The Pentagon reviewed its options Monday following a military judge's ruling that raised questions about the impartiality of the first war crimes trial against an Al-Qaeda suspect.
Navy Captain Keith Allred, the military judge in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, on Friday disqualified the Pentagon's legal adviser for the military commissions from further participation in the Hamdan case, which is supposed to go to trial June 2.
Allred found that the legal adviser, Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, pressed for war crimes prosecutions based on "political factors such as whether they would capture the imagination of the American people, be sexy, or involve blood on the hands of the accused."
The general also attempted to direct prosecutors to use evidence at trial that the chief prosecutor "considered tainted and unreliable, or perhaps obtained as a result of torture or coercion," Allred said.
"The commission is not persuaded, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the legal advisor to the convening authority retains the required independence from the prosecution function to provide fair and objective legal advice to the convening authority," Allred said in his 13-page ruling.
The convening authority, Susan Crawford, is responsible for overseeing the the military commissions.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department has not decided whether to replace Hartmann.
"We're still in the process of reviewing the judge's decision on that," he said.
The Defense Department could appeal the ruling to the Court of Military Commission Review.
It could also accept the decision as it stands, removing Hartmann only from the Hamdan case. But it would almost certainly be challenged on the same grounds in every other war crimes case.
Or, it could cut its losses by replacing Hartmann with another officer.
