Guantanamo prosecutor who quit had ‘grave misgivings’ about fairness – chicago tribune dot com
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Tribunal misgivings drive Gitmo prosecutor to quit.
WASHINGTON — Darrel Vandeveld was in despair. The hard-nosed lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve had lost faith in the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunals in which he was one of the prosecutors.
His work was top secret, making it impossible to talk to family or friends. So the devout Catholic — working away from home—contacted a priest via the Internet.
“I am beginning to have grave misgivings about what I am doing, and what we are doing as a country,” Vandeveld wrote in an August e-mail. “I no longer want to participate in the system, but I lack the courage to quit. I am married, with children, and not only will they suffer, I’ll lose a lot of friends.”
He even reached out for advice from his opposing counsel, a military defense lawyer.
“How do I get myself out of this office?” Vandeveld asked Air Force Maj. David Frakt, who was representing the young Afghan Vandeveld had been ordered to prosecute for an attack on U.S. soldiers — despite his doubts about whether Mohammed Jawad would get a fair trial.
Last month, Vandeveld resigned from active duty, becoming at least the fourth prosecutor to quit under protest. Their assertions raise fundamental questions about the fairness of the war crimes tribunals from the very people charged with implementing them, according to legal experts, human-rights observers and some current and former military officials.
In a declaration and subsequent testimony, Vandeveld said the U.S. government is not providing defense lawyers with the evidence that it has against their clients, including exculpatory information—material that is considered helpful to the defense.
Vandeveld testified that he went from being a “true believer to someone who felt truly deceived [by the tribunals].”
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Guantanamo prosecutor who quit had ‘grave misgivings’ about fairness — chicagotribune.com
