Gitmo Prosecutions May Be Impossible Because Evidence Is In Chaos, Says Ex-Prosecutor

A former military prosecutor said in a declaration filed in federal court yesterday that the system of handling evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay is so chaotic that it is impossible to prepare a fair and successful prosecution.

Darrel Vandeveld, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, filed the declaration in support of a petition seeking the release of Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who has been held at the military prison in Cuba for six years. Jawad was a juvenile when he was detained in Kabul in 2002 after a grenade attack that severely wounded two U.S. Special Forces soldiers and their interpreter.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Coinyer101]

they system is 'tainted'. just like everything else. way to go repubs.

[rogerze]

I've heard, for example, the argument that it should be military courts, and not federal judges, who should make decisions on these detainees. I actually agree with that.

-Obama

[jimdog1954]

What do we do in America when the police arrest a criminal and botch the collection of evidence, or violate the constitutional rights of the accused? We throw the case out of court and chew out the prosecutor for being a knucklehead. The reason we have the accused on foreign soil at Gitmo is so we can falsely claim that the US constitution does not apply in their cases. Horse cr@p! We need to close Gitmo and either bring the accused to America to face a fair trial, or let them go. When we Americans act with such disdain for our own principles, we have lost our identity as Americans and our enemies have destroyed us.

[speciallady2003]

Is it not American soil? It's a Naval base. I know Federal Courts have ruled that for this purpose it isn't, but in the case of births in other offshore bases it IS considered foreign soil. McCain is an example, he was born in a military installation in Panama and is considered to be born on American soil. There are many examples of refuge in embassies abroad to avoid criminal charges, this is an example of ducking responsibility not of soil.

[Y2KCockroach]

No, it is not American soil (we lease the territory that Guantanamo Bay sits on, not own it). And I would humbly suggest that your examples of McCain's birth abroad, and of the territorial integrity of the embassies do not really support that argument either. Firstly, the Immigration and Nationality Act specifies a category of citizenship to children born abroad of parents in military service. This category of citizenship is a nod to the fact that the territories that those parents serve in are not American soil (otherwise no need for the statutory category). Secondly, the embassies are considered U.S. territory by virtue of treaties; there is no such treaty in respect of Guantanamo Bay.

[provgrays]

If evidence cannot be handled responsibility, then every Gitmo prisoner is being held without just cause.

[InsideTheFrame]

WOO HOO another "Mission Accomplished" by bush and the neocons. How could they screw something like this up so badly? It just boggles the mind.

[OneTop]

Gosh what a surprise.

Locked these poor slobs up [forget whether they actually did anything or not] without any charges, counter to the Geneva convention, International Law and without any legal recourse. Then 6 years later ............. you forgot or cannot find any reason for what you did ?

What's that you say ....... The U.S. as the beacon of Freedom ..... yeah right.

[kfdan]

"A former military prosecutor said... that the system of handling evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay is so chaotic that it is impossible to prepare a fair and successful prosecution."

What evidence ... it is not just the chaotic situation in the evidence department ... it's the whole shebang! Gitmo and the inhuman torture procedures is a situation for which Bush and his cohorts can be prosecuted!

[odan]

What many people don't know is that under the rules agreed to by the WH and congress pertaining to the t errorists housed at GITMO is even if they are found innocent the pres. can continue to hold them as national security threats for as long as he sees fit.

[Stilts9]

Heckuva job, JAG.