Chief Gitmo Judge Contradicts Pentagon on Replacement of Judge
Yesterday we noted that a judge for the Guantanamo Bay military commissions who had repeatedly ruled against prosecutors had been abruptly replaced. The move came less than a month after the judge, Col. Peter E. Brownback III, demanded that prosecutors in the case of Omar Khadr give defense attorneys the detainee’s interrogation and medical records.
Explaining the dismissal, a spokesman for the commission only said that Brownback’s removal had been a “mutual decision” between Brownback and the Army. But Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, the chief judge at Gitmo who made the move, has issued a statement saying that isn’t true. While Brownback was forced out, Kohlmann explained, it was only because of larger personnel reasons: The Army had chosen not to extend Brownback’s June 29th retirement date for “manpower management considerations unrelated to the Military Commissions process,” so Kolhmann was forced to replace him.
As The Miami Herald reports, it’s not clear what those considerations were or who made that decision and why. A spokesman for the commissions didn’t respond to the paper’s requests for elaboration.
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners
- Why Fannie and Freddie Are Hesitating to Help Homeowners
- Bets Against Homeowners Must Stop, Freddie Mac Was Told
- By the Numbers: Life and Death at Foxconn
- How the Stimulus Revived the Electric Car
- Drive-by Scanning: Officials Expand Use and Dose of Radiation for Security Screening
- $10 Million Fine on Red Cross Highlights Its Troubled History of Blood Services
- Bill Would Require Independent Study of X-Ray Body Scanners
- Allergan Erases Doctor Payment Records
- With Spotlight on Super PAC Dollars, Nonprofits Escape Scrutiny
- Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners
- Drive-by Scanning: Officials Expand Use and Dose of Radiation for Security Screening
- Bill Would Require Independent Study of X-Ray Body Scanners
- How the Stimulus Revived the Electric Car
- Meet the Obscure Federal Regulator Who's Not Helping Homeowners
- By the Numbers: Life and Death at Foxconn
- Why Fannie and Freddie Are Hesitating to Help Homeowners
- $10 Million Fine on Red Cross Highlights Its Troubled History of Blood Services
- One Soldier's Progress Against Traumatic Brain Injury
- Bets Against Homeowners Must Stop, Freddie Mac Was Told
1 comments
hartman_john
June 25, 2008, 7:06 a.m.
It is challenging to think that there may have been undue pressure put on an Officer of the Court simply because he/she insisted on the Rule of Law. The U.S. Military would NEVER be so nefarious as to short circuit Due Process. Nor does it seem possible that the Pentagon would use High Pressure Tactics to remove a person who was deemed to be acting against the military’s pre-ordained interests. Lastly, the Pentagon, an upstanding bureaucracy, would never do one thing and say another. Americans should simply lie back, or is it lay back, and enjoy the summer. Let your government figure out those pesky terrorist problems. Life’s too short. Your tax dollars are already hard at work, paying the Pentagon to handle these irksome detainees.
Commenting on this story is closed.