An unnamed American military lawyer, an Army major who has taken part in 49 "Combatant Status Review Panels" (the official name of the secret Gitmo tribunals used to determine whether a detainee is an "enemy combatant") has turned whistleblower. He joins 2 other whistleblowers, Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a 26-year veteran in U.S. military intelligence, "the first insider to publicly fault the proceedings," and Lt. Com. Matthew Diaz who "was sentenced to 6 months in prison and dismissed from the military after he sent the names of all 551 men at the prison to a human rights group." The unnamed lawyer "has described the detention of one prisoner, a hospital administrator from Sudan, as 'unconscionable.'" He will testify in December before the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether to shut down Gitmo. His testimony is "the most serious attack to date on the military panels." Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held for 558 detainees at Gitmo in 2004 and 2005. All but 38 detainees were determined to be "enemy combatants" who could be held indefinitely without charges. (No right of habeas corpus.) Detainees were not represented by a lawyer and had no access to evidence. The only witnesses they could call were other so-called "enemy combatants." (The Independent) If you remember, it came out last May that, in some instances, a review panel found a detainee NOT to be an enemy combatant, so another panel was assigned until they got the detainee labeled "enemy combatant." (See The Weekly Wonk, Do-Overs, 5/19/07)
 
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