U.S. Marine Corps Reserves chief defense counsel on Pentagon tribunals

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Posted on Fri, Jan. 19,

Critics react to Pentagon tribunals

A Miami Herald roundup of verbatim reaction to the Pentagon's new manual for prosecuting suspected terrorists as alleged war criminals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba:

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• Colonel Dwight H. Sullivan, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, Chief Defense Counsel:

``The rules appear carefully crafted to ensure than an accused can be convicted -- and possibly executed -- based on nothing but a coerced confession.

'The rules would allow an accused to be executed based on nothing but hearsay. This is inconsistent with the approach recommended by Senator Lindsey Graham. Senator Graham, a veteran military lawyer, stated that although there may be a need to have additional exceptions to the hearsay rule, it would serve us well as a country to set down and come up with a hearsay rule that has exceptions for the needs of the war on terror, not just ignore the hearsay rule in general.' (statement, Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Aug. 2, 2006)

``The rules provide no protection against unreasonable searches and seizures -- even searches that would intrude into a person's body. Under the Manual, a defendant can have his body cavities forcibly searched, without his consent, and any evidence derived thereof may be admitted against him. A defendant could be subjected to risky surgery in an effort to try to obtain something that the prosecution wants to see, like a piece of shrapnel. A defendant has absolutely no right to object to such conduct under these rules and the authorities don't even need to obtain a search warrant from a judge.

'The rules' broad protections for classified information threaten to swallow everything. These rules are particularly scary coming in the wake of new Guantánamo classification guidelines that make even the prisoners' own name classified as `SECRET.'

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