Fmr. Chief Guantanamo Prosecutor Says Military Commissions "Not Justice"

A federal judge is holding a hearing on Thursday to decide whether to delay Hamdan’s trial and allow lawyers to continue challenging the legality of the commission system. A ruling in favor of Hamdan could bring the military commissions to a halt. The judge is also expected to take into account a new legal brief signed by hundreds of European legislators that supports Hamdan"s case and says his trial by military commission would cause “incalculable harm to the fabric” of international law.

The five-member commissions are made up of military officers and presided over by a military judge. During the proceedings prosecutors are allowed to submit evidence obtained through coercion. Hamdan’s lawyers have argued he was beaten and abused at Guantanamo and subjected to a program of systematic sleep deprivation that they said constitute torture.

One of the most prominent figures to argue on behalf of Hamdan’s case was Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He resigned his position late last year in protest over what he said was political interference. In April, Colonel Davis testified as a witness for Hamdan and offered a harsh critique of the military commission system.

I spoke with Colonel Morris Davis yesterday and I began by asking why he decided to resign as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo.

Col. Morris Davis, Air Force colonel and the former chief prosecutor in the Pentagon’s Office of Military Commissions. He resigned late last year. He now heads the Air Force Judiciary and is planning to retire.