Gitmo witness speaks of Pentagon pressure

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 29 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Defense Department prosecutor testified during a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hearing he felt political pressure to get convictions.

Air Force Col. Morris Davis, testifying for a terrorism suspect Monday at the U.S. base, said he felt undue pressure to push through cases so the Bush administration could claim the justice system worked before the election, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Morris also testified he thought the military justice system was inappropriately influenced by senior Pentagon officials.

His testimony -- previously denied by the Pentagon -- as a witness for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged driver for Osama bin Laden, came as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 violated the Constitution by barring any Guantanamo Bay prisoners from civilian judicial review of their detention.

Davis testified top Pentagon officials said charging some of the detainees before 2008 elections could have "strategic political value." He said Defense Department general counsel William Haynes II became upset when someone suggested some defendants could be acquitted.

"He said, 'We can't have acquittals,'" Davis testified. " 'We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions.' "