christiefan915
Catalyst
This article is very revealing. More diehard bush supporters are pointing out abuses in the system at Guantanamo. The sooner we close that place, the better.
Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld had seen colleagues die in combat, commit suicide and suffer excruciating injuries.
When he was assigned to prosecute a Guantanamo detainee accused of wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter in Afghanistan with a grenade, the U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate was more than ready.
"He was hard-charging, aggressive, what I would call a 'true believer,' " said Maj. David J.R. Frakt, attorney for defendant Mohammed Jawad. His attitude toward the defense during Mr. Jawad's arraignment in April 2008 was "hostile, almost snarling," said Maj. Frakt.
"When Jawad took the witness stand, he attacked him, basically calling him a liar."
But by fall, Lt. Col. Vandeveld -- in civilian life, a Pennsylvania senior deputy attorney general from Erie -- had asked to be reassigned, potentially derailing his future in the military. In September, he would testify for the defense in the case.
The complete turnabout by a man committed to the military and to military justice came after months spent shuttling between the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Office of Military Commissions -- established in 2006 to prosecute terror suspects -- and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Hundreds of suspected Islamist militants detained in the Middle East have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, most for years without trial.
(Article continues)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09130/968880-84.stm
Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld had seen colleagues die in combat, commit suicide and suffer excruciating injuries.
When he was assigned to prosecute a Guantanamo detainee accused of wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter in Afghanistan with a grenade, the U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate was more than ready.
"He was hard-charging, aggressive, what I would call a 'true believer,' " said Maj. David J.R. Frakt, attorney for defendant Mohammed Jawad. His attitude toward the defense during Mr. Jawad's arraignment in April 2008 was "hostile, almost snarling," said Maj. Frakt.
"When Jawad took the witness stand, he attacked him, basically calling him a liar."
But by fall, Lt. Col. Vandeveld -- in civilian life, a Pennsylvania senior deputy attorney general from Erie -- had asked to be reassigned, potentially derailing his future in the military. In September, he would testify for the defense in the case.
The complete turnabout by a man committed to the military and to military justice came after months spent shuttling between the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Office of Military Commissions -- established in 2006 to prosecute terror suspects -- and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Hundreds of suspected Islamist militants detained in the Middle East have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, most for years without trial.
(Article continues)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09130/968880-84.stm
