WASHINGTON -- In a rebuke, a military judge banned a key Pentagon general from any role overseeing the Guantánamo war crimes trial of Osama bin Laden's driver, citing interference.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, ordered the Pentagon's General Counsel to assign a new official to oversee the trial in place of Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the Defense Department's legal adviser for military commissions.

Allred issued the 13-page ruling Friday little more than a week after lawyers for the driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 36, of Yemen, called witnesses to testify that during nearly a year as legal adviser Hartmann had pressured for swifter more numerous prosecutions at the commissions.

Hamdan's trial is presently slated to open June 2 as the first full U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II. Whether that schedules still holds is uncertain.

Allred wrote that he found ''substantial doubts'' about Hartmann's independence from Hamdan's prosecutors, in part ''based on the length and intensity of the Legal Adviser's involvement with the prosecution in general, as well the impact of his actions'' in Hamdan's case.

The driver, the Navy captain wrote, should be assured "fair and objective advice to which he is entitled during the balance of this case.''

Hamdan's lawyers had asked the judge to go further, and dismiss the case. Allred did not.

''It's a pretty powerful repudiation of the role that he [Hartmann] sought to play in the last 10 months,'' said Hamdan defense attorney Andrea Prasow, a civilian member of the team on the Pentagon payroll.

Hartmann had succeeded a more soft-spoken, low-key legal adviser who had commented sparingly to the public in the role of an adviser who analyzed cases for senior leadership.

In contrast, Hartmann was a more aggressive player. During hearings at Guantánamo, he would frequently ring the base from his Pentagon perch, offering a steady steam of commentary and instructions to prosecutors, defense lawyers, aides, clerks and, in some instances, reporters.

No detail seemed too small or too large -- from flight schedules and who would sleep in tents versus trailers to selection of which of the 270 or so detainees would face trial as war criminals.

In his ruling, Allred also ordered the Defense Department's General Counsel, currently Daniel J. Dell'Orto, to make sure that Hamdan's trial prosecutors suffer no ''adverse consequence'' or "professional embarrassment.''

Allred had received written testimony that the Hamdan prosecutors had complained, through Pentagon channels, about Hartmann's meddling.

The timing of Allred's decision is significant: It comes just weeks after Hartmann sent to the Pentagon's war court Convening Authority his recommendation on how to proceed with a complex death-penalty prosecution of six alleged al Qaeda conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Chief among the accused is reputed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

In light of Allred's ruling, military defense attorneys predicted more challenges of the independence of the military commissions.

Allred's ruling noted that he was ''troubled'' by testimony indicating that Hartmann pick and chose among cases ''because of political factors'' including ``whether they would capture the imagination of the American people, be sexy or involve blood on the hands of the accused.''

Such reasoning, he said, "suggests that factors other than those pertaining to the merits of the case were at play.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@