It’s Time for Brig. Gen. Hartmann to Go

Last October, Col. Morris Davis resigned as chief prosecutor of the military commissions, claiming that Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann had interfered with the prosecutor’s office, pressured him to use classified evidence — requiring sessions to be conducted behind closed doors — and encouraged the use of evidence obtained through waterboarding.  Col. Davis filed a formal complaint at the time, but the Pentagon sided with Hartmann instead.

I think the Pentagon may want to rethink which side it’s on:

A US general Wednesday accused another general of bullying and having a “spray and pray” approach to detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a US daily reported.

“Spray and pray. Charge everybody. Let’s go. Speed, speed, speed,” was the the method of Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, deputy prison camp commander Brigadier General Gregory Zanetti told the hearing, the Miami Herald said.

In a rare criticism of a fellow officer, Zanetti said Hartmann’s demeanor “as an attorney from a thousand miles away,” was “abusive, bullying and unprofessional . . . pretty much across the board.”

Zanetti was appearing as a defense witness at a pretrial hearing for Afghan national Mohammed Jawad, who was 16 or 17 at the time of his arrest, and is accused of wounding two US soldiers in a grenade attack in Kabul.

The defense is calling for the case to be dropped, arguing that Hartmann, who is the Pentagon-based legal advisor to the military official overseeing the tribunals, exerted “unlawful influence” on the Guantanamo hearings.

The tide is clearly turning against Hartmann’s efforts to ensure that the military commissions remain a parody of justice. The presiding judge recently barred Hartmann from participating in Jawad’s trial, citing his lack of objectivity, and he was barred from participating in Hamdan’s trial for similar reasons.

I think it’s time to find another post for the good General.