Guantanamo Judge Refuses Obama's Request For Delay

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

MIAMI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The chief judge for the Guantanamo war crimes court on Thursday refused U.S. President Barack Obama's request to delay court proceedings against a prisoner charged with plotting an attack that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

Hours after taking office last week, Obama ordered Guantanamo prosecutors to seek 120-day delays in all pending cases in order to give his new administration time to decide whether to scrap the trials.

But the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, said tribunal rules give the judges sole authority to delay cases and that postponing proceedings against Abd al Rahim al Nashiri was not reasonable and "does not serve the interest of justice."

Nashiri is charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to send an explosives-laden boat into the side of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000. The attack killed 17 U.S. sailors and Nashiri would face execution if convicted. His arraignment was set for early February.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN1T301341

[Danger Mouse]

1. Wow. So what happens next?

[tekisui]

3. Showdown, I guess.

This will have to go to the courts.

[Danger Mouse]

6. Can Obama remove him for violating an order from the Commander in Chief?

[TTUBatfan2008]

9. Commander-in-chief only applies to the military...

not the Judiciary.

[MadBadger]

10. But is this the judiciary? Isnt this a Military court?

[TTUBatfan2008]

17. Interesting point...

If you look at it like that, then yeah they are disobeying their top military commander. I'm not sure what to think of this now. Hmmm...

[AllentownJake]

4. Relieve the guy of command and court martial him for disobeying an order

from the Commander in Chief.

If he refuses to be relieved he's committing treason and inserection and their is a penalty in the constitution for that.

[Danger Mouse]

5. Hmm, is that what'll happen? Very interesting.

[AllentownJake]

That's what should happen

[AllentownJake]

2. They get relieved of command

Its a military court with a military judge...well Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief and that is called violating an order.

[Xithras]

12. Nope, doesn't work that way.

Military judges work outside of the normal chain of command and don't answer orders regarding active cases. Appeals to their activities must be filed through the judicial.

A change in the structure of military tribunals would require an act of Congress. The President's power in a trial like this is limited to directing the prosecution.

By the way, that's what he actually DID in this case. Obama asked the prosecution to REQUEST a delay. The prosecution make that REQUEST, and the judge denied it. Obama never ORDERED the judge to do anything, because he knows that's beyond his legal ability.

[Thrill]

7. This is why need our Attorney General CONFIRMED.

Stop holding Holder up

[T Wolf]

8. Why can't he order the prosecuters to "stand down" and let the trials fail on their own?

Then, the innocents there can be freed.

There are ways to get around anything, if you really want to.

[MadBadger]

11. Hes not trying to free the people on trial, but delay to better determine if charges should stand.

[T Wolf]

15. Correct. But if the present system only exists to kangaroo the defendants to the gallows, he

could prevent that by trashing the prosecution's cases. Kind of like the pukes "prosecute" polluters.

If the crooked judge and court cretins want to continue the farce, they will be unsuccessful and then get blamed for letting the terraists go.

[Xithras]

13. Because they're not all innocent.

This particular guy isn't accused of having anything to do with 9/11, Iraq, or Afghanistan. He's accused of blowing up the USS Cole while it was refueling in a friendly port in an allied nation. The guy has already been found guilty and sentenced to death in Yemen, and there's little question of his guilt. If we free him, we'll just be returning him to Yemen, where he will be promptly executed.

[T Wolf]

16. It is not about one case, whatever the specifics of that are. It is about a corrupt system that

the pukes put in place that needs to be destroyed. If a couple of guilty people go free, then maybe the lesson will be learned that proper procedures and the Constitution must be followed.

The same principle applies to letting the pigs beat confessions out of suspects. If that"evidence" is allowed, they have no reason to stop doing it. OTOH, if a clearly-guilty person is freed because of police misconduct, they might learn to follow the rules.

As far as actual guilt or innocence - are you willing to trust that the Bushistas only have real terrorists in the prison? I would be willing to bet that the majority are not guilty of anything except LWM (living while Muslim).

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. He should order the prosecutors to slowwalk the case and DARE this Bushista moron judge to free the

detainee. It is also in the interest of the "defense attorney" and the "defendant" (both in quotations because these are clownish show trials and nothing more) to affirm a delay in proceedings so that their case can eventually be adjudicated in a correct and unbiased forum (as opposed to a Gitma Kangaroo court).

[Thothmes]

19. Let them convict the guy, then Obama can give him a pardon.

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Put it in the judge's court

The judge is obviously a Bushista flack trying to make transition difficult. Let him stand for habeas corpus if he really believes in it.

[EFerrari]

18. I don't think will matter very much.

It's one case.