Former Chief Prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions Resigns

Morris D. Davis writes "I was the chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until Oct. 4, the day I concluded that full, fair and open trials were not possible under the current system. I resigned on that day because I felt that the system had become deeply politicized and that I could no longer do my job effectively or responsibly. " He goes on to describe three reasons for his resignation:

"Susan Crawford...the convening authority...had her staff assessing evidence before the filing of charges, directing the prosecution's pretrial preparation of cases (which began while I was on medical leave), drafting charges against those who were accused and assigning prosecutors to cases, among other things." The problem is, "the convening authority is supposed to be objective". "Intermingling convening authority and prosecutor roles perpetuates the perception of a rigged process stacked against the accused."

The hearings are secret and justice should be transparent.

And the straw that broke the camel's back was when Davis was put under the chain of the command of Defense Department General Counsel William J. Haynes who had a "role in authorizing the use of the aggressive interrogation techniques some call torture."

"The president first authorized military commissions in November 2001, more than six years ago, and the lack of progress is obvious. Only one war-crime case has been completed. It is time for the political appointees who created this quagmire to let go. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have said that how we treat the enemy says more about us than it does about him. If we want these military commissions to say anything good about us, it's time to take the politics out of military commissions, give the military control over the process and make the proceedings open and transparent."

This story reminded me of an NPR piece I heard a few weeks ago. "By all accounts, Colby Vokey is a model officer in the U.S. Marine Corps...For the past four years, Vokey has served as chief of all the Corps' defense lawyers in the western United States — and he's played a key role in some of the military's most sensitive legal issues, including the murder investigation in Haditha, Iraq, and in the debate about detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay."

"So when Vokey announced recently that he wanted to leave the Corps, it said something troubling about the military system of justice that he's served for almost 20 years. Vokey charges that some commanders and officials in the Bush administration have abused the system of justice, and he's going to retire from the Corps May 1, 2008."

Here's another problem with this administration, many of the good people are choosing leaving the military because they have too much integrity. How screwed up is that?