Bridging the Gulf - 220

[Yet another episode with barely believable dialog and contrived conflict. New cast member touted as "the new Harm" (DJE leaving the show after this season) shown to be unethical, inconsiderate, full of himself- the complete antithesis of Harm; neither he or Cresswell are believable characters] Lt Vukovick (V) arrived at JAG, knocked into Mac flinging her papers, ogled he while he helped pick them up and announced that "I'm the new guy." Cresswell assigned him to second M in the case of Gunnery Sergeant Genuzzi charged with illegally commandeering a civilian vehicle in Iraq. He came in late, brusquely acknowledged Tali Mayfield (Mf), prosecutor, then led and directed Genuzzi in telling his story. Genuzzi said that his Lt Revere's vehicle had broken down and they had time sensitive intel so when a local, Azzam, came down the road after curfew in a SUV they commandeered it. Azzam became belligerent and drew a crowd so they drew weapons. Revere was killed in the vehicle by a land mine. V tried to push him to say Lt Revere had ordered him to take the vehicle, but Genuzzi refused. M asked Cr if V had "any experience with litigation" at all (he certainly was unbelievable to the audience) and Cr said "he's got something better, he's got fire in the belly, and we need that around here." Then Cr played his tiresome manipulation game of "can't you handle it M." Mf whined to Bud about being on the "wrong side" of yet another case because she believed Genuzzi wasn't being honest. B advised her to proceed with "zeal," which she did. V tried to elicit a bargain with Mf without even discussing it with M and was found out. She read him the riot act, commenting that he'd graduated "6th in class at Dickenson and still didn't learn anything about the chain of command." He patronizingly started to apologize but M called him on how "practiced" his apologies were. He had to repeat that he would "do nothing without Ms complete consent."

Cr shown "thinking" in empty court room when a "friend(?)"/acquaintance, sheik Suhaib al-Hassan came to demand that he "punish the man who took my son's car." Cr asked him if that was a threat and was told that if he wasn't "there would be consequences." M spoke to the Sheik in his language and asked him to request clemency. He argued so she said "forgiveness is the noblest revenge." He said "that's a woman's argument," and she replied "yet simple enough that even a man can understand." On the stand Azzam acted the expected spoiled-brat son of a Sheik. His father admitted son not harmed, and compensated financially- but "how can you compensate for loss of dignity." M said in court the real reason this was being pressed was to appease his politically powerful father. Cr got on her case about that. Even Genuzzi was admitting to M & V that he was ordered to take the vehicle but wouldn't "bad mouth" Revere, when in came a man announcing he was "Paul Revere" the father. He read a letter stating Revere had ordered Genuzzi and said either you tell the truth or I will. Mf reduced charge to wrongful appropriation and Cr asked the Sheik if he was satisfied. The sheik said yes and asked to have the sentence commuted. Cr went out of his way to commend V- and M happened to be there as well. When M got V alone she confronted him with using an actor- "do I look that stupid to you, that I wouldn't check?" Completely oblivious to his dishonesty he told her "whatever works." She landed on him for "fraud, unethical and despicable" and said "do it again and I'll have you before the rules council! I might anyway." He arrogantly said "you won't do it because you like what I did," and she told him "don't bet your career on it."

Harm completed his field quals in the F18 and told Cr he only needed 16 carrier traps until he was F18 qualified. Cr offered an investigation on the carrier JFK to Turner who deferred to H. A Huey pilot Lt Gutierrez shot the stern of the fishing boat of Jalal Sharif who was heading for an oil platform and refusing to stop when orders were broadcast in his language. The CAG authorized him to shoot warning shots across his bow which caused him to run and still not stop. The government was complaining. Iraqi commando battalion leader Colonel Fadil Najijar, Masters of engineering from MIT, was Hs counterpart. The CAG clearly held "seeing it my way" over Hs head to get on the schedule for his quals. H found he had acted within ROE because Sharif could speak English and didn't stop. The CAG gave him the flights, with bullets but no missiles, where he was diverted to intercept a small aircraft that was heading directly at the oil platform. The two occupants appeared unconscious & Hs getting in front of them then lifting their wing was still ineffective. At 5 seconds before impact H saw the pilot's lips moving before deciding to shoot. It was reportedly Hakim Ma'mun, an Iraqi minister, on a fact finding tour. T was sent to investigate and after perfunctory greetings H said "I guess were exchanging lies" and T agreed. T railroaded through a perfunctory "investigation" and charged H with negligent homicide because he didn't ask for permission to fire- despite 5 seconds to impact. H & T had it out. T accused H of jealousy & undermining his authority during his temporary JAG appointment. H said he was a "tight ass, pompous, sanctimonious prig or he would have had everyone's support." Najjar overhead them arguing and told H "best friends make the worst of enemies." H asked, "from the Koran?" He said, "no, John Wayne." Najijar discovered that two men speaking Arabic with Jordanian accents had spoken to Sharif on his boat and afterward Sharif had thrown up over the side. He admitted that he was forced by "Zarqawi's men" to head to platform to test security. They got him to wear a wire into the terrorists. Troops then entered the house killing all but one including Sharif. They also found the bodies of the minister and his pilot who were killed before their flight which exonerated H. T flew back with Sharif, who's death was staged to avoid retaliation, and said "it turned out well. I'm glad." H said "yea, I believe you." T said, "we're still swapping lies."