Guantanamo general faces Pentagon investigation

Even as he nears the final weeks of his term, President Bush is facing more trouble over the handling of prisoners and the war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo.

The Los Angeles Times is fronting a story Saturday by Josh Meyer saying that the Air Force general running the tribunals is facing two investigations into his conduct.

The most serious: an examination into whether he abused his power and "improperly influenced the prosecutions of enemy combatants."

Meyer is reporting that military officials said the internal Air Force investigation of Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann was launched "only after a preliminary inquiry found sufficient grounds to move forward."

After a major setback by the Supreme Court last June, the investigation raises anew questions about the troubled effort to prosecute detainees picked up in Afghanistan and other distant fields in the campaign against terrorism.

Among the allegations against Hartmann that are being reviewed by the Air Force: that he improperly bullied prosecutors, logistics officials and others at Gitmo, leading to cases going to trial before they were ready, and one prosecution in which the charges were unwarranted.

There are also assertions that he used coerced evidence despite objections from prosecutors.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Heesoon Yim / Associated Press