Army Blamed for Gitmo Judge's Removal

[unhappycamper]

Army Blamed for Gitmo Judge's Removal
June 03, 2008
Miami Herald

WASHINGTON - In an extraordinary defense of a military commissions decision, the chief of the Guantanamo court on June 2 blamed Army bureaucracy for the need to replace a judge at the trial of Canadian captive Omar Khadr -- not pressure to proceed by Pentagon prosecutors.

But Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann added that, contrary to an earlier Defense Department announcement, Army Col. Peter E. Brownback III did not voluntarily retire from active-duty status and had sought to see the trial to completion.

Khadr, now 21, is accused of the July 2002 grenade killing of a U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan. He was 15. Brownback, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army, was the longest serving commissions judge, until he was relieved last week.

Kohlman's abrupt replacement of the judge without explanation stirred controversy at a time when defense lawyers are accusing the Pentagon of rushing cases to trial at the height of the presidential campaign season.

Brownback has emerged as a maverick at the remote war court in southeast Cuba. Last year, he dismissed the murder and terror charges against Khadr on a technicality, only to see an appeals panel reinstate them.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-blamed-for-gitmo-judges-removal.html

[atreides1]

1. Not to Offend Anyone

But I tend to think that Col. Kohlman is lying! Let's face it the Pentagon has been playing CYA since Haditha, they're playing CYA with the incident in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of 19 civilians, and now Col. Kohlman is playing CYA with the firing of Col. Brownback.

Remember this is just an opinion.