David Iglesias

Fired US Attorney To Prosecute Gitmo Cases

Zachary Roth | January 21, 2009, 11:25AM

David Iglesias -- the former US Attorney who was fired in 2006 for failing to prosecute politically motivated cases as aggressively as the Bush administration and its allies wanted -- has a new job.

Iglesias, a member of the US Naval Reserve JAG corps, has been reactivated as part of a special prosecution team for Guantanamo detainees, he told a New Mexico news station this morning.

"One hundred percent of what I'm doing is prosecuting terrorist cases out of Guantanamo," he said.

Igleisas explained that he had already begun the work, having travelled to the facility once, and expecting to go back.

"It's the most significant set of orders I've had in my 24 years of navy service," he added. "The level of detail that I'm looking into some of these terrorist groups, it just takes my breath away."

And he signaled what seemed to be a change in tone from the Bush years. "We want to make sure that those terrorists that did commit acts will be brought to justice -- and those that did not will be released."

Asked about the unlikelihood of being named to a frontline job in the war on terror, after being fired as a US Attorney for alienating the Bush administration, Iglesias allowed: "It's been very ironic."

Here's the video:

We've got our own call in to Iglesias...

JAG

Admin Drops Bid to Control JAGs

Paul Kiel | December 19, 2007, 5:30PM

From Charlie Savage at The Boston Globe:

The Bush administration is dropping a plan to take control over the promotions of military lawyers, following an outpouring of alarm over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly objected to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.

Under the proposal, first reported by the Globe on Saturday, politically appointed lawyers in the Pentagon would have gained the power to veto the appointment or promotion of any member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal officers group.

Update: The bad link has been fixed.

JAG

NYT: JAGs Caught Between White House, Duty

Justin Rood | September 15, 2006, 11:35PM

The New York Times brings more details to light of the meeting between the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, and top military lawyers:

[A]t the meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Haynes sought to enlist the lawyers on the administration’s side by asking whether any would object to signing a letter lending their support to aspects of the White House proposal over which they had voiced little concern.

The lawyers agreed, but only after hours of negotiating over specific words, so that they would not appear to be wholly endorsing the plan.

What followed was a scuffle that left at least some of the military lawyers embittered and stoked old tensions at the Pentagon between civilian leaders and uniformed military officers, who under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have often found themselves privately at odds.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, tells a slightly different story:

Officials who attended the meeting in question, in the office of Pentagon general counsel William J. Haynes II on Wednesday, said there was no pressure on the military lawyers to produce the letter, describing a robust discussion about how to word its contents. The lawyers initially drafted a letter saying they "support" the two sections but later settled on saying they "do not object" to them.

JAG

Senate Dems Call for Probe of WH Coercion

Justin Rood | September 15, 2006, 2:06PM

We've been following the growing concern among senior senators that the White House pressured top military lawyers to weaken their opposition to the administration's torture policy.

Now, Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) are asking for an investigation.

Text of the letter after the jump.

Update: Here's an image of the letter.

Read more »

JAG

WPost: Senator Calls for Hearing on Arm-Twisting of JAGs over Torture Bill

Justin Rood | September 15, 2006, 12:02AM

The Washington Post confirms that the Pentagon general counsel spent several hours "cajoling" top military lawyers into weakening their opposition to a White House-backed detainee treatment proposal -- and at least one senator wants to hold a hearing on the incident:

[T]he [Judge Advocates General's] letter was signed only after an extraordinary round of negotiations Wednesday between the judge advocates and William J. Haynes II, the Defense Department's general counsel, according to Republican opponents of Bush's proposal. The military lawyers refused to sign a letter of endorsement. But after hours of cajoling, they assented to write that they "do not object," according to three Senate GOP sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were divulging private negotiations.

[Sen. Lindsey] Graham [R-SC], a former Air Force judge advocate general, promised to summon the lawyers to a committee hearing and to ask for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the letter.

JAG

Warner: Senators "Need to Explore" JAG Controversy

Justin Rood | September 14, 2006, 11:35PM

Comments by Sen. John Warner (R-VA) this afternoon fuel speculation over whether and how the Bush administration pressured JAGs to reverse position on torture, on the eve of a crucial vote -- and what his panel intends to do about it.

The Armed Services Committee chairman made the statements after his panel passed his bill to constrain the detention, interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects in U.S. custody, a blow to the White House's agenda. Emphasis added:

QUESTION: A lot of what you put together is based on testimony by and large from the JAG.

WARNER: Yes.

QUESTION: A letter was sent, though, that would seem to be counter to your position.

WARNER: On its face, that is true, but there are further aspects to that letter that the committee needs to explore, and we will do so.

QUESTION: Can you clarify what you mean by that...

WARNER: Beg your pardon?

QUESTION: Can you clarify what you mean by that; "further aspects of the letter that you want to explore"?

WARNER: No. It's just that a senator has information that needs to be brought to the attention of the committee as it reviews the letter from the JAG.

QUESTION: What is that information?

WARNER: Beg your pardon?

QUESTION: What is that information?

WARNER: Until I get it, I can't explain it.

JAG

Did Pentagon Counsel Twist Arms to Aid White House Torture Bill?

Justin Rood | September 14, 2006, 6:35PM

More details emerge about the allegations that the White House pressured top military lawyers to drop their opposition to its favored torture legislation.

It's believed that William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon counsel who wrote the department's infamous 2002 policies endorsing physical and mental duress during interrogation of terror detainees, was the man who applied pressure to top JAGs of the four branches to sign away their disagreements in letters to key senators.

"Jim Haynes, who's the counsel at the Pentagon, convened this meeting and got these guys to write this letter and something they told people they didn't agree with," an unidentified reporter told White House spokesman Tony Snow in this afternoon's briefing.

"It's not the case," Snow replied. "They were asked to write a letter that reflected their views and they edited and signed the letter."

According to one Hill source, the allegation that Haynes pressured the JAGs came up in the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting today, with at least one senator suggesting a hearing devoted to the incident.

Haynes has a bad history with the JAGs -- and with the Senate.

Read more »

JAG

Did White House Coerce Military Lawyers?

Paul Kiel | September 14, 2006, 4:03PM

In the battle over torture and detainee treatment, did the White House engage in some "coercive techniques" of its own -- against top military justice officials?

Earlier, Justin noted the White House's desperation to pass a bill codifying the treatment of detainees.

A few days ago, however, the Pentagon's top military justice officials made that tougher -- by testifying as a group against the legislation the White House has been pushing for.

But this morning, the White House released a terse, two-paragraph letter from the JAG Corps leaders stating qualified support for the White House's legislation. But now some are suggesting that joint statement was coerced.

During Tony Snow's press conference today, Bret Baier of Fox News, referring to an earlier statement by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), asked Snow whether the White House, over the course of a five hour closed door meeting, tried to force officers from the Judge Advocate General Corps to sign a prepared statement supporting the White House's legislation. As we've noted before, JAGs have consistently argued that defendants must be able to see the evidence used against them; and the White House has found them a troublesome opponent.

Here's the clip:

Update: We've added the JAGs' letter to our document collection.