Good luck, Colonel Pohl
Colonel James Pohl, the chief judge at GITMO has ignored Barack Obama’s request for a 120-day hold on prosecutions of terrorism suspects. The Colonel said that the motion was “unreasonable and unjust.”
Sounds about right, since terrorists have gained access to our Constitutional protections, such as a right to a speedy trial. Is the Obama against speedy trials?
The White House press secretary told reporters that “We are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options.” I hope that isn’t diplo-speak for “we have our ways of dealing with dissidents.”
Currently, Col. Pohl is supervising the trial of the former ops chief and mastermind of the USS Cole attack Abd al-Rahim Hussein Mohammed Abdu Al-Nashir. The attack left a 40-ft hole in the destroyer while it was refueling in a Yemeni port, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. But all he has to do is say that he was tortured. Talk about lawfare.
Do you realize that the Geneva Conventions says we are to shoot nonuniformed combatants on sight? It sure as hell doesn’t say give them all of your rights afforded to your citizens and handle their Qur’ans with white gloves. The jihadists are using our system against us.
“On its face, the request to delay the arraignment is not reasonable,” that “The public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment,” the colonel said in his judgement. “Granting the continuance does not serve the interests of justice” and therefore “The government request for a continuance in the arraignment until after 22 May 2009 is DENIED.”
A Pentagon spokesman replied, saying “the Department of Defense is currently reviewing Judge Pohl’s ruling. We WILL be in compliance with the president’s orders regarding Guantanamo.”
Good luck, Col. Pohl.
The judge in charge of the Guantanamo Bay hearings has ordered an end to the last trial there, the Pentagon says.
Judge Susan Crawford made the decision days after Judge James Pohl had refused a request from President Barack Obama to suspend all hearings.
Judge Pohl wanted to continue the trial of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.
Analysts said the row could have damaged Mr Obama’s plan to close the detention centre.
It is thought that the charges against Mr Nashiri have been dismissed without prejudice – meaning that new charges can still be made against him at a later date.
The BBC’s Jonathan Beale in Washington says the Obama administration ordered a halt to the trials to give it time to review the cases against all the detainees, and to consider who should be tried and how.
Last week, Judge Pohl said the request to halt Mr Nashiri’s trial was “unpersuasive” and ruled that the hearing would go ahead.
His ruling appeared to contradict one of the Obama administration’s first actions – to instruct prosecutors to ask for the trials of 21 detainees who had been charged to be delayed by 120 days.
All of the proceedings were stopped, with the exception of Mr Nashiri’s trial. He was due to appear at the tribunal next Monday.
‘Values and ideals’
The attack on the USS Cole while it was moored off Yemen left 17 US service personnel dead and 50 injured.
Mr Nashiri was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2002 and eventually transferred to Guantanamo.
He is accused of conspiring to help two Islamic militants who steered an explosives-laden barge alongside the ship.
Mr Obama ordered the review of military trials for terrorism suspects last week. He also ordered the closure, within one year, of the Guantanamo detention centre.
He said the US would continue to fight terrorism but would maintain its “values and ideals” as well.
Some 250 inmates accused of having links to terrorism remain in the facility.
The legal process for these prisoners has been widely criticised on the grounds the US military acts as jailer, judge and jury.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff HAVE AN ABSOLUTE CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to stand behind Guantanamo Military Judge James Pohl UNTIL OBAMA OVERCOMES “RES IPSA LOQUITUR” BY SUPPLYING HIS LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND PROVING HIS ELIGIBILITY TO BE PRESIDENT UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE US CONSTITUTION.