Charges Dropped in Cole Trial

[unhappycamper]

Charges Dropped in Cole Trial
February 06, 2009
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama's order to freeze military tribunals there.

The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.

The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama's Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford withdrew the charges against al-Nashiri. However, new charges can be brought again later, and al-Nashiri will remain in prison for the time being.

"It was her decision, but it reflects the fact that the president has issued an executive order which mandates that the military commissions be halted, pending the outcome of several reviews of our operations down at Guantanamo," Morrell said late Thursday night.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/charges-dropped-in-cole-trial-at-gitmo.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: On 12.30.2008, The Army Times reported "Judge rejects Obama bid to stall Gitmo trial" --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=23469

[Botany]

1. And why were the charges dropped? Thank you George W bush

Crawford was appointed to her post in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush.
She was in the news last month when she said interrogation methods used on
one suspect at Guantanamo amounted to torture. The Bush administration had
maintained it did not torture.