Stephen Abraham

Stephen Abraham is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Army Reserve.He is notable because he is the first officer who served with the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants to publicly criticize the operations of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals.cite news
url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/23/world/main2970288_page2.shtml
title=Gitmo Panelist Slams Hearing Process: Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham Is First Member Of Military Panel To Challenge Guantanamo Bay Hearings
date=June 23,, 2007
publisher=CBS
accessdate=2007-06-23] His affidavit was key to the United States Supreme Court decision to hear petitions from Guantanamo detainees regarding their detention, and the subsequent decision (Boumediene v. Bush, 2008) that Quantanamo detainees have Habeas rights.

Civilian career

Abraham currently works for the law firm of Fink & Abraham in Newport Beach, California.

Military career

Abraham was commissioned in 1981.cite web
url=http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/Al%20Odah%20reply%206-22-07.pdf
title=Declaration of Stephen Abraham, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve, June 14th, 2007
publisher=United States Supreme Court
date=June 14 2007
accessdate=2007-06-25]

According to the "Boston Globe" Abraham's reserve and active duty, since 1982, has been in intelligence.

As of June 23, 2007, he is a Lieutenant Colonel.He served with OARDEC from September 2004 through March 2005. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals of the 558 captives then present at Guantanamo lasted from August 2004 through January 2005, and their confirmation by then Secretary of the Navy Gordon England was finished in March 2005.

Abraham's affidavit

"CBS" quoted from an affidavit Abraham provided for a habeas corpus appeal on behalf of Fawzi al-Odah:cite news
author=Mike Rosen-Molina
url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/06/guantanamo-tribunal-officer-says-csrts.php
title=Guantanamo tribunal officer says CSRTs pressured on 'enemy combatant' rulings
publisher=The Jurist
date=Friday, June 22, 2007
accessdate=2007-06-25] quotation|"What were purported to be specific statements of fact lacked even the most fundamental earmarks of objectively credible evidence."

According to the "Washington Post" Abraham felt compelled to come forward after hearing his former boss, Rear Admiral James M. McGarrah call the Tribunal process "fair".cite news
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202230.html
title=An Ex-Member Calls Detainee Panels Unfair: Lawyer Tells of Flawed 'Combatant' Rulings
author=Carol D. Leonnig, Josh White
publisher=Washington Post
date=Saturday, June 23, 2007
accessdate=2007-06-24]

According to the "Boston Globe" Fawzi al-Odah's lawyers first contacted Abraham after his sister had attended a presentation they had made, and volunteered the information that her brother had been one of the Tribunals officers.The Department of Defense keeps the Tribunal officer's identity a secret.

During a telephone interview Abraham defended making the affidavit:quotation
*"I pointed out nothing less than facts, facts that can and should be fixed."

*"I take very seriously my responsibility, my duties as a citizen."

The "Washington Post" reported that Abraham had compared the hearsay evidence the Guantanamo captives faced to "a game of telephone".

Paraphrasing Abraham the "Associated Press" reported: quotation
Abraham was asked to serve on one of the panels, and he said its members felt strong pressure to find against the detainee, saying there was "intensive scrutiny" when they declared a prisoner not to be an enemy combatant. When his panel decided the detainee wasn't an "enemy combatant," they were ordered to reconvene to hear more evidence, he said.

Ultimately, his panel held its ground, and he was never asked to participate in another tribunal, he said.

The "Washington Post" reports:quotation
He said he and two fellow panel members were closely questioned by McGarrah and his deputy after they decided that there was not enough evidence to conclude that a prisoner was an enemy fighter, and were then ordered to hold an expanded hearing to reconsider their conclusion.

The "Boston Globe" reports that more senior OARDEC officials met with the Tribunal members to determine "what went wrong" with the case, after they declined to confirm the captive's "enemy combatant" status during their second, extraordinary Tribunal session.cite news
title=Officer criticizes military tribunals: Affidavit cites problems at Guantanamo Bay
author=Farah Stockman
publisher=Boston Globe
date=June 23, 2007
url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/23/officer_criticizes_military_tribunals/
accessdate=2007-06-24]

David Cynamon, one of al-Odah's lawyers praised Abraham's courage in making the affidavit, but expressed fears that it was "career suicide".

Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, responded to the affidavit by claiming that the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatant: quotation|"...procedures afford greater protection for wartime status determinations than any nation has ever before provided."

Peppler also responded: quotation
"Lt. Col. Abraham provides his opinion and perspective on the CSRT process. We disagree with his characterizations. Lt. Col. Abraham was not in a position to have a complete view of the CSRT process."

The "Washington Post" quotes officials who asked for anonymity who claimed Abraham never raised his concerns with McGarrah, a fact Abraham disputes.

According to the "Boston Globe", after Abraham sat on a Tribunal he was assigned to serve as a liaison officer with the JTF-GTMO teams who were compiling the allegations against the captives for the Tribunals.They report that Abraham charactized the JTF-GTMO teams he worked with as: quotation|"...relatively junior officers with little training or experience in matters relating to the collection, processing, analyzing and/or dissemination of intelligence material."

A second OARDEC officer comes forward

On Friday October 5 2007 the lawyers for Adel Hassan Hamad filed an affidavit from a second officer who had served with OARDEC.cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6975988,00.html
title=Second Army Officer Faults Gitmo Panels
publisher=The Guardian
author=Ben Fox
date=Saturday October 6 2007
accessessdate=2007-10-08] Like Abraham this second officer, whose name was redacted, was also a reservist. Like Abraham he was a lawyer, in civilian life.He wrote: ``"training was minimal" -and- ``"the process was not well defined"."

Abraham, was only allowed to sit on one Tribunal. The second officer sat on 49 Tribunals.

See also

* Colonel Sharon D. Allen

References

External links

*cite news
author=Andrew C. McCarthy,
url=http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YTBjYzA0ZDYxYmJlN2RhYmZiYmFlYTUwY2YwM2Q4YmE=
title=The Profession v. Gitmo: Lawyers, military or civilian, see war as just another legal case] ,
publisher=National Review Online
date=June 25, 2007
*cite news
url=http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003521.php
title=Former Tribunal Head: No Problems With How We Classify 'Enemy Combatants'
author=Spencer Ackerman
date=June 25, 2007
publisher=The Muckracker|
*cite news
url=http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN49062707.htm
date=June 26, 2007
title=America's cancer: Gitmo corrodes U.S. interests and image
publisher=Daytona Beach News Journal
accessdate=2007-06-28
*cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/us/23gitmo.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all
author=William Glaberson
publisher=New York Times
date=July 23, 2007
title=Unlikely Adversary Arises to Criticize Detainee Hearings
accessdate=2007-07-29