Major Update: Detainee to be Released After 20 Years for Mental Health Reason

Mohammed al-Qahtani, 26 in 2001 & 46 in 2022

(Released from Gitmo after 20 years detention)

Good smart humanitarian decision – releasing this Gitmo detainee after his 20 years of confinement – this story from The AP with this headline:

“U.S. sends home suspected 20^th (9/11) hijacker from Guantanamo”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Saudi prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who was suspected of trying to join the 9/11 hijackers has been sent back to his home country for treatment for mental illness, the DOD said on Monday (March 7, 2022). 

Even so, just as DOD officials notified Congress of its intention to transfer al-Qahtani in February, and that prompted outrage from some Republicans.

My insert: Suppose North Vietnam had detained our “POWs” for 20 years say like for the late John McCain and numerous others? 

There would probably be no Republican outrage way back then, right? – Yeah right; no outrage.

DOD said in a prepared statement announcing the repatriation of al-Qahtani: “The United States appreciates the willingness of Saudi Arabia and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility.”

Noteworthy: With this release, there still remains 38 prisoners left at the detention center, and he is the second one released under President Joe Biden, who has said he intends to close the facility.

The detainee, Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani, was flown to a Saudi Arabia treatment facility after a review board (military & intelligence officials) concluded he could be released after 20 years of custody.

The Bush administration dropped charges to try him after a legal official concluded he had been tortured.

His lawyers said al-Qahtani, now 46 years old, suffers from mental illness, including schizophrenia, and has ever since his childhood.

Background on his capture: In August 2001, al-Qahtani was turned away from the U.S. at the Orlando airport by immigration officers who were suspicious of his travel. The lead September 11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta, was going to pick him up to take part in the plot, according to previously released documents.

U.S. forces later captured him in Afghanistan and sent him to Guantanamo, where he was subjected to brutal interrogations that the Pentagon legal official in charge of war crimes commissions said amounted to torture.

His treatment included beatings, exposure to extreme temperatures, noise, sleep deprivation, and extended solitary confinement.

One FBI official in 2002 observed al-Qahtani speaking to non-existent people in his cell, while “hearing voices” all the while he crouched in a corner covering himself with a sheet for hours at a time.

Now with his release, there still remains 38 prisoners left at the detention center. However, only about half the men held there have been cleared for release, and no decision has been made about what to do with the rest, including those who still face trial by military commission for the 9/11 attack like the mastermind, KSM.

My 2 Cents: Interesting story and as I said right up front, it is a good smart humanitarian decision in this man’s case.

More to come and then the big trials begin – when? Who knows for sure, stay tuned.

This page as before will be updated even as this snail pace process proceeds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Gitmo Detainees: Thirty-Nine Still Held @ $13 Million Each Now for 20 Years

 

First group arrived there in 2002

Update (January 12, 2022) from AFP News here with this headline:

Government has approved the release of five more prisoners from Gitmo (according to DOD). Three of the five detainees were from Yemen, one was from Somalia, and the fifth from Kenya. 

They have spent a collective 85 years in the prison opened two decades ago for the “war on terror” detainees in the wake of the September 11, 2001attacks. None of these five were never charged, detainees now approved for release – decided after case reviews in November and December – total 18 of the 39 men still held in the facility.

Those approved for release are: Somali Guleed Hassan Ahmed, (also called Guled Hassan Duran); Kenyan Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu; and Omar Muhammad Ali al-Rammah, Moath Hamza al-Alwi, and Suhayl al-Sharabi of Yemen.

The Pentagon's Periodic Review Board found that all did not present, or no longer presented, a threat to the United States.

Original Post from Here: Gitmo Detainee update after 20 Years from the AP with this headline:

“Biden's low profile on Guantanamo rankles as prison turns 20”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. And they were relieved this summer after the U.S. released a prisoner for the first time in years. Many are now increasingly impatient.

In the months since that release, there have been few signs of progress in closing the notorious offshore prison on the U.S. base in Cuba. That has led to increased skepticism about Biden’s approach as the administration completes its first year and the detention center reaches a milestone Tuesday — the 20th anniversary of the first prisoners' arrival.

