Waterboarding Evidence Could Be Used at Guantanamo Trials
The top legal adviser who oversees Guantanamo prosecutors told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee yesterday that evidence obtained by waterboarding could be used at detainees’ trials if judges agree it is reliable.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann said the decision on whether to admit evidence obtained by the simulated drowning technique will be made by the military judges hearing the cases, the Washington Post reports.
“If the evidence is reliable and probative, and the judge concludes that it is in the best interest of justice to introduce that evidence, ma’am, those are the rules we will follow,” he said in response to questions by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Waterboarding was used in a handful of cases out of the 80 or 90 that will be tried at Guantanamo Bay, acording to Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor there. In recent interviews with the Post, his views conflicted with those of Hartmann.
Morris said he believed evidence obtained by waterboarding to be unreliable, the Post story says. Davis resigned in October, telling the Wall Street Journal he quit because of political meddling in the prosecutions.
“In my opinion, evidence derived by waterboarding is not reliable, and I took it off the table,” Davis said.
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