CAPTAIN WHITAKER USN (Xander Berkeley), in A Few Good Men, was the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Defense Counsel's Office, Judge Advocate General's Corps, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.The case of United States v. L. Cpl. Harold W. Dawson USMC and Pfc. Louden Downey USMC occurred during his watch. The case was messy. Lance Corporal Dawson was a member of Rifle Security Company Windward, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On or about 2 August 1990, Dawson fired a round from his weapon into Cuban territory, allegedly without proper authority and without justifiable cause. Pfc. William T. Santiago USMC witnessed it and offered to rat Dawson out to the Naval Investigative Service in exchange for a transfer. At midnight 7 September, Dawson and another member of his squad, Pfc. Louden Downey, entered Santiago's room, seized him, bound him hand and foot, and stuffed a rag down his throat. At 0100 Santiago was dead. The base hospital medical director, Navy Commander Stone, gave his opinion that the rag was poisoned, but could not identify the poison.No less than the Division command specifically requested Whitaker's top plea bargainer, Lt. (jg) Daniel A. Kaffee USN, to serve as lead counsel for the defense. Capt. Whitaker assigned Lt. (jg) Sam Weinberg USN as co-counsel. He instructed Kaffee on the particulars of the case and also told him to go see Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway USN, Special Counsel for Internal Affairs. Capt. Whitaker never did catch what interest Commander Galloway had in the case, but there it was.He had no way of knowing what a big fat blow-up the case would be. It started with a screw-up of a Marine threatening to rat out his squad leader for an illegal fenceline shooting, and ended in bringing down Col. Nathan R. Jessup USMC, who had been a candidate for Director of Ops NSC. In a word: whew! Show less «