Much debate, little progress in .. Guantanamo hearings

[struggle4progress]

Much debate, little progress in latest round of Guantanamo hearings

Much debate, little progress in latest round of Guantanamo hearings

By: BEN FOX - Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- One defendant left during a recess and never came back. The next threatened to boycott his trial. A third suspected al-Qaida terrorist dismissed the U.S. military tribunals as a "circus" and said he had no interest in mounting a defense.

Pretrial hearings for three men captured in the Bush administration's war on terrorism bogged down in legal jousting this week, portending a troubled series of war crimes trials, scheduled to begin later this year at this U.S. military base in Cuba.

Little progress was made in clarifying legal issues during the hearings for the three defendants, who were arrested together in Pakistan and allegedly belonged to an al-Qaida cell. The defense, prosecution and judge, all U.S. military officers, dueled on how to provide fair trials in the hilltop tribunal building overlooking the Caribbean.

The chief military prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, told reporters at the close of hearings Thursday that the tribunals made "baby steps" toward preparing for the upcoming trials, the first to be held by the United States since the World War II era. He blamed the slow progress on the defendants and their lawyers, who he said were raising legal challenges to delay justice. <snip>

Much debate, little progress in latest round of Guantanamo hearings

By: BEN FOX - Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- One defendant left during a recess and never came back. The next threatened to boycott his trial. A third suspected al-Qaida terrorist dismissed the U.S. military tribunals as a "circus" and said he had no interest in mounting a defense.

Pretrial hearings for three men captured in the Bush administration's war on terrorism bogged down in legal jousting this week, portending a troubled series of war crimes trials, scheduled to begin later this year at this U.S. military base in Cuba.

Little progress was made in clarifying legal issues during the hearings for the three defendants, who were arrested together in Pakistan and allegedly belonged to an al-Qaida cell. The defense, prosecution and judge, all U.S. military officers, dueled on how to provide fair trials in the hilltop tribunal building overlooking the Caribbean.


The chief military prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, told reporters at the close of hearings Thursday that the tribunals made "baby steps" toward preparing for the upcoming trials, the first to be held by the United States since the World War II era. He blamed the slow progress on the defendants and their lawyers, who he said were raising legal challenges to delay justice.

Much debate, little progress in latest round of Guantanamo hearings

By: BEN FOX - Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- One defendant left during a recess and never came back. The next threatened to boycott his trial. A third suspected al-Qaida terrorist dismissed the U.S. military tribunals as a "circus" and said he had no interest in mounting a defense.

Pretrial hearings for three men captured in the Bush administration's war on terrorism bogged down in legal jousting this week, portending a troubled series of war crimes trials, scheduled to begin later this year at this U.S. military base in Cuba.

Little progress was made in clarifying legal issues during the hearings for the three defendants, who were arrested together in Pakistan and allegedly belonged to an al-Qaida cell. The defense, prosecution and judge, all U.S. military officers, dueled on how to provide fair trials in the hilltop tribunal building overlooking the Caribbean.


The chief military prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, told reporters at the close of hearings Thursday that the tribunals made "baby steps" toward preparing for the upcoming trials, the first to be held by the United States since the World War II era. He blamed the slow progress on the defendants and their lawyers, who he said were raising legal challenges to delay justice. <snip>

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/04/30/military/12_22_124_28_06.txt

D@mn! We bring em to the kangaroo court after three or four years and custody -- and they have the nerve to raise "legal challenges"!