Souvenirs of Injustice

John F. Lehman Jr., the secretary of the Navy, adopted a jocular and cheerful view of Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf III and the case of the captured weapons that the admiral sought to bring home after the invasion of Grenada. Lehman said he had “cautioned him that the next time that he wins a battle” he should observe the law against importing automatic weapons.

The affair has apparently made no difference in the admiral’s career. Boys will be boys, and there is an old tradition of warriors bringing home battlefield souvenirs.

Lehman did not get into the question of inequity. There had been at least an appearance of that for some others, an officer of lesser rank and some enlisted men. For them there was no “next time.” They were discharged from the service and sentenced to prison terms for their handling of the same war souvenirs.

Uniform codes of military justice are as uniform and as just as commanders make them. From our distant position, Lehman seems on the right track. A caution may be all that is needed. But that won’t help the others whose careers were ruined, their lives bruised by a more rigorous application of the law. The pain of the bruises could be eased by a solid application of equal treatment. For which it is never too late.