By GottaLaff
As you know, I am passionate about the unfair treatment-- legal, physical, and mental-- of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. I've been chronicling the story of Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, who is doing his best to free his client Fayiz al-Kandari, or at least get him his day in court.
The story goes beyond that of torture and other brutal mistreatment of prisoners. It extends to the brutal mistreatment of our legal system and ethics.
Take a good look at former Gitmo prosecutor... yes, a prosecutor... echoing many of the same horrendous issues as Barry has. The video is from January 2009:
Rachel talks to former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor about why he quit and the sorry state of the evidence against the prisoners held there.I've previously posted about Darrel Vandeveld, most recently here, and also here, here, and here.
His Wiki, in part, to catch you up (and you can follow my links above):
Time to speak up, folks. This is not justice, and at least in this regard, this is no longer the United States we thought we knew.Darrel Vandeveld (1961 (age 47–48)) is an American lawyer and an officer in the United States Army Reserve.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Vandeveld is notable for asking to resign from his appointment as a Prosecutor before a Guantanamo military commission. [7]
According to the New York Times, officials confirmed on September 24, 2008 that Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld resigned over an ethical issue.[1] Vandeveld is the seventh Prosecutor to resign from serving as a Guantanamo prosecutor.[citation needed]
Vandeveld was serving as a Prosecutor in the case of Mohammed Jawad, a Pakistani youth who was charged with participating in a grenade attack in a bazaar in Afghanistan where two American GIs and their interpreter were injured.[1] Colonel Stephen Henley had been growing impatient with the Prosecution, and had given them a deadline to share evidence they had withheld from Major David J. R. Frakt which he suspected could prove exculpatory.[citation needed]
The BBC reports that the withheld evidence includes the confessions of two men who said they were the ones who actually made the attack.[4]
Vandeveld's resignation was filed within the Military Commission system.[1] The New York Times reported he had not commented publicly about his resignation. Carol Rosenberg, of the Miami Herald, quoted from Vandeveld's four page resignation memo[2]:
- “In my view evidence we have an obligation as prosecutors and officers of the court has not been made available to the defense.”
- “it seems plausible to me that Jawad may have been drugged before the alleged attack.”
Frakt claimed that Vandeveld had recommended a plea bargain and an early release for Jawad, who was a youth when the event took place, and who had been subjected to coercive "enhanced interrogation techniques", including prolonged sleep deprivation in Guantanamo's frequent flyer program.[1]
Frakt commented that Vandeveld: “could no longer continue to serve ethically as a prosecutor.”[1]
.jpg)