Marine colonel defends dismissal of war court judge

This is from the Miami Herald.
This story keeps changing but in the end it is clear that Brownback was not doing his job in a way that his superiors approved and they removed him as a result. Harper keeps ignoring this travesty of justice. The opposition needs to hound him on this rather than Berníer's bumbling performance. The Bernier affair is more to the media's liking. Guantanamo isn't sexy.

Posted on Mon, Jun. 02, 2008
Marine colonel defends dismissal of war court judge
By CAROL ROSENBERG
In an extraordinary defense of a military commissions decision, the chief of the Guantánamo court on Monday 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.
Recently, he threatened to suspend the Khadr trial, effectively refusing to seat a jury of military officers, over the prison camp's refusal to release some of Khadr's detention records.
Defense lawyers last week notified the media that there was a new trial judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, in a skeptical statement. It noted that Brownback had complained in open court that he had been ''badgered and beaten and bruised'' by the trial prosecutor, Marine Maj. Jeffrey Groharing, to set a court date, even before all discovery evidence was complete.
Monday, Kohlmann said that he chose to replace Brownback before pre-trial arguments on what evidence could be brought to trial because the Army had independently elected not to extend Brownback beyond a June 29 retirement date for ``manpower management considerations unrelated to the Military Commissions process.''
He did not elaborate, and commissions' spokesmen did not respond to a question on what ''manpower management considerations'' might mean.
Notably, however, Kohlmann's 704-word statement swatted aside suggestions that Brownback's rulings had become an obstacle to a speedy trial.
''Any suggestion that my detailing of another military judge was driven by or prompted by any decisions or rulings made by Colonel Brownback is incorrect,'' the Marine colonel wrote. ``Any suggestion that Colonel Brownback asked to return to retired status before the case of U.S. v Khadr was completed was also incorrect.''
Kohlmann also noted that he was providing the unusual explanation of the inner workings to the still evolving war court because it ``has generated discussion about the independence of the judiciary.''
He also appeared to contradict a 72-word statement issued by a press officer with the Defense Department's Military Commissions unit, after the close of business on Friday, that Brownback's return to retirement in the midst of the Khadr case was ``a mutual decision between Col. Brownback and the Army.''
Khadr's Pentagon defense attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, slammed the explanation as inadequate.
'That `manpower management considerations' would have caused the Pentagon to retire Brownback in the middle of one of the most high-profile military commissions cases to date is odd to say the least,'' Kuebler said.
The statement was particularly extraordinary not only for its length, but because it comes just days before the Pentagon airlifts dozens of U.S. and international media to Guantánamo, to see the arraignment of five alleged co-conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
As chief military commissions judge, Kohlmann has assigned himself to preside at the trial. The Pentagon prosecutor proposes to seat the U.S. military jury on Sept. 15, ensuring the complex conspiracy case involving classified information be held at the height of the presidential campaign season.
Defense lawyers had unsuccessfully sought to delay Thursday's arraignment -- the first-ever appearances of the five men who had been held for years in secret CIA and military custody.
They argued that Top Secret work space was still under construction and the accused had only recently begun meeting with Pentagon appointed defense counsel.
Moreover, two military defense attorneys have yet to get security clearances to meet their clients, as have several civilian attorneys provided as death penalty defense experts by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Kohlmann declined the delay, saying a swift arraignment was in the ``interests of justice in this case.''
Logistic and legal issues will be addressed later, he said.
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