Ex-Gitmo Commandant General Miller Ordered to Testify - Rumsfeld skates

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ABU_GHRAIB_DOG_HANDLER?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A military judge Tuesday ordered an Army general who commanded the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to testify at the court martial of a dog handler in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

The judge, Marine Lt. Col. Paul McConnell, agreed to allow attorneys to question Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller during the trial of Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, who is accused of using his dog to abuse inmates at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

Miller would become the highest-ranking military officer to testify in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Early this year, Miller said he was refusing to answer questions, but he is prepared to testify now, Cardona's lawyer said.

McConnell rejected a request from Cardona's lawyers to summon Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to testify at the trial.

Miller was sent to Abu Ghraib by Rumsfeld in late summer of 2003 as the Iraqi insurgency began to gain momentum. Cardona's lawyers say the general has valuable testimony about the interrogation techniques that led to prisoner abuse.

[EFerrari]

1. Can a military judge order a civilian to testify?

I don't think so? And if not, maybe this is another reason BushCo prefers using military courts.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. UCMJ

Drawn right from Hammurabi's Code.

Scariest bunch of rules under which I ever worked. And I was representing, in court-martial proceedings, a Nazi enlistee who had deserted and gone to Guyana to trap snakes - where he also married a Jewish girl. He wasn't a very good Nazi.

The only client I ever hit. With my fist.

Where were we?

Oh, right. Coit Tower. Bring a keg.