Former Gitmo Prosecutor Interview and Torture Derived Evidence at Military Commission Hearings

I recommend the CBC interview with former Military Commissions Chief Prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis to anyone interested in military commissions. You can find it here, but need Real PlayerTM to listen. The interview veers off topic at about minute 8, talking about DoD General Counsel Haynes appointment, but comes quickly back and is otherwise good stuff. He discusses lots of core MilJus concepts and their application to the Commission process, I'll let you decide whether he is correct in their application.

As noted on other blogs, Colonel Morris has been prohibited from testifying before Congress regarding his stint as Chief Prosecutor . . . however, apparently Canadian radio is OK. Interestingly, on the very same day that Col. Davis was prohibited from testifying, the new Chief Prosecutor announced that evidence obtained through torture is NOT off limits for Guantanamo trials, something Col. Davis strictly prohibited his counsel from using. WaPo coverage here. The story reported,

Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, who oversees the prosecutors who will try the detainees at military commissions, said that while "torture" is illegal, he cannot say whether waterboarding violates the law. Nor would he say that such evidence would be barred at trial.

"If the evidence is reliable and probative, and the judge concludes that it is in the best interest of justice to introduce that evidence, ma'am, those are the rules we will follow," Hartmann said in response to questions from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing.