DOD Tells Senate "You Can't Handle The Truth," Feinstein Wimps, DOD Wins, Truth Teller Silenced, You Can Bet There Is No Film At 11:00

Here is a story that should give you shivers if you love freedom. Col. Morris D. Davis, the head prosecutor at Guantanamo resigns. He writes an op-ed in the LA Times complaining that control of the military commissions at Gitmo has been taken from the military and given to political appointees whose agenda appears to be to run the embattled military commissions like some sort of kangaroo court. According to the former chief prosecutor

In a nutshell, the convening authority is supposed to be objective -- not predisposed for the prosecution or defense -- and gets to make important decisions at various stages in the process. The convening authority decides which charges filed by the prosecution go to trial and which are dismissed, chooses who serves on the jury, decides whether to approve requests for experts and reassesses findings of guilt and sentences, among other things.

Earlier this year, Susan Crawford was appointed by the secretary of Defense to replace Maj. Gen. John Altenburg as the convening authority. Altenburg's staff had kept its distance from the prosecution to preserve its impartiality. Crawford, on the other hand, 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.

How can you direct someone to do something -- use specific evidence to bring specific charges against a specific person at a specific time, for instance -- and later make an impartial assessment of whether they behaved properly? Intermingling convening authority and prosecutor roles perpetuates the perception of a rigged process stacked against the accused.

He also complains that the administration wants to run their rigged commissions in secret like some sort of Star Chamber and that one of the people above him in his chain of command is William J. Haynes.

Haynes was a controversial nominee for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, but his nomination died in January 2007, in part because of his role in authorizing the use of the aggressive interrogation techniques some call torture.

Congress says, hey maybe we ought to call Col. Davis in for a hearing. The administration says, "Buzz off. Col. Davis works for us. You can't talk to him." In the old days the rebuked Senators would have roared, DOD heads would have rolled, careers would have been ruined, policies changed. Today, not so much.

Here is TPM's video of Senator Feinstein sounding very disappointed. Notice I didn't say outraged. In fact, Feinstein sounds more like a whipped puppy than a Senatorial lioness.



What in the name of God leads the Administration to believe they can stop Congress from talking to Col. Davis. Nothing in the Constitution or in law. Congress has a perfect Constitutional right to conduct oversight and there is no privilege applicable in this case. No, all that the administration has is chutzpa and the certain knowledge that "impeachment is off the table." The Democratic leadership is so craven and cowardly they will give in to anything the Administration says. What ever happened to the home of the brave and the land of the free? When was the coup d'état and why wasn't it reported by the consolidated corporate media?

There's more: "DOD Tells Senate "You Can't Handle The Truth," Feinstein Wimps, DOD Wins, Truth Teller Silenced, You Can Bet There Is No Film At 11:00" >>

Something's Rotten in San Diego

Over at TPM(Muckraker), they're reporting that US Attorney Carole Lam (prosecutor of Duke Cunningham) has been asked by the White House to step down since she has failed to make smuggling and gun cases a top priority.
As the San Diego Union Tribune reports:

When she took over, Lam made it clear that she planned to focus less on low-level smuggling cases in favor of public corruption and white collar crime, which would mean fewer but more significant prosecutions.
...
But even some of Lam's legal opponents said the supposed reasons she is being forced out are perplexing.

"What do they want her to do, lock up Mexico?" said Mario Conte, former chief of Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. Conte, now a professor at California Western School of Law in downtown San Diego, said every prosecutor walks a tightrope.

Quite possibly. But I think this quote gives us great insight as to why she was forced out [emphasis added]:

"She has shown a certain tunnel vision in her prosecutions and has exercised an appalling lack of discretion in terms of the individuals she has targeted for prosecution and the classes of crimes that she has chosen to direct her resources at," said criminal defense attorney Geoffrey C. Morrison, who represented a defendant in the City Hall corruption case prosecuted by Lam's office.

Lack of discretion? What an interesting turn of phrase. Are there individuals whom we should never scrutinize by virtue of their positions of authority? I wonder why failing to accord this "respect" to certain individuals might garner the White House's displeasure. Senator Feinstein pointed out that other U.S. Attorneys are being forced to step down for reasons that are not at all clear to the public at large:

"...we have no idea why this is happening. The Attorney General could have legitimate reasons for asking for specific resignations, or this could be motivated by political concerns or worse, derailing on-going investigations. Again, we just don’t know."

Senators Feinstein (Ca.), Leahy (Vt.), and Pryor (Ark.) have introduced legislation to return Congressional oversight to the appointment of U.S. Attorneys; this oversight was bypassed under the Patriot Act.

There's more: "Something's Rotten in San Diego" >>