From Chief Prosecutor To Critic at Guantanamo: Witness was pressured to bring cases before election

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post, pg1

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 29, 2008; A01

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 28 -- The Defense Department's former chief prosecutor for terrorism cases appeared Monday at the controversial U.S. detention facility here to argue on behalf of an accused terrorist that the military justice system has been corrupted by politics and inappropriate influence from senior Pentagon officials.

Sitting just feet from the courtroom table where he had once planned to make cases against military detainees, Air Force Col. Morris Davis instead took the witness stand to declare under oath that he felt undue pressure to hurry cases along so that the Bush administration could claim in advance of political elections that the system was working.

His testimony in a small, windowless room -- as a witness for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged driver for Osama bin Laden -- offered a harsh insider's critique of how senior political officials have allegedly influenced the functioning of the system created to try suspected terrorists outside existing military and civilian courts.

Davis's claims, which the Pentagon has previously denied, were aired here as the Supreme Court is nearing a decision on whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that laid the legal foundation for these hearings violates the Constitution by barring any of the approximately 275 remaining Guantanamo prisoners from forcing a civilian judicial review of their detention.

Davis told Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred, who presided over the hearing, that top Pentagon officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, made it clear to him that bringing charges against some of the most notorious detainees before elections this year could have "strategic political value."...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042802982_pf.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Dystopian]

2. k&r. n/t

[rhymeandreason]

3. Bush's Star Chamber Atrocity

How is it possible that four years after the revelations about Abu Ghraib that they are still perpetuating and justifying this abomination?

[DeepModem Mom]

14. An abomination, indeed, rhymeandreason -- welcome to DU.

[pjt7]

4. Thanks for posting this

the Air Force has become the true leader for our armed forces with their honesty & willingness to call out right from wrong.

[jonnyra]

5. Nothing has been left untouched

By the corrupt hand of this sick administration and the cult like republican party. Every government agency has been turned into a political arm of the fascists. Every move they make and every word they speak has a political purpose. There is no truth...only perception and thats what they strive to control at every turn.

This has destroyed America.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS A CANCER

[Joanne98]

6. Whoa! This could have political implications for Bush's plan to start a war with Iran

before the election to help get McCain elected. We need to use this as evidence and start accusing them NOW before they do it.

[acmavm]

7. I suppose it always helps when the obvious is verified by an

insider.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. You goddam right it does.

It helps crack the denial of the True Believers.

[Broadslidin]

8. Any bets, the supremes will protect their selected Government Ghouls...?

:nuke: :patriot: :nuke:

[yardwork]

21. Of course.

[Supersedeas]

11. nothing to see here -- the Primary Season is an excuse for a complete US News blackout

[bluesmail]

12. K&R

[lovuian]

13. Yep they know that they need the Military & Congress to sign

on the dotted line with them before they leave

They are in quite a quandry

Who can they trust to not put them in jail later

[yardwork]

15. They wanted him to use "confessions" elicited by torture.

Davis also decried as unethical a decision by top military officials to allow the use of evidence obtained by coercive interrogation techniques. He said Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the top military official overseeing the commissions process, was improperly willing to use evidence derived from waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning. "To allow or direct a prosecutor to come into the courtroom and offer evidence they felt was torture, it puts a prosecutor in an ethical bind," Davis testified. But he said Hartmann replied that "everything was fair game -- let the judge sort it out."

Let the judge sort it out - because the Republicans are working fast and furious to put shills in the judiciary.

[DeepModem Mom]

17. Thanks for drawing attention to that important bit in the article, yardwork. nt

[yardwork]

19. It's all connected.

It's sick. The country has been taken over by violent thugs.

[crimsonblue]

26. Ethics? The Constitution? Humanity? Psssh.

The DOJ and military prosecutors aren't paid to follow the rule of law, they are paid to put them goddamn 'terrorists' behind bars. Fuck everything else. Who cares if some innocent get swept up, better for 100 innocent to be hung than for 1 guilty to go free, right? What, you mean you want them 'terrorists' to go free? Why do you hate America? Why do you want 'terrorists' blowing up your kid's daycare?..... sigh.

[redqueen]

16. I doubt anyone, anywhere is surprised.

The really sad thing is that GOP loyalists don't care about the law... they only care about winning. So they won't bat an eye at these abuses.

[yardwork]

20. I know. And the corporate-owned media will continue to ignore it

while pushing the latest celebrity "scandal" and scaring their watchers away from Democratic candidates.

[redqueen]

22. The upside I think, is that finally people are treating the M$M like the idiots they are.

And ignoring / scoffing at their BS distraction act.

Here's hoping... :)

[Peace Patriot]

18. Another American hero! I continue to be impressed and heartened by the

real patriots in this country--the ones willing to risk their lives and careers to expose Bushite crimes. It is especially awesome when military, intelligence or other government personnel take those risks (such as EPA and NASA scientists). I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I sure get the feeling that a mighty battle is taking place within our government, only part of which we can see, between the real public servants--the people who still believe in our Constitution, and the rule of law--and this junta, and that it has not been easy to de-fang this junta and get them out. Their criminality is mind-boggling--and that's just what we know. They have used every power of government to completely entrench and protect themselves, and to commit crimes that I think we only have an inkling of, at present. So when someone stands up against them, we can know one thing for sure--we are looking at real courage of a kind that few nations and peoples have been blest with. It is rare in history. It is a sign that our democracy is alive and well, and sturdier than we may have believed. But it is not over yet. It is still a question in a lot of peoples' minds whether or not the Bush Junta can be dislodged. With the collusion of leaders in our own party--and the fear and cowardice of others--they have acquired powers of martial law, and rule by fiat, that could end our democracy for decades and maybe forever. I am particularly concerned about the "trade secret" voting machines that were fast-tracked all over the country, during the 2002 to 2004 period, with the collusion of both parties. But I have also seen a great movement arise within the grass roots of the Democratic Party, and involving other citizens as well (non-partisan people and groups), to get rid of those machines. Rigged voting machines are the last bastion of fascist/corporate power--the ultimate blockade to reform and renewal. Until we get rid of them, we have no actual power, as a people, to address our most critical issues--issues of war, of lawlessness and of massive theft. And until we restore vote counting that everyone can see and understand, heroes like Air Force Col. Morris Davis remain vulnerable to retaliation. We have little or no power to prevent it. All the more heroes they--who have risked their lives and careers, when the people of this country lack the sovereign power to cover their backs.

[xxqqqzme]

23. I'm guessing the only thing to surprise anyone

is that an ethical person finally came forward.

[The Blue Flower]

24. Unlawful Command Influence Motion in Hamdan Case

pdf from the National Institute of Military Justice:

http://www.nimj.com/documents/UCI%20Motion%20with%20Attachments.pdf

[pleah]

25. K&R

These people will probably never see justice. They are not human to Godless Warmongering Bastard and Co.