By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Col. Thomas S. Mullikin – a Camden, S.C.-based environmental attorney and deputy commander of the S.C. State Guard – has been appointed “special assistant” to the chief prosecutor in the case of the alleged 9/11 terrorists.
Mullikin was appointed by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor with the “Military Commissions” (the military tribunal tasked with trying alleged terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged war criminals who purportedly planned and executed the 9/11 terrorist attacks).
Gen. Martins – (in addition to being a senior U.S. Army lawyer) an Army Ranger and widely considered a special-operations expert – “is a great soldier” and “one of the brightest legal minds of our generation,” says Mullikin, who in the 1990’s served with Martins as a U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer when Martins held the post of deputy staff judge advocate for the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps.
“Gen. Martins will ensure a zealous but fair prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” says Mullikin. “Moreover, he will ensure a proper American legacy and conclusion to the terrorist acts of 9/11 that killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans.”
The Military Commissions (“reformed” military tribunals) are designed to deal effectively, independently, and fairly with the law of war violations to ensure a just trial. Military Commissions are comparable to federal criminal justice system courts in their prosecution of war criminals. They incorporate the fundamental guarantees of a fair and just trial including both the presumption of innocence and that guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mullikin – founder and pres. of the Mullikin Law Firm and Global Eco Adventures – was recently named deputy commander of the all-volunteer S.C. State Guard. The S.C. State Guard is the state defense force component of the S.C. Military Dept. (SCMD). The SCMD includes the S.C. Army National Guard, the S.C. Air National Guard, the State Guard, the Emergency Management Division and other elements.
Mullikin’s service in both the S.C. State Guard and as a Special Assistant to Gen. Martins is an extension of his years of distinguished military service; first as a U.S. Army JAG lawyer (USAR) and attached as an international legal officer to a civil affairs brigade, followed by a stint with the S.C. Military Dept.’s Joint Services Det. (JSD). His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and the Global War on Terror Service Medal.
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a former U.S. Marine rifle-squad leader and counterterrorism instructor who writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. He directs the U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team. He is the author of six books, and his articles appear in a variety of publications. Smith’s website is uswriter.com.