The Political Chase

Admin Blocks DOD Chief Prosecutor Testimony

It can only be a matter of time before the Bush administration blocks military and Executive Branch employees from telling Santa Claus what they want for Christmas.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and "the administration" refused to allow the DOD’s chief prosecutor to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee today regarding the "politicization of… military tribunals," prosecutorial intervention, and detainees’ rights at Guantanamo.

In an opening statement to the Committee, Chairwoman Diane Feinstein said, "I invited Colonel Davis to testify at this hearing…the Defense Department has ordered him not to appear… Unfortunately, I have to conclude…the administration is trying to stop a fair and open discussion about the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo."

After listening to Feinstein’s statement, you may be convinced the Bush administration made a duplicate copy of Alberto Gonzales’ operating model and policies at the Justice Department and implemented them all at Guantanamo.

Watch the highlights of Feinstein’s opening statement:

Partial transcript:

SEN. FEINSTEIN:  "The defense department’s chief prosecutor, Colonel Morris Davis, has recently resigned over his concerns about how the military commission’s process has been politicized…On October 4th of this year, Colonel Davis resigned from his position after concluding that full, fair, and open trials were unlikely at Guantanamo."

"Colonel Davis has stated to me, yesterday, that the convening authority…has been compromised and politicized…"

"Colonel Davis has stated to DoD and publicly that the prosecution process has been politicized. That the convening authority and its legal adviser would direct the prosecution’s pre-trial preparation, including directing the office about what evidence to use, what charges to file, and that his efforts to ensure that the military commissions would be open and fair were being overridden by administration officials, who believed it was more important to get convictions before the 2008 elections.

"As Colonel Davis told the Washington Post on October 20…"There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up. There was a rush to get high interest cases into court at the expense of openness."

"I invited Colonel Davis to testify at this hearing; however, The Defense Department has ordered him not to appear. That, indeed, is very disappointing.

"We assured the administration that Colonel Davis would not be asked about pending and open cases, but we were told simply that Colonel Davis was active-duty military, and because he was active-duty military, they could issue an order that he had to follow."

"…Unfortunately, I have to conclude that by prohibiting Colonel Davis from testifying, the administration is trying to stop a fair and open discussion about the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo."