Pentagon plans secret tribunals at Gitmo
2541531 With defense attorneys already barred, so will reporters from the final round of military tribunals starting Friday for the top 14 detainees at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The "high value" group includes a trio believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – al Qaeda plot leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Hamburg hijacker-pilot cell coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh; and Dubai-based hijacker financier Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The group of 14, transferred to Guantanamo from a secret CIA prison in Bagram, Afghanistan, last September, also includes the alleged leader of al Qaeda's Southeast Asian wing, known as Hambali, which carried out the 2002 bombing of a Bali nightclub; Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a longtime fugitive wanted for the 1998 truck bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania, captured in Pakistan in 2004; and Majid Khan, an alleged al Qaeda operative accused of plotting to blow up gas stations in the U.S.
More than 550 Combatant Status Review Boards in 2004-05 were open to news media coverage, with some restrictions. The Pentagon justifies closing the door on the last CSRT's due to the level of classified evidence that's expected to be discussed, and because the detainees could reveal active terror networks in places where American forces are deployed.
"Once again, the Defense Department shows us that it has little, if any, respect for the notion that in this country we don't hold secret star-chamber-like proceedings. I doubt we'll ever find out what happens to these men," says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The Pentagon promises to release redacted hearing transcripts and unclassified summaries of evidence.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Khan, calls the proceedings a "sham." Denied access to Khan since his transfer six months ago, CFR lambastes the military for planning to admit evidence obtained through coercion, while blocking defendant access to the evidence or attorneys. "Any suggestion that Khan's CSRT proceedings would comport with our values and traditional notions of justice is demeaning to all Americans. They only undermine the credibility of our nation and our commitment to the rule of law," CCR says.
There is not a lot of suspense in the CSRT's. Last year, the Pentagon decided that 83% of 328 detainees reviewed were properly held as "enemy combatants" while only 55, or 17%, