The LA Times reports that Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann is under investigation for allegedly interfering with the prosecution of enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay.
The Air Force is reviewing allegations that Hartmann bullied prosecutors, logistics officials and others at Guantanamo — resulting in cases going to trial that were not ready and the prosecution of at least one individual on charges that were unwarranted — and assertions that he advocated using coerced evidence despite prosecutors’ objections.
It also is looking into allegations that Hartmann made intentionally misleading statements, both in public and during the Guantanamo tribunal proceedings, in an effort to downplay the direct role that he played in the overall prosecution effort and in several cases, according to interviews with military lawyers.
A second investigation, being conducted by the Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General, was sparked by the complaints of at least two military officials about Hartmann’s allegedly abusive and retaliatory behavior toward them within the Office of Military Commissions. That office oversees the prosecutors and defense lawyers in the terrorism trials taking place at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Readers may recall that Col. Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, resigned last spring alleging, among other things, that Hartmann had improperly interfered with the trials of enemy combatants. I blogged on Davis’ resignation and related events here and here.