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Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials RiggedThursday, July 24th, 2008 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.
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.
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.
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.) Have Your Say: Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials Rigged Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report in our forum . 2 Responses to “Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials Rigged”
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[...] Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials Rigged By Jeff Stein | RINF.COM, July 24, 2008 [...]