Latest in 2009 Military Commissions Act
It’s Monday, and pretrial proceedings resume in the case of alleged al-Qaeda commander Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, aka Nashwan al-Tamir.
On Tuesday, the case of U.S. v. Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi was called back to session but, this time, not with the usual players. Colonel Peter S. Rubin of the USMC replaced Captain Waits as the military judge presiding over the commission. Because of this shake-up, which was not explained during the course of the hearing, Colonel Rubin opened the floor for voir dire. The trial counsel had no immediate questions for the judge, but the defense counsel, led by Brent Rushforth, spent the first morning session questioning the judge.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made headlines once again yesterday by saying that he would be “fine” with trying American citizens accused of terrorism in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.
Pre-trial hearings continue Monday morning at Guantanamo Bay in the case of the five men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.
I take issue with two recent critiques of the Guantanamo military commissions, both arising from a D.C. Circuit panel’s reversal, earlier this month, of the conviction by military commission of Ali al-Bahlul (an al Qaeda jihadist and detainee who had served in bin Laden’s inner circle) for conspiracy to commit war crimes.