Stuart Couch

Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Background
Couch had a friend, from his Marine Corps service, Michael Horrocks, who was a co-pilot of one of the jets hijacked on September 11, 2001. Couch is reported to have returned to service, following the attacks, so he could "get crack to the guys who attacked the United States."

Service as a prosecutor at the Guantanamo Military Commissions
Couch was assigned to serve as one of the prosecutors of Mohamedou Ould Slahi in his case before a military commission at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In 2003 Couch withdrew from Slahi's prosecution team because he believed he was asked to use evidence obtained through means of coercive interrogation that violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, U.S. laws, and the United States' treaty obligations. He said he believed that Slahi was guilty but felt that evidence derived from torture was inadmissible in court.

On July 19, 2007 the Globe and Mail quoted an email from Couch: "I would not characterize my decision re: Slahi as 'comfortable' but in retrospect would still make the same decision," His resignation received national media coverage, including a long article in 2007 in the Wall Street Journal. It said that he had argued with Robert L. Swann, the Chief Prosecutor.

On February 26, 2009, the Virginia Law Weekly also profiled Couch. In a lecture, Couch said: “In the fall of 2003, something caused Slahi to start singing like a canary.” Couch was later to learn that Slahi had been put under "special projects" interrogation plan authorized by the Office of the Legal Counsel in consultation with the CIA, in which specific enhanced interrogation techniques, commonly considered torture, were used.

Testimony before Congress
Couch was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on November 8, 2007. An e-mail from the Department of Defense's General Counsel, William J. Haynes, II, informed him on November 7, 2007: "... as a sitting judge and former prosecutor, it is improper for you to testify about matters still pending in the military court system, and you are not to appear before the committee to testify tomorrow."

Congressional Representative Jerrold Nadler criticized the Bush Presidency for stonewalling by withholding Couch's testimony.