Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials Rigged

By Jeff Stein | Air Force Col. Morris D. Davis, who resigned last year after two years as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, today described the military commissions system as fatally “tainted” by politics and designed to produce guilty verdicts, no matter what the costs.       

The possibility of the system delivering “credible verdicts is doubtful,” Davis said Tuesday in a remarkable interview on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show.

“The process has been so tainted, such a black eye to the country, that we have to make every effort possible to have an open trial…

“I’m afraid that what has happened, though, is that we’ve had a rush, in order to get things done before the election, rather than taking the time — and getting evidence declassified in order to have an open trial is a frustrating, time consuming process, but in my view a necessary step if these things are going to have credibility.

Morris said the politicization of the system began at the top, with the appointment of  Susan Crawford, a “political appointee” with no time in uniform, to run the military commissions.

Morris also said that Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartman, senior legal advisor to the convening authority, “broke the law” by exercizing command influence on the proceedings.

“Most people were watching to see what DoD was going to do about it, to see if he’d be fired. But instead they charged six more detainees and pressed ahead.”

Morris also said that on Jan. 2, 2007, two hours after President Bush withdrew the nomination of DoD General Counsel Jim Haynes, implicated in torture policy memos, to be a federal judge, Haynes called him up to demand the quick prosecution of Australian David Hicks, a Guantanamo inmate who has since been freed.  

 ”How quickly can you charge David Hicks?” Haynes said, according to Morris.

“At that time we had no statute in place, no convening authority for military commisions, no regulations for military commissions. The major pieces were not in place, and I’m having to deal with the general cousel who’s asking how soon we can charge David Hicks.”

Haynes compared the Guantanamo proceedings to the Nurenburg trials of Nazi officials at the end of World War Two. But when Morris noted that those trials had also rendered aquittals, Haynes expoloded. 

“Acquittals? We’re not going to have any acquittals,” Haynes said, according to Morris. “We’ve been holding these guys for years. How could you explain that if we had acquittals? We’ve gotta have convictions.”

Morris said there was no doubt in his mind that Salim Hamdan, on trial now, was far more than a cluless chaffeur for Osama bin Laden. But the “black eye” the proceedings have earned will taint his conviction.   (Listen to the audio tape here.)

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