added that to reach Client McLemore's military attorney he had had to place 233 calls to the military switchboard--only four of which ultimately got through to the right man. With all the obstacles, L.M.D.C. lawyers saw McLemore for the first time only one hour before going into the courtroom.

Catch-22. The privileges sought by the L.M.D.C. are not unusual. The Army readily grants them to civilian representatives of the press, charitable organizations and even some businesses. Indeed, one official who determines eligibility has found that the L.M.D.C. meets the necessary qualifications. But, said the Army counsel who responded to Aronson at the McLemore hearing, the granting of such privileges is discretionary. Besides, he added with elegant Catch-22 ratiocination, the same military law that grants soldiers the right to civilian counsel then goes on to prohibit any Government payment of expenses; therefore, it would be wrong for the Army to provide mail, phone and transportation services free of charge. When Aronson noted that civilian lawyers for defendants in the My Lai massacre and the 1969 Green Beret double-agent murder cases were given extensive military cooperation in Viet Nam, the Army counsel brushed the comparison aside, stating that "special political considerations" were involved in those cases.

Special political considerations may soon be involved in the McLemore-L.M.D.C. case. North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin Jr. has urged Defense Secretary Melvin Laird to order an end to the noncooperation. "The military should make available to these lawyers the facilities they need and should not be grudging about it," says Ervin. "These responsible, experienced defense lawyers are offering civilian counsel without fee. Their presence can only serve to help the morale of the soldier serving in Viet Nam."

After hearing both sides in the recent McLemore proceeding, the military judge ruled against Aronson. "Defense by civilian lawyers," he admitted, "has been impaired. But that's the facts of life in Viet Nam." An appeal is being prepared, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has agreed to join those who will argue the issue before the U.S. Court of Military Appeals.

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