Judge bans U.S. general from Guantanamo trial role
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — For a second time, a military judge Thursday barred a U.S. general at the Pentagon from acting as a legal adviser in the trial of an accused terrorist at the Guantanamo war court.
Judge Stephen Henley also ordered a new top-level review of the charges against Mohammed Jawad, about 23, who is accused of attempted murder for allegedly throwing a grenade as a teen that wounded two U.S. soldiers and their translator in a bazaar in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann's aggressive advocacy of the trials by military commission — in the media and other public statements — "compromised the objectivity necessary to dispassionately and fairly evaluate the evidence and prepare the post-trial evaluation," Henley ruled.
Defense attorneys had argued that Hartmann had become so preoccupied with the prosecution's side of the war crimes court — and the Jawad case in particular — that he pressured prosecutors to charge him.
Henley ruled that while the case's prosecutors swore out the charges properly, Hartmann could not serve as a "neutral" adviser on the case.
"The judge found that in the interests of justice, General Hartmann is disqualified from further action in this case," said Air Force Maj. Gail Crawford, a military attorney serving as spokeswoman for the trials.
The ruling meant Pentagon officials would need to appoint a new legal adviser over the trial, one of 20 so far in the pipeline.
Hartmann, an Air Force reservist called to duty from a corporate attorney's job in Connecticut, still has oversight of the other 19 cases.
But it was unclear whether the second disqualification of the controversial figurehead of the beleaguered war court system would trigger more defense challenges.
Pentagon spokesmen did not respond to a request for comment from the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates or his acting general counsel, Daniel J. Dell'Orto.
The ruling echoed one in May by Navy Capt. Keith Allred, another judge, who banned Hartmann from oversight of the just completed trial of Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan.
Hartmann took charge of the system a year ago and has emerged a relentless, aggressive champion through frequent shuttles between the Washington, D.C., Beltway and this remote base.
