Guantanamo Bay Prosecutor Calls Bush Tribunals Fundamentally Unfair and Resigns His Post
jonathanturley
When the military tribunals were being created at Guantanamo Bay, some of us publicly stated that we would not take cases because the rules written by the Administration were fundamentally unfair and did not recognize core principles of due process. Since then, there have been a steady stream of prosecutors and defense lawyers in the military who have resigned in protest. The latest is Lt. Col. Darrel J. Vandeveld, who decided that he could no longer live with himself as a person or an attorney to participate in such a sham legal system.
Back in August, Vandeveld (who was once a supporter of the tribunals) began to voice long-held reservations, stating in one e-mail “I am beginning to have grave misgivings about what I am doing, and what we are doing as a country. . . .”
Last month, he felt that he had no moral choice: he resigned. It was a considerable act of courage that protected his integrity as a lawyer.
