A Prosecutor Blocked from Discussing Torture

In this space in April, I reported on the case of Marine Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, a pilot and veteran prosecutor assigned to prosecute a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay believed to be con-nected to the 9/11 attack.
After nine months of preparation, the Wall Street Journal reported, Col. Couch declined to prosecute Mohamedou Ould Slahi on the grounds his confession came as the result of torture and was inadmissible under both U.S. and International law.
Upon leaving that post. Col Couch received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a ci-tation that referred to his “moral courage.”
Col. Couch was back in the news last week. As part of the debate on waterboarding, he was slated to testify before Congress about techniques employed by U.S. interrogators.
His superiors had had no objection to his testifying, but the Pentagon general counsel told him not to appear.
Col. Couch is now a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.
Last week, he received the Minister of Justice Award given annually to a prosecutor by the American Bar Association.
It is Couch’s belief that “...human beings are created in the image of God and as a result we owe them a certain amount of dignity.”
It would have been good for the Congress and the nation to hear his views. What was the Bush administration afraid of?