West Point assistant professor William C. Bradford, accused of stolen valor, has resigned Sunday following controversy over a paper in which he argued that attacks on Islamic holy sites are legitimate in the war on terror.
Bradford’s resignation comes principally in response to a paper he wrote before he started teaching at West Point. In the paper, published by the National Security Law Journal, Bradford argued that lawful targets of the war on terror include “law school facilities, scholars’ home offices and media outlets.” According to Bradford, while the argument might seem shocking, in theory it seems legitimate to target scholars and law schools, “so long as attacks are proportional, distinguish noncombatants from combatants, employ nonprohibited weapons, and contribute to the defeat of Islamism.”
This proved too much for the public, and West Point quickly moved to disassociate from the article.
“His article in the National Security Law Journal titled “Trahison des Professeurs: The Critical Law of Armed Conflict Academy as an Islamist Fifth Column” was written and accepted for publication prior to his employment at West Point,” Lt. Col. Chris Kasker, academy spokesman, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “The views in the article are solely those of Dr. Bradford and do not reflect those of the Department of Defense, the United States Army, the United States Military Academy.”
Bradford officially resigned Sunday. He was hired to the prestigious institution Aug. 1.
This isn’t Bradford’s first resignation from a university.
In December 2005, the Indianapolis Star discovered that his claims to military service were distorted and false. Bradford claimed to have served in the Army infantry from 1990 to 2001. He stated that he received a Silver Star for his service and would often wear the medal around campus at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.
A service records request revealed that Bradford served in the Army Reserve from 1995 to 2001, at which point he was discharged as a second lieutenant. His record did not indicate any medals. In fact, he hadn’t even serve as active duty. He played a role in military intelligence, but was not in the infantry. He resigned from the university Jan. 1, 2006.
For whatever reason, this did not dissuade West Point from hiring him in the beginning of August as a professor to teach a common law course.
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