Sept. 11 Charges ‘Should Be Dropped’
Damn it! What a load of F*cking bullshit! …
THIS is why we don’t want to do this in the courts …
By Jane Sutton (TheAustralian)
CHARGES against five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks should be thrown out because they were improperly influenced by a Pentagon legal adviser, US military lawyers said in documents filed overnight.
Also overnight, a US military judge postponed the Guantanamo trial of Osama bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, until July 21, to allow time to assess his mental competency.
Hamdan was to be the first prisoner tried in the US war crimes court at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.
The Guantanamo tribunals are the first US war crimes tribunals since WWII and have faced steady criticism from human rights activists and reversals in American courts.
The tribunals were established after Sept. 11, 2001 to try non-American captives whom the Bush administration considers “enemy combatants,” who are not entitled to the legal protections granted to soldiers and civilians.
‘Meddling general’
In the case of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other prisoners who could face execution if convicted, the military defense lawyers said the charges were tainted by meddling and “overreaching” on the part of Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann.
Hartmann was assigned to provide impartial legal advice to the Pentagon appointee overseeing the Guantanamo trials.
But the former chief prosecutor of the tribunals testified last month that Hartmann essentially took over the prosecution team, pushing it to use evidence obtained through coercion and demanding “sexy” cases that would pique the interest of the American public.
Military defense lawyers asked the tribunals’ chief judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, to dismiss the charges on grounds that Hartmann was so heavily involved in drafting them that he “failed to retain the required independence.”
Facing death penalty
“When the government seeks the death penalty, it must not reduce legal procedures to mere formalities. The integrity of the system must be upheld, regardless of the nature of the crimes charged or identity of the accused,” they said in the documents.
“The accused are entitled to due process and a fair trial”
Mohammed and the other four - Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash - were tentatively scheduled for arraignment at Guantanamo on June 5.
They are accused of conspiring with al Qaeda to murder civilians and with 2,973 counts of murder, one for each person killed on Sept. 11 when hijacked passenger planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.
The judge in the Hamdan case had already barred Hartmann from further involvement in those proceedings.
Hamdan was scheduled to go to trial in early June but a military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, delayed it until July 21.
He ordered that a mental competency review be completed by June 13, for Hamdan, a Yemeni who was to be the first captive tried in the Guantanamo war court.
His lawyers said that more than six years of detention and harsh treatment at Guantanamo had left Hamdan mentally impaired and compromised his ability to assist in his defense.
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FUCK THAT
May 16th, 2008 at 7:40 pmPerfect example of the courts getting it ‘wrong’.
Instead of spending all that time looking for loopholes to get their clients off, those lawyers should be searching for the truth.
And when they discover it, take the bastards out and shoot them.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
You gotta be kidding me. I didn’t even finsih the story. That is absolute bull shit. 
May 16th, 2008 at 8:16 pmWhy are terrorists given our rights?
Fuck trials, kill them!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:32 pmThe DOD’s Jag-Corps needs to man-up, convict and whack these fucks facing capital punishment.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:48 pmIllegal immigrants are given OUR rights and now so are terrorists. Bullshit!
May 16th, 2008 at 9:31 pmAll Glory and Honor to the Democratic Party and each of the pro-terrorist allies. Glory to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, Teddy Kennedy, Barak Obama, and all glory to John Murtha.
May Allah bless these that protect the servants of Muhammad.
The time is close.
May 17th, 2008 at 4:15 am“The accused are entitled to due process and a fair trial”
Like hell they are. Enemy combatants found in the field without a uniform are entittled to a firing squad or summary execution. Fu*cking UN JAG-asses.
May 17th, 2008 at 4:42 amFUCK THAT
May 17th, 2008 at 8:36 amSomewhere in the world, Hannibal Lecter is going without a meal. If you can’t convict these bastards, then fillet them!
May 17th, 2008 at 9:55 am