Ralph Kohlmann - Ordered Peter Brownback's Replacement

Ordered Peter Brownback's Replacement

On May 29, 2008 an e-mail from Kohlmann announced that a new officer was appointed to replace Peter Brownback. The initial lack of explanation triggered commentators to question Brownback's firing. Captain Andre Kok, a spokesperson for the Office of Military Commissions, claimed there had been "a mutual decision between Col. Brownback and the Army that he revert to his retired status when his current active-duty orders expire in June."

Commenting on this issue, the American Civil Liberties Union pointed to Brownback's decision to wait until the Prosecution complied with his order to make public Khadr's detention records—which may have substantiated his claims his incriminating statements were the product of abuse. They wrote the Pentagon "is unwilling to let judges exercise independence if it means a ruling against the government."

In writing about Kohlmann's reassignment of the Khadr case, the Washington Post asked readers to:

"Imagine if, during the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Judge Lance Ito ordered the district attorney's office to hand over DNA samples and logs of O.J.'s stay in county jail after his arrest. Then imagine that the prosecutors refused to do so. And that, instead of being fined for contempt of court (or thrown in jail themselves), these same prosecutors somehow got their boss to get Ito tossed off the bench. And then the D.A.'s office worked behind the scenes to replace Ito with a more, shall we say, compliant judge."

Subsequently The Pentagon claimed that the decision that Brownback would resign was mutual. But Kohlmann issued a statement on June 2, 2008, that Brownback had been willing to continue to serve as a military judge. Brownback was a retired officer who had been recalled to active duty in 2004 to serve as the first judge on the first Military Commissions. Kohlmann said "My detailing of another judge was completely unrelated to any actions that Col. Brownback has taken in this or any other case. Any suggestion that Col. Brownback asked to return to retired status before the case of US v. Khadr was completed is also incorrect."

Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler, Omar Khadr's assigned military lawyer, noted that authorities had been advertising for new officers to volunteer to serve on the Military Commissions, and called the decision "odd to say the least". According to Carol J. Williams, writing in the Los Angeles Times Kuebler said:

"We need to investigate the matter further. Whatever the case, this seriously undermines whatever integrity these proceedings possessed before."