TPM
There's an empty chair at Malcolm Nance's hearing before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on torture this morning. That chair was supposed to be occupied by Marine Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch. Earlier this year, Couch, a then a prosecutor, refused to bring charges against a 9/11-linked detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, after determining that the basis for the charges -- Slahi's confession -- were yielded by torture, as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year.
The subcommittee wanted to hear about Couch's experiences. But the Pentagon refused to let him testify. The Journal:
Asked last week to appear before the panel, Col. Couch says he informed his superiors and that none had any objection. Yesterday, however, he was advised by email that the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, "has determined that as a sitting judge and former prosecutor, it is improper for you to testify about matters still pending in the military court system, and you are not to appear before the Committee to testify tomorrow." Mr. Haynes is a Bush appointee who has overseen the legal aspects of the Pentagon's detention and interrogation policies since Sept. 11, 2001. The email was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
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