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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Gov's GITMO Prosecutor Under Oath: Political Pressure (COL. DAVIS) Gov's GITMO Prosecutor Under Oath: Political Pressure by RenMin [Subscribe] There are two surprises about this story in the Washington Post this morning: A military prosecutor was willing to go on record, under oath, concerning the abuses of the military commissions kangaroo court set up by the Bush administration, and the Post put it on the front page. The former terrorism chief prosecutor, Col. Morris Davis, testified under oath that high level Defense Department officials pressured him to bring prosecutions before the elections, for political purposes: Davis said he wants to wait until the cases -- and the military commissions system -- have a more solid legal footing. He also testified that the Defense Department's General Counsel stated that acquittal of any of the suspects would be unacceptable: "He said, 'We can't have acquittals,' " Davis said under questioning from Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, the military counsel who represents Hamdan. " 'We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions.' " Finally, his testimony revealed that the Bush administration has no compunctions about using evidence acquired by torture: So let's get this straight -- our Government, our country, the United States of America, the City on a Hill, the Last Best Hope for Mankind, has degenerated to this level: we offer show trials, travesties of justice where confessions are coerced by torture, where a guilty finding is a foregone conclusion, and where the charges are brought for political, not legal, purposes. And all of this is done in the name of preserving our liberties from the terrorists. How does this differ from the Moscow show trials of the thirties, or what goes on in the courtrooms of Castro's Cuba or China? What does this say about our country, that we haven't initiated mass protests? That a sizeable minority of the public thinks this kind of thing is just fine? Even if we elect a Democratic President and enhance our majorities in Congress, we are really going to have our work cut out for us in restoring our traditional American values.
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#2. To: aristeides, *WAR CRIMES* (#0)
Wow! I'm sure this will be on the evening news... From Chief Prosecutor To Critic at Guantanamo Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II, who announced his retirement in February, once bristled at the suggestion that some defendants could be acquitted, an outcome that Davis said would give the process added legitimacy. "He said, 'We can't have acquittals,' " Davis said under questioning from Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, the military counsel who represents Hamdan. " 'We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions.' " What's the point in all that torture if you cannot use the results!? Davis also decried as unethical a decision by top military officials to allow the use of evidence obtained by coercive interrogation techniques.
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