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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Pentagon fires Khadr judge Col. Peter Brownback replaced after chastising prosecution NEW YORK -- The U.S. Pentagon abruptly replaced the military judge in the Omar Khadr case yesterday after he chastised the prosecution at a recent Guantanamo Bay hearing. The chief judge of the war crimes commission that is to try the Candian accused of terrorism announced the change in an e-mail to a senior official. The e-mail made no mention of army Colonel Peter Brownback, who has presided over the war crimes commission that will prosecute Mr. Khadr, 21, at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, but said simply that Colonel Patrick Parrish, another army officer, is "hereby detailed as military judge in the case." As recently as Wednesday, an e-mail destined for Col. Brownback from Major Jeffrey Groharing, chief prosecutor in the case, suggests he still held the position as case judge. At a May 7 hearing, Col. Brownback threatened to suspend the entire case over the prosecution's failure to hand over Mr. Khadr's Guantanamo confinement records. Navy Lieutenant-Commander Bill Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's chief military lawyer, sought the so-called Detainee Information Management System records, or DIMS, to develop a detailed picture of Mr. Khadr's treatment during detention. Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler suspected they would contain information that could help him show Mr. Khadr's claims of interrogator abuse had substance. Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler believes the bulk of the prosecution's case against Mr. Khadr, accused of murder in a 2002 grenade attack that killed a U.S. serviceman, will rest on statements the Toronto-born youth made once captured, and that proving interrogator abuse could negate the evidence. The prosecution later complied with Col. Brownback's order to surrender the DIMS to Mr. Kuebler by May 22. The defence lawyer said he cannot discuss what they contain because they remain classified. The military commission process, which the Pentagon says it will use to try up to 80 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, has been awash in controversy since its launch in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler has repeatedly declared the system unfair for defendants, and appealed to the Canadian government to repatriate Mr. Khadr, the only Western national remaining at Guantanamo. Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said the prosecution continues to hold back key documents he has requested for Mr. Khadr's defence. He said he strongly suspects Col. Brownback's replacement to have been related to the judge's actions in court. "We know that he threatened to suspend the case, and was forcing the prosecution to turn over more than they wanted to turn over," he said. "We know that that was causing a delay that may have given time for the Canadian government to eventually decide to intervene. And we know that Maj. Groharing has been under a great deal of pressure to proceed to trial to get a conviction and sentencing of Omar." The Pentagon did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
Don't like the ruling? Just replace the judge.
"HOLODOMOR" is Ukrainian word for "FAMINE-GENOCIDE"
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