Wells Dixon, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which has long taken a leading role in challenging the indefinite confinement without charge at the base, says: “President Biden has stated his intention to close Guantanamo as a matter of policy but has not taken substantial steps toward closure.”

Daphne Eviatar, director of the security with the human rights program at Amnesty International USA said: “There’s a lot of impatience and a lot of frustration among advocates and people who have been watching this. We can’t forget what this country did 20 years ago and is continuing to do today. This administration has a lot on its plate, certainly, but this is such an egregious human rights offense.”

Without a more concerted effort, those who want the center to close fear a repeat of what happened under President Barack Obama. He made closing Guantanamo a signature issue from his first days in office.

But, Obama managed only to shrink it in the face of Congressional political opposition. Then Trump rescinded the Obama order to close Guantanamo, but largely ignored the place, and he also pledged during his first campaign to “load it up with some bad dudes” but he never sent anyone there and said the annual cost of operating the detention center was crazy at around $13 million per prisoner.

Guantanamo also became the focus of international outrage because of the mistreatment and torture of prisoners and the U.S. insistence that it could hold men indefinitely without charge for the duration of a war against al-Qaeda that seemingly has no end.

The critics grew and now also include Michael Lehnert, a retired Marine Corps major general who was tasked with opening the detention center but has come to believe that holding mostly low-level fighters without charge was counter to American values and interests, says: “To me, the existence of Guantanamo is anathema to everything that we represent, and it needs to be closed for that reason. Until I see some visible signs that the administration is going to do something about it, I am not heartened. If there is somebody in charge of closing Guantanamo, I have not talked to anybody that knows who they are.”

Now 39 prisoners are left there. That is the fewest since the detention center's earliest days, when the initial groups, suspected of having a connection to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, arrived on flights from Afghanistan hooded, shackled, and clad in orange jumpsuits.

At its peak, in 2003, the detention center held nearly 680 prisoners. President George W. Bush released more than 500 and Obama freed 197 before time ran out on his effort to whittle down the population. 

Of the remaining prisoners, 10 face trial by military commission in proceedings that have bogged down for years. 

They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammad the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Two others have been sentenced and one of them, former Maryland resident Majid Khan, is expected to complete his sentence next month.

The other 27 include 13 who have been cleared for release, including eight under Biden who could now be returned to their homeland or resettled elsewhere. Two dozen have not been cleared and have never been charged, and likely never will be, a status that some Republicans continue to defend, including in a Senate hearing last month.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in that hearing stated: “We’re not fighting a crime. We’re fighting a war. I don’t want to torture anybody. I want to give them due process consistent with being at war, and, if necessary, I want to hold them as long as it takes to keep us safe or we believe that they’re no longer a threat.”

A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy, says “The NSC is actively working with Defense, State, and Justice Departments and other agencies to reduce the population within restrictions imposed by Congress,” then adding: “The restrictions include a ban on returning prisoners to certain countries, including Yemen and Somalia, or sending any to the U.S., even for further imprisonment. The administration is committed to closing the detention center, an effort it jump-started after four years of inaction under Trump.”

One sign of progress is the eight approved for release through a review process created under Obama. Under Trump, just one detainee was cleared and the only release was a Saudi sent back to his homeland as part of an earlier military commission plea deal.

Critics want the Biden administration to get busy repatriating or resettling the detainees who have been cleared and to restore a State Department unit devoted to the effort that was eliminated under Trump. Advocates argue the administration could resolve the fate of the rest by transferring the military commission cases to federal court and releasing the rest.

Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York who with his students has represented 14 Guantanamo prisoners since 2005 says: “Biden's low-key approach could be a smart strategy considering the political opposition encountered by Obama. He appears to have learned from Obama’s missteps, transferring one prisoner and clearing many without being too loud about it and painting a target on his own back, Still, the administration must up the pace because, at the rate of one prisoner a year, it won’t come close to shuttering the prison.”

My 2 Cents: I still advocate to try those awaiting trial, punish them more; release those without any formal charges; and then close the place down. It has cost over $540 million to date keeping it open and operating.

Just imagine U.S. POWs still being held in Hanoi for 20 years. Time for justice to prevail – this is taking far too long for the accused to face justice.

Thanks for stopping by.

Released Detainee: Back with the Taliban Helps Capture Kabul & Occupy Afghanistan

 

Gitmo detainee back with Taliban in Kabul

(Theme Song: “Happy Days Are Here Again”)

To release Gitmo detainees or not, that is the question. If yes, release them when, where, how, what if any controls?

Case study is this one released after nearly 7 years and look where he is now: Sitting in the presidential office (pictured above) in Kabul after the Taliban, he rejoined captured the city as they over ran the entire country as the U.S. continues to pull out. That story from here with this headline:

“A former Taliban commander who helped seize the Afghan presidential palace spent nearly 6 years at Guantanamo, where he told a guard: We will get you on the outside”

What are the conditions for detainees to be released? If so, when, where, and how tracked? If so, how - who tracks them?

NOTE: This case clearly shows if there is a system that says don’t rejoin the Taliban or al-Qaeda – well it failed. How many more will soon pop up?

The story is below in part – refer to the link above (Business Insider):

·  Gholam Ruhani was filmed celebrating at the Afghan presidential palace on Sunday (August 15).

·  He spent over 6 years imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay before being released in 2007.

· According to his prison record, Ruhani once told a guard: “We will get you on the outside.”

In his victory speech, Ruhani had said that he was held at Guantanamo for nearly eight years. 

In reality, he spent nearly six years according to records published by The NY Times.

Those records show that Ruhani was one of the first Taliban fighters to be captured by the U.S. after the September 11, 2001, attacks, entering the prison on the first day it opened in January 2002. 

He was repatriated to Afghanistan in December 2007, under President George W. Bush's administration.

NOTE: Gitmo officials said Ruhani posed a threat to U.S. if released. I guess a Rick Perry “oops” is too late?

In an assessment before he was released, Pentagon officials said that Ruhani posed a “medium threat to the U.S. based on the fact that he had family in anti-coalition militia entities, and would likely join such groups if released and take part in attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.” 

The assessment also included details about Ruhani's conduct in prison, saying his “overall behavior has been complaint and non-hostile toward the guard force and staff,” however, it was also noted that he threatened a guard in April 2005, saying: “We will get you on the outside.”

According to a summary of evidence against Ruhani, he had worked for the Taliban's Ministry of Intelligence when he was captured in December 2001, during a meeting between the Taliban and Americans.

Over the years he was imprisoned at Guantanamo, Ruhani downplayed his role in the Taliban and refuted some of the evidence the Americans had on him, in interviews and statements to US authorities.

DOD did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

My 2 Cents: Interesting story depending on your stance about releasing detainees – kinda like throwing the dice isn’t it – release them and hope for the best. This case up comes “Snake Eyes” — we lose.

Thanks for stopping by.

Guantánamo Bay, Cuba: U.S. Facility Opened for Terror-related Detainees in 2002

Officially opened in January 2002)

First 20 detainees arrived

Updated Gitmo detainee database – reported on here from The New York TIMES (June 15, 2021) with this headline – FYI:

“An Updated Tool for Tracking the Detainees of Guantánamo Bay”

A Times team has revamped an online database that makes it easier to learn about the roughly 780 prisoners who were taken there, including the 40 who remain locked up there.

In the first years of the war in Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay was off limits to lawyers seeking to represent the detainees there, and the Bush administration refused to disclose the prisoners’ names. 

Commanders would brief reporters regularly, and guards would come forward to speak with pride about their service there but were not allowed to name the men in the orange uniforms.

In time, the Bush administration bowed to pressure from the courts and released the names of many of the men and boys who were brought to the U.S. military detention center as “enemy combatants.” 

But by the time the Pentagon let the lawyers visit, hundreds of the detainees were already gone, many of them sent back to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In the minds of many people, the roughly 780 men and boys who were held at remote Guantánamo are still nameless, identically clad men locked behind razor wire. 

Forty remain there today, while the rest have been repatriated or dispersed around the world.

The Guantánamo Docket is the upgrade and continuing investment into understanding the offshore detention operation that the George W. Bush administration established in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Gitmo as it is commonly called entered its 21st year in January 2021. 

Although hundreds of detainees have come and gone, released, and relocated, the trial of the five men accused of plotting the actual 9/11 attack has yet to begin. 

My 2 Cents: Nothing to add, except try those charged with the 9/11 attack and release the rest and allow them to rejoin any family and life that they have left in their native land.

This past 21 years is long enough punishment for them. 

Then close the detainee center.

Thanks for stopping by for this update.

Detainee's Case: Goes to UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

Gitmo Detainee: 19 years of arbitrary detention

Background story from the NY Times (August 24, 2016) re: Abu Zubaydah a Tortured Guantánamo Detainee Makes His Case for Release

Extract from that article back then: Over 14 years in American custody, Abu Zubaydah, has come to symbolize, perhaps more than any other prisoner, how fear of terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attacks changed the United States.

He was the first detainee to be water boarded (over 80 times), and his brutal torture later was documented in a U.S. Senate report.

He is among those still held without charges and with no likelihood of a trial. The government long ago admitted that he was never the top leader of al-Qaeda that it had claimed at the time of his capture in 2002, but still insists today that he may still be dangerous and cannot be released.

In all that time, Zubaydah, then age 45, had never been seen by the outside world. That changed as his calm face was beamed via video feed from the Guantánamo Bay military prison to a Pentagon conference room.

His original capture and story follow here with this original background from April 23, 2009 also in the NY Times written by Ali Soufan former FBI supervisory special agent from 1997 to 2005.

Soufan was the first to interrogate Abu Zubaydah and gain valuable intelligence without any harsh interrogation techniques.

The following is in Agent Soufan’s own words from that article regarding the story:

“For seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like water boarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release of the four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned.” 

“One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the grounds that previous methods hadn’t been working.”  

“The next three memos cite the successes of those methods as a justification for their continued use. It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another FBI agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August.”

“Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence such as for example that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He then told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives.”

“There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified. The short sightedness behind the use of these techniques ignored the unreliability of the methods, the nature of the threat, the mentality and modus operandi of the terrorists, and due process.”

“Defenders of these techniques have claimed that they got Zubaydah to give up information leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, top aide to KSM, and Padilla.”

“That is false. The information that led to Shibh’s capture came primarily from a different terrorist operative who was interviewed using traditional methods.”

“As for Padilla, the dates just don’t add up: the harsh techniques were approved in the memo of August 2002, Mr. Padilla had been arrested in May 2002!!” 

End of Agent Soufan’s story.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Now this update on Abu Zubaydah from The Guardian with this headline:

 “Guantánamo detainee takes on CIA ‘black sites’ in his UN human rights case”

Abu Zubaydah, the Palestinian held in  in Gitmo Bay is taking the US, the UK, and five other states before a UN human rights panel for their role in the CIA rendition and detention of terrorism suspects at “black sites” around the world.

The unusual case is heading to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions (UNWGAD) by Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, AKA: Abu Zubaydah, who now has been detained for 19 years without a trial.

UNWGAD, part of the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights, has a mandate to investigate individual complaints of arbitrary detention and issue opinions and calls for redress, but has no power to impose sanctions on countries who do not comply.

Abu Zubaydah is a 50-year-old Palestinian raised in Saudi Arabia who was detained in 2002 and handed over to the CIA. He was initially described as an al-Qaeda leader, but the agency by 2006 had concluded he had not even been a member of the group. 

He has nevertheless been held at Guantánamo ever since, with no prospect of release.

His lawsuit has been sent to the UN panel. It says he was held in arbitrary detention and tortured in secret CIA interrogation facilities in Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania, Afghanistan, and niow at Guantánamo Bay.

He is also suing the UK government, which he accuses of “complicity in rendition, for participating in interrogations, and for receiving information that they knew was obtained under torture.”

It is the first time legal action has been taken against the UK, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Thailand for their role in the CIA rendition and torture program.

Helen Duffy, Abu Zubaydah’s international legal representative, said: “After 19 years of arbitrary detention, the only appropriate legal remedy for Abu Zubaydah is release and rehabilitation, recognition, apology, transparency, accountability, and ensuring these violations do not happen again are all legal obligations, grossly neglected in the war on terror and the subject of this claim. But they are meaningless if ongoing violations are not brought to an end.”

President Joe Biden has pledged to close the Guantánamo prison camp, and to either free or transfer the remaining 40 inmates.

Former President Barack Obama also promised to shut down the camp but ran into resistance from the Pentagon and Congress and succeeded only in sharply reducing the number of inmates.

Duffy, who is also the director of the advocacy group Human Rights in Practice, concluded her remarks saying: “How the Biden administration responds to international legal claims like this one will be a test of its newly stated commitment to international rule of law and human rights.”

My 2 cents: This is a very huge breakthrough in this case. Stay tuned – I will update as this story breaks.

Thanks for stopping by.

MAJOR UPDATE: Gitmo 9/11 Detainee Trials Again Delayed Now Until August 2021

 

Gitmo: A Blot on Our Military Justice System 

(At least for 9/11 detainees)

The setbacks keep piling up in the long-delayed 9/11 terrorist cases in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The latest trial delay update is here from NPR with this headline:

“Trial of September 11 Defendants at Guantánamo Delayed Until August 2021”

A new U.S military court judge has canceled all hearings in the case until this August (2021) and therefore has delayed the start of the trial of the five defendants charged in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Jury selection had been scheduled to begin in January 2021, but the new judge — Colonel Stephen F. Keane, who began overseeing the case in September 2020 — but this new delay is necessary due to pandemic travel restrictions and his need to familiarize himself with the case.

Many Guantánamo attorneys say even the revised start date isn't realistic, given that legal proceedings there have been at a virtual standstill since February 2020, when the coronavirus began limiting access to the island.

James Connell, lead attorney for Guantánamo prisoner Ammar al-Baluchi, who is accused of funding the 9/11 hijackers said: “I do not expect that the trial will begin in August of 2021 because there's just too much ground to cover between now and then.”

This new delay order by Judge Keane, the fourth judge to oversee the 9/11 case, is the latest stumbling block at Guantánamo's problem-plagued military court and prison, which NPR found has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $6 billion since 2002. Other recent complications include:

§  The previous 9/11 judge, Air Force Col. W. Shane Cohen, left abruptly after nine months on the job, citing family concerns.

§  The former administrative head of the military court, Christian Reismeier, moved to a different role after being in his position for less than a year.

§  James P. Harrington, the lead attorney for one of the 9/11 defendants, asked to leave the case, citing “health issues and incompatibility” with his client.

§  David Bruck, the new lead attorney assigned to represent Harrington's client, said he needs 2 1/2 years to prepare for trial.

All of those personnel changes cost the court time.

Background: The military prison at Guantánamo still holds 40 men, down from nearly 800 people who have been detained there since it opened in 2002. 

Some of the 40 remaining prisoners have been held for more than 18 years without being charged, and some have been cleared for release but remain incarcerated. 

Guantánamo prosecutors have finalized only one conviction in the military court's history.

My 2 cents: This full story continues at the above NPR link. Check it out.

As noted in the article, it truly is sad to see our military justice system this bogged down. Major changes based on all this is therefore long overdue, otherwise all this to date makes a sham of our entire judicial system; both military and civilian in such cases.

Thanks for stopping by.

Gitmo War Detainee Rights: Back on the Table in an Unresolved Constitutional Case

 

Entrance to and from Gitmo

My introduction to this article in full from here (Politico, May 29, 2020 with update included) with this headline:

“Judge mulls bringing Guantanamo prisoner to U.S.”

Threat could prompt Pentagon to allow phone calls between prisoners and their attorneys

My View: First of all, I have a serious problem with allowing or giving any war prisoner like in this case full or even partial constitutional rights to any detainee held for war crimes against the United States. 

Rights under the Geneva Conventions for POWs and detainees – I have no problem with that, but this I consider this telephone right, well just a “right too far.”

FYI: Some legal history here on this topic – “Due Process for Guantanamo Detainees: The D.C. Circuit Rules in Qassim Case”

The post for today in part below with full article at Politico:

A federal judge said that he'll consider ordering a Guantanamo Bay war-on-terror prisoner brought to the United States if authorities don't come up with a way for the detainee to have regular telephone contact with his attorneys. 

District Judge Reggie Walton said he doesn't consider adequate an email- and fax-based system the Defense Department has set up to handle legal mail between some detainees and their lawyers as visits have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

During an hour-long telephone hearing on the case of Somali-born Guleed Duran, the judge raised the prospect of moving Duran to the U.S. if the Pentagon continues to resist arranging phone calls between him and his attorneys. 

Judge Walton said: “It just seems to me that with all the technology that we have that there has to be some way that can be accomplished.  Again, it's the government's decision to house this man at Guantanamo. The government does have the option of bringing this man to the United States and housing him here at a secure facility in the United States.”

Walton continued: “So, the government is going to have to make some decisions: either you provide the mechanism by which counsel can have this kind of telephonic communication with the client and if you can't do that then the government may have to bring him here to the United States while the pandemic is in play. I don’t think the government can have — what my mother always said: You can't have your cake and eat it, too.”

A DOJ lawyer, Terry Henry, quickly told the judge that bringing Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. is a nonstarter because the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits such transfers, adding: “I just want to clarify the government does not have the option to bring the detainee to the U.S. because of the statutory restriction.”

Judge Walton said: “The Trump administration could always ask Congress to change the law. It's not something you couldn't at least attempt to do.”

Story continues at the link. Thanks for stopping by.

Justice Finally Arriving: For KSM and Four Others for 9/11 Deaths and Destruction

KSM (2003) captured in Pakistan and today at Gitmo

(The 9/11 Mastermind)

The Four Others to Stand Trial with KSM for 9/11

(Various 9/11 Connected Crimes)

Major update here from UK’s The Independent – the highlights:

A trial date has been set for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (known as KSM) – the man accused of orchestrating the 9/11 terror attacks. He is was a senior al-Qaeda figure branded “the principal architect of the atrocity.” 

He will stand trial in Gitmo (Guantánamo Bay) starting on January 11, 2021 alongside four other men (now ordered by the military judge).

All five are charged with war crimes, including terrorism, hijacking planes, and nearly 3,000 counts of murder for their alleged roles masterminding the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. All five will face the death penalty if found guilty.

Judge Col W. Shane Cohen admitted “a host of administrative and logistics challenges could blight the trial,” meaning its beginning could be delayed until after the 20th anniversary of the terror event.

The trial will be a step forward in a prolonged legal battle to bring prosecutions under civilian and military law for the attacks that rocked the world that has seen several previous attempts fail.

KSM, who the Pentagon says was involved “from A to Z” was detained in Pakistan in 2003 and taken to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, where he was charged. He also said he would plead guilty ahead of a 2008 effort to trial him.

But all that time has prompted three years of legal wrangling as former President Barack Obama clashed with Congress over his plan to relocate proceedings to New York so that he could fulfil his pledge to close down Guantánamo. All five of terrorists were then charged in June 2011.

Mohammad’s co-defendants are Walid bin-Attash, alleged to have run an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan for two hijackers and Ammar al-Baluchi, accused of playing a central part in funding the hijackers and their flight school training.

The other two are Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a Yemeni alleged of planning logistics for the attack, and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi alleged of supplying cash, credit cards and clothing for the hijackers.

Hearings for the group are scheduled for August as lawyers for the defendants try to stop prosecutors from using confessions made to the FBI in 2006. 

Their lawyers claim the five men did so under duress.

KSM claims he was tortured during his stay in Cuba. CIA documents show he underwent simulated drowning, known as waterboarding, 183 times.

Kind of related is this from Trump who said in June 2019: “I think I know who was behind 9/11 attacks.”

Trump, in contrast to the Obama's policy, (to have NY federal trials and close Gitmo) previously pledged to “load it up with some bad dudes” but has not mentioned the prison lately.

My 2 cents: Hopefully this case will not be as this old legal quip states: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

But with any trial that has this much times elapsed after the crime can be tricky – we hope this one is not.

Justice must be served and hopefully to full extent of the law and ends with their execution (all four).

Stay tuned – updates will follow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Gitmo Detainee News: The Sun Will Never Set on this Facility Now Costing a Lot More

Lonely spot for 1,700 U.S. Forces to guard 40 Detainees

Gitmo Preps for Another Costly Upgrade

This monument to the war on terror is still open, and it's costing taxpayers a fortune

FACTS TO DATE (update here from Reason.com):

Whether the U.S. manages to broker a peace with the Taliban or not, one legacy of the war on terror remains — the prison at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo). At its height, this symbol of Bush administration power held 600 people. And as miserable as the infrastructure reportedly is down there, its commander, Navy Rear Admiral John Ring, says he could fit 200 more people if given an increase in the same number of soldiers. He'd rather have an influx of money, however.

There once was 600 prisoners there. Now there are only 40.

* Forty people being watched over by 1,700 soldiers.

* Forty people who have been held in limbo for going on two decades now.

* Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) (the 9/11 mastermind), and a few others are clearly mass murderers who should still have their trial (and if he or they ever do, bet on torture being a big coup for his defense).

* Others linger in prison, not charged, not freed, and generally making a mockery of the whole American concept of a speedy trial.

* In 2017, the ACLU reported that the prison cost $454 million to operate every year. 

* As of 2013, that amounted to $11 million for every prisoner. 

*  Since it opened, Gitmo has cost taxpayers nearly $5 billion.

The spooky thing is how comfortable our country has became with letting people stay in prison without trial. Then consider that if the problem of indefinite detainment doesn't strike your fancy, or you're used to it by this point, there's always the fact that Gitmo is appallingly expensive.

My 2 cents: Still a very long way to go before this situation is ever resolved. 

Just imagine if we still had POW’s in North VN at the “Hanoi Hilton” after all these years – yikes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Time to Close Gitmo: Try Detainees in Federal Courts and End this National Nightmare

For those who want swift and certain detainee justice

(Gitmo does not deliver that)

Read this report (.pdf): Federal court system vs. Gitmo military tribunals to see the clear differences between the tribunals and the federal court system: Facts vs. Myths.

From this article – a key part:

Trump at one point vowed to keep Gitmo open and in his words: “…to load it up with some bad dudes.”

Instead, it remains open and in his — and the nation’s best interest – it should be closed.

Even if all the defendants were acquitted they would likely not be released, and the cost to the taxpayer of holding them and the other 35 detainees at Gitmo is substantial. 

Recent reporting revealed the yearly cost of holding each of the detainees at Gitmo is $13 million, far costlier than detention in U.S. federal prisons, where the most dangerous prisoners are held for $78,000 per year.

Those costs are likely to increase as detainees get older. For instance, a contemplated facility to house only a fraction of the detainees as they age and need increased medical care comes with an $88.5 million price tag.

In reaction to the news of the per detainee outlay, Trump stated: “I think it’s crazy. It costs a fortune to operate, and I think it’s crazy.”

My 2 cents: It’s time to try them in our Federal system and get justice we all want and need and say we cherish: Swift and fair justice. 

Right now that does not exist in his Tribunal set up. The Federal courts give that justice and they have the track record to prove it.

More expected later on this topic. Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.

KSM and Four Cohorts: Scheduled for Trial at Gitmo in January 2021 for 9/11 Attacks

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) pictured after his 

capture in Pakistan in 2003

Breaking News: KSM and 4 other 9/11 terrorists going to trial at Gitmo.

WASHINGTON (The NY Times here via MSN) — A military judge has set January 11, 2021 as the start of the joint death-penalty trial at Guantánamo Bay of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) and four other men charged with plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York City (WTC), at the Pentagon, and in a field in PA.

The date was set by the Judge, USAF Colonel W. Shane Cohen. 

It also signals the start of the selection of a military jury at Camp Justice. 

It is the first time that a trial judge in the case actually set a trial date for those 5 9/11 co-conspirators, and that despite requests by prosecutors since 2012 to two earlier judges to do so.

Story continues at above NY Times link – and from NPR here.

My 2 cents: It’s about time – in fact it has been far too much time in fact to see justice prevail in this case.

Stay tuned for future updates as this trial progresses.

Thanks for stopping by.