In an article entitled
Pentagon Lawyers Warn Against Evidence Limits the
New York Times is reporting that Army lawyers testified today in direct oposition to President Bush's proposed tribunal system for trying prisoners.
The Pentagon's top uniformed lawyers took issue Thursday with a key part of a White House plan to prosecute terrorism detainees, telling Congress that limiting the suspects' access to evidence could violate treaty obligations.
more. . .
Remember, these are not former military officials freed from the requirements of chain-of-command by their retirement. These are currently serving military officers including the
current, active Judge Advocate General of the Army, Major General Scott Black. Testifying, in public, against the policy proposed by the President.
Responding to a question posed by Duncan Hunter, Republican head of the House Armed Service Committee:
Hunter presented the military lawyers with various scenarios in which it might be necessary to withhold evidence from the accused if it would expose classified information. But the service's top lawyers said other alternatives must be explored -- or the case dropped.
''I believe the accused should see that evidence,'' said Maj. Gen. Scott Black, the Army's Judge Advocate General.
A key aspect of the Republican Bunglocracy to this point has been their ability to coopt or suppress dissent from within their ranks. We've seen this with the past silence from within the military and from the degredation of public figures such as Colin Powell and John McCain, forced to swallow their better instincts in support of the mad policies of the Maladministration.
I don't know how much, if any, pressure these lawyers may have been under to stick to the Bush script. I for one salute them for placing the law above politics and, possibly, above the advancement of their military careers.