USS Cole: Gitmo Judge Refuses Obama Executive Order
By Maggie M. Thorton
Military Judge James Pohl has defied President Barack Obama’s executive order calling for the halting of all military proceedings until a review of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility can be reviewed.
Judge Pohl says he will move forward with the arraignment of Abu al-Nashiri who is accused of being the mastermind behind the 2000 U.S.S. Cole attack in Yemen - an attack that killed seventeen U. S. Military service members and injured fifty others.
The Washington Post reports that Pohl found the government’s reasoning “unpersuasive,” and said the author said he “clearly felt” he was not bound to bow to the administration’s wishes.
The government sought a delay because if cases went ahead, the administration’s review could… render moot any proceedings conducted during the review,…necessitate re-litigation of issues,…produce legal consequences affecting options available to the Administration after completion of the review.
Pohl allegedly said that “the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment.”
Pohl is in lonely territory. Two other judges agreed to a suspension in the trials of Canadian al-Qaeda operative, Omar Khadr, and a September 11 conspiracy case.
Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, according to Fox News, said that Judge Pohl will soon be “told to comply with Obama’s executive order.” Morell, speaking at a news briefing said “this department will be in full compliance with the president’s executive order…there [are] no ifs, ands or buts about that.” “Trust me, Morell said, …there will be no proceedings continuing down at Gitmo with military commissions,….”
rightpundits.com |
