Obama: But I promised.

Obama - stop the trial.
Judge - No, it is the law, and just because you feel I should stop, the law is quite the contrary.
Obama - But I promised.
Facts - release them and all or nearly all have returned to al qaida and killed people.




Judge refuses to suspend Guantanamo trial

by Lucile Malandain Lucile Malandain – Thu Jan 29, 4:57 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A military judge at Guantanamo Bay Thursday rejected President Barack Obama's request to suspend the trial of a Saudi man accused in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the Pentagon said.

"Judge James Pohl denied the motion" put forward by the prosecution at Obama's request to suspend the trial for 120 days, said Defense Department spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

The Washington Post added the judge found the government's argument in the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri "unpersuasive."

"Congress passed the military commissions act, which remains in effect. The commission is bound by the law as it currently exists, not as it may change in the future," the judge wrote according to the Post.

Pohl further argued "the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment," the Post said.

Nashiri, 43, was due to say whether he pleads guilty or not at a hearing set for February 9, and White House officials said the administration was now considering its options.

"We've just learned of the ruling here, as you did. And we are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options in that case," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The Post said the decision threw into disarray the administration's plan to buy time to review the cases against some 245 prisoners still held in the US military camp in southern Cuba.

In his first full day in office last week, Obama ordered the closure of the controversial detention center within a year.

But no decision has yet been made on what to do with the detainees still held at Guantanamo, most of them without charge, and many of whom cannot be returned to their home countries for various reasons.

Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Nashiri allegedly conspired to help two Islamic extremists who steered an explosives-laden barge alongside the Cole, which was docked at the port of Aden, Yemen. The attackers then detonated themselves and their load.

Nashiri was arrested in 2002, and held in a secret CIA prison for almost four years before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

In February, former CIA director general Michael Hayden confirmed that US interrogators had secretly waterboarded Nashiri and two other detainees while he was in the spy agency's custody.

Following Pohl's decision, the new administration will now have to decide whether to withdraw the charges. Nashiri is one of six detainees who could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Judge Pohl "works for somebody," referring to Susan Crawford who presides over the military commissions.

"And the somebody that judge works for will have to make a determination on what does, indeed, happen," Morrell said, adding a decision was likely soon.

One military official, asking to remain anonymous, told AFP: "The judge may drop the charges, but without prejudice, in order to avoid going to the court, and without prejudice meaning they can be reinstated any time."

Such a move of dropping charges to bring them again later was used by the previous Bush administration.

According to defense lawyers, often the whole process begins again from zero in order to avoid using documents which could show the defendant had been subjected to harsh interrogations.

Obama's administration has asked prosecutors to stay upcoming hearings of Guantanamo detainees for 120 days.

And two military judges including one trying the cases of five men accused of organizing the September 11, 2001 have agreed to the request.

Federal judges in the US District Court in Washington are also currently presiding over hundreds of cases brought by Guantanamo detainees challenging their detention.






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