The chief judge of the military commissions trying “war on terror” detainees denied on Monday that he had replaced a military judge because of decisions he had made in the case of a Canadian detainee.
Marine Corps Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, the chief judge, said US Army Colonel Peter Brownback was replaced in the case of Omar Khadr because the army had decided not to extend the judge’s active duty status beyond June 29.
“The change of military judge in US vs Khadr was made by me solely because Colonel Brownback would not be on active duty to try the case to completion,” Kohlmann said in a statement.
“My detailing of another judge was completely unrelated to any actions that Colonel Brownback has taken in this or any other case,” he said.
Khadr’s military defense lawyer, Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler, said Kolhmann’s explanation was “odd to say the least.”
He said Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England had declared the military commissions a “national priority” and called on navy judge advocates to volunteer for them.
“Moreover, Colonel Kohlmann’s e-mail statement fails to indicate why it was necessary to relieve Colonel Brownback now, rather than allowing him rule on outstanding disclosure and other legal issues, currently set to be argued at a Guantanamo Bay hearing this month,” Kuebler said.
Kuebler said last week that Kohlmann’s action was “disturbing” because it came amid a struggle in which Brownback threatened to delay trial until the prosecution produced evidence demanded by the defense.
Kohlmann gave no explanation when he informed lawyers last Thursday in a brief e-mail that he had detailed army Colonel Patrick Parrish to replace Brownback.
In Monday’s statement, Kohlmann said he had decided “a short comment” was in order because Brownback’s removal had “generated discussion about the independence of the judiciary.”
Kohlmann said he asked the army late last year to extend Brownback in active duty for another year, but in February the army decided against it, which meant that Brownback would be given retired status on June 29.
He said he and Brownback had had a full discussion about when the best time would be to hand over the case to another judge, if it became clear that it would not be resolved before June 29.
“We ultimately determined that the best time to make the change would be after completion of what are referred to as the ‘law motions,’ but before litigation of what are referred to as the ‘evidentiary motions,’” he said. “That point was reached in late May 2008, after Colonel Brownback had issued his ruling on the last of the pending law motions, and the trial start date had been continued such that the trial would not be completed before 29 June 2008.”
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion