Legal Commentary

Honor, Justice AWOL in Today's Pentagon

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

Triumph of Newspeak at the Pentagon: telling the truth is considered dishonorable behavior.

Colonel Says Speaking Out Cost a Medal

[The former chief military prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay, Air Force Col. Morris] Davis’s dispute with Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann resulted in a military judge disqualifying Hartmann in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan — an action that has led other military defense lawyers to file similar motions in cases against five men accused of taking part in the conspiracy surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. An e-mail Davis wrote to defense lawyers on Tuesday, in which he said he would not cooperate in future cases, was released as part of such a motion yesterday.

Davis wrote that Pentagon officials notified him that he did “not serve honorably” as top prosecutor and would be denied [a] medal. Davis said he fears other reprisals before his scheduled retirement this year, despite a military judge’s order that no one who testified on the matter face adverse actions.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon also dismissed a judge in a different Guantanamo trial, apparently because he was not compliant enough with prosecution demands that the proceedings begin before the November election. Installing a new judge will undoubtedly increase the risk that the whole proceeding will look like a show trial, but at least the show may start on schedule.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on May 30, 2008 (boomark / email).