Gitmo lawyer consulted priest on trials’ fairness

STRUGGLING with orders to prosecute a young detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Army Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld went online and consulted a priest for help with his concerns about the fairness of the military tribunals.

Vandeveld described a crisis of conscience over the prisoners’ treatment and the ethical handling of cases that led him to quit last month.

“I am beginning to have grave misgivings about what I am doing, and what we are doing as a country,” he wrote in the email. “I no longer want to participate in the system, but I lack the courage to quit. I am married, with four children, and not only will they suffer, I’ll lose a lot of friends.”