Legal News

Another Speed Bump in Obama?s Guantanamo Plans

By Ashby Jones

To many, President Obama’s decision last week to halt legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, sounded sensible enough. But since then, the administration’s learned that the devil’s in the details.

The latest: A military judge on Thursday denied the feds’ request to delay the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a detainee accused of planning the 2000 attack on the USS Cole (pictured). Here are stories from the WaPo and the NYT.

According to the WaPo, the administration, was “taken aback” by yesterday’s decision. Judges in other cases, including one involving five Sept. 11 defendants, had quickly agreed to the government’s request.

In order to halt proceedings for 120 days — as Obama wants — the Pentagon may be forced to temporarily withdraw charges against al-Nashiri and possibly 20 other detainees facing trial in military commissions.

“We just learned of the ruling here . . . and we are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options in that case,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The chief military judge at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Army Col. James Pohl, said that he found the government’s arguments “unpersuasive” and that the case will go ahead because “the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment.”

Nashiri was captured in the United Arab Emirates in late 2002 and was turned over to the CIA. He is one of three detainees who the government has acknowledged were subjected to waterboarding. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006 along with 13 other “high-value” detainees.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).