Matthew Rothschild: Even Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor Calls Military Commissions Unfair

[marmar]

from The Progressive:



Even Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor Calls Military Commissions Unfair
December 11, 2007 By Matthew Rothschild


Last week, the Supreme Court heard a case on the rights of detainees down in Guantanamo, and the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act.

In making their decision, the justices might want to consider the views of the former chief prosecutor there, Morris Davis, an Air Force officer.

Said Davis: “It is absolutely critical to the legitimacy of the military commissions that they be conducted in an atmosphere of honesty and impartiality.”

But they aren’t being conducted that way, he said, so he resigned.

Meddling by Pentagon appointees, he added, “perpetuates the perception of a rigged process stacked against the accused,” he told the L.A. Times.

Of course, the process has been rigged since the get go.

The accused can be tried with secret testimony and with testimony extracted from him by coercion.

Davis, who resigned on October 4, tried to rule the latter out of order.

He instructed prosecutors to “not offer any evidence derived by waterboarding.”

But guess what?

He was overruled by a senior commanding officer. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx121107

[mod mom]

1. I am still SO PISSED THAT THE DEMS HAVEN'T RESTORED HABEAS CORPUS YET!

Habeas Corpus has stood in civilized societies since the year 1215. It is SHAMEFUL that it has not been restored.

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R