Lone Gitmo Judge Says Hell No To Obama Order To Suspend Hearing For The Mastermind Of The 2000 Attack On The USS Cole In Yemen

U.S. Army military judge Col. James L. Pohl refused the Obama administration's request to delay the arraignment of Abu al-Nashiri, the accused planner of the 2000 USS Cole attack in Yemen. The Saudi Arabian is accused of orchestrating the October 2000 Al Qaeda suicide bombing that killed 17 American sailors. The Pentagon war crimes prosecutor has been seeking military execution against Nashiri. Pohl's decision goes against Obama's recent executive order, which put a hold on all military tribunals for 120 days while the administration reviews how to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within the year. ''The Commission is bound by the law as it currently exists not as it may change in the future,'' Pohl wrote in a three-page ruling. He added that ''the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment." The USS Cole's former commander, Ret. Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, criticized Obama's order saying that "delay in moving forward with the military commissions process is denying justice to the victims who have suffered as a result of these terrorist acts." He also praised Pohl's decision calling it "a victory for the 17 families of the sailors who lost their lives on the USS Cole over eight years ago." Pohl’s refusal to suspend al-Nashiri’s arraignment came as a surprise since every other military commission judge had complied with Obama's executive order, including one delaying the case against five men charged with plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks. Family members of the 9/11 victims who were in Guantánamo to witness proceedings in that case expressed outrage.

However, Judge Pohl's action did not last. Judge Susan Crawford, who is in charge of Guantanamo Bay hearings, nuetralized Judge Pohl's action by dismissing the charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means that new charges can still be pressed against him later.

You may be surprised by this story because the mainstream media has failed to report it. The media did report the Obama executive order as saying Gitmo will be closed within one year. But the media kept it hidden from the public that within that executive order Obama was also putting a halt to all Gitmo military tribunals that Congress approved, including those against top Islamoterrorist masterminds. Obama should not be halting these tribunals that Congressional legislation put in place. He should not be slowing down the process of justice so that his administration can do feel-good "reviews" of the military tribunal system that Congress set up to deal with the jihadists at Gitmo. "Reviews" which, by the way, may end up endangering us all by granting people like Nashiri more rights than those that Congress has devised for Gitmo proceedings, perhaps even having barbarians like Nashiri enter the American criminal justice system.

Cmdr. Lippold put it best: "We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups. We should consider what is best for the American people, which is not to jeopardise those who are fighting the war on terror - or even more adversely impact the families who have already suffered losses as a result of the war."
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