John Carr (military lawyer)

Major John Carr is an officer and judge advocate in the United States Air Force.

Then-Captain Carr and fellow Air Force judge advocates Major Robert Preston and Captain Carrie Wolf were among the military lawyers assigned to prosecute the suspected terrorists imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Carr, Preston and Wolf later requested reassignments because they believed the proceedings were designed to ensure no acquittals.

On August 1, 2005, the Australian newspaper, "The Age", published an article based on leaked memos. Quoted were comments from Carr's memos: [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1426797.htm]

:"When I volunteered to assist with this process and was assigned to this office, I expected there would at least be a minimal effort to establish a fair process and diligently prepare cases against significant accused."

:"Instead, I find a half-hearted and disorganised effort by a skeleton group of relatively inexperienced attorneys to prosecute fairly low-level accused in a process that appears to be rigged."

:"You have repeatedly said to the office that the military panel will be handpicked and will not acquit these detainees and that we only needed to worry about building a record for the review panel."

Although Brigadier General Thomas Hemingway, a legal advisor to the Office of Military Commissions, tried to dismiss the memos as based on simple misunderstandings, an official investigation was conducted. The Chief Prosecutor to whom the memos were addressed, Colonel Fred Borch, subsequently resigned from the military.

ee also

*Robert Preston
*Carrie Wolf
*Morris Davis
*Fred Borch
*Stuart Couch
*Darrel Vandeveld

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1426797.htm Leaked emails claim Guantanamo trials rigged] , The Age, August 1, 2005
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1428749.htm Third prosecutor critical of Guantanamo trials] , The Age, August 3, 2005
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military30jun30,0,4703996.story Lawyers fought to abide by war rules] , "LA Times", June 30. 2006
* [http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060712-115137-3892r Lawyers criticize Bush trials plan] "UPI", July 13, 2006