During his drawn-out court-martial on charges of military misconduct, Captain Howard Brett Levy and his attorney have spiced the otherwise routine trial with dark hints that U.S. Special Forces in Viet Nam were guilty of war crimes as heinous as any condemned at Nurnberg two decades ago (TIME, May 26). Last week, in an unexpectedly bold move, the Army court allowed Levy's attorney to wage the first "Nurnberg defense" in a U.S. court-martial. To the surprise of almost no one, it failed dismally.
Despite detailed questioning of three witnesses in the Fort Jackson, S.C., courtroom, Attorney Charles Morgan Jr. of...