Former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor Col. Morris Davis is scheduled to testify in the military commission trial of Salim Hamdan today — for the defense. The WSJ reports:
Col. Morris Davis, for two years the chief Guantanamo prosecutor, is expected to testify that the operation he once led has been infected with political agendas and corrupted by the Achilles’ heel of military justice — unlawful command influence. . . .
“It’s not that I’m sympathetic to the detainees or say they should get a free pass,” says Col. Davis, now director of the Air Force Judiciary. “But I do think they are entitled to a fair trial.”
Attorneys for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan, called Col. Davis as a witness after reading his public criticism of the prosecution effort he once led. Col. Davis resigned in October after an internal Defense Department review rejected his claims that it was improper for the same officer, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, to direct the prosecution effort and, simultaneously, provide legal advice to the commissions administrator, who is supposed to make impartial decisions over whether prisoners are charged and what resources the defense receives.
Among other complaints, Col. Davis says that Gen. Hartmann, who was appointed last summer, overruled his decision to bar use of statements taken through waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning; critics call it torture.
Col. Davis says that Gen. Hartmann told him “there were opinions out there that there was nothing unlawful about waterboarding these guys, and these decisions are made at a much higher level.”
Here are some of our prior posts on Col. Morris Davis’ concerns about military commissions.