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2nd star back in limbo for Khobar Towers CO

Maj. Gen. Terry Schwalier — commander of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia when 19 airmen were killed by a terrorist’s bomb June 25, 1996 — waited almost 12 years to get his second star.

Now the Pentagon is trying to take it back.

The Defense Department Office of the General Counsel wants to overrule a decision by the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records to give Schwalier his second star — an unusual move that challenges the Air Force’s authority to correct records.

The board ruled Dec. 20 that Schwalier’s promotion to major general was improperly overturned in 1997 because he was unjustly held responsible — scapegoated, many would say — for the bombing and the deaths of his airmen. It ordered that his promotion be reinstated and that he receive back pay.

But the Pentagon’s general counsel has ordered the Defense Finance and Accounting Service not to honor the promotion, said Michael Rose, Schwalier’s attorney. Such a move is illegal, Rose said, because by law and Pentagon policy, the secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records have final authority over such matters.

A spokesman for the Office of the General Counsel declined to comment “because this matter is under review within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.”

Schwalier sent a letter dated March 11 to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne protesting what he considers illegal meddling by the general counsel.

“For a second time, [the general counsel] is striving to overturn a decision made by the appropriate authority that, by law, unless done fraudulently, is supposed to be ‘final and conclusive,’” Schwalier wrote. “I am deeply concerned about the ramifications if [it] is successful.”

On March 19, Wynne’s office said he had not yet received the letter.

The case is the latest in a series of disputes between the civilian general counsel’s office and members of the military, who charge that the general counsel’s office seeks to exert improper and politically motivated control over the uniformed military. Most recently, in December, the Pentagon tried unsuccessfully to make the general counsel’s approval a requirement for the promotion of judge advocate general officers.

Rose said he and Schwalier plan to appeal to Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz. if the general counsel’s office does not relent. A lawsuit is also possible, he said, but would remain a last resort.

Schwalier was unavailable for comment because of a family emergency.

Three months before the Khobar Towers bombing, Schwalier was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to receive his second star.

Four investigations were conducted after the bombing, three of which cleared Schwalier of any wrongdoing. But the fourth investigation — which was the first one made public — said the general was at least partially to blame.

In response to that report, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen removed Schwalier’s name from the list for promotion to major general, a move that many in the Air Force thought was unjust and was partially responsible for then-Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman’s decision to retire. Schwalier’s career was effectively over, and he retired Sept. 1, 1997.

In April 2003, he petitioned the corrections board, arguing that Cohen had violated promotion procedures by removing him from the promotion list, and that holding him accountable was unjust.

The board found in August 2004 that “an administrative error was made” and Schwalier had, in fact, been promoted to major general Jan. 1, 1997, even though he never pinned on the rank. But more than a year later, Joe Lineberger, the board’s director, reversed his own decision.

Rose submitted Schwalier’s second application for correction of his records Sept. 24, arguing that civilian lawyers have no authority to overrule the Air Force board, and again making the case that holding Schwalier responsible for the attacks was an injustice.

The board, in a Nov. 19 memo leading to its official Dec. 20 decision, ruled in Schwalier’s favor based on the claim that holding him responsible was an injustice.

DISCUSS: Why the flip-flopping?