He said the evidence provided did not meet legal standard, and the members of the panels were strongly pressured by superiors to find that detainees should be classified as enemy combatants.
[3] He served as an intelligence officer during periods of both reserve and active duty, including mobilization in 1990 ("Operation Desert Storm") and twice again following the 9/11 attacks.
[1] Abraham served with the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC) from September 2004 through March 2005, both in fact gathering and as a panel member.
CBS quoted from an affidavit Abraham provided for a habeas corpus appeal on behalf of Fawzi al-Odah, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp:[1][3][4] He said What were purported to be specific statements of fact lacked even the most fundamental earmarks of objectively credible evidence.He criticized that the CSRTs allowed hearsay evidence, which is not admitted in a court of law.
[3] According to the Washington Post, Abraham felt compelled to make his criticisms public after having heard his former boss, Rear Admiral James M. McGarrah, describe the Tribunal process "fair".
Soon after Abraham submitted his affidavit to the Supreme Court, it changed its previous decision and decided to accept Boumediene v. Bush for the 2007-2008 docket.
Ultimately, his panel held its ground, and he was never asked to participate in another tribunal, he said.The Washington Post reports:[5] 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.
Chito Peppler, responded to the affidavit by claiming that the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatant:[1] ...procedures afford greater protection for wartime status determinations than any nation has ever before provided.Peppler also said:[1] Lt. Col. Abraham provides his opinion and perspective on the CSRT process.
[2]On October 5, 2007 the lawyers for Adel Hassan Hamad, whose case was consolidated under Boumediene v. Bush, filed an affidavit from a second officer who had served with OARDEC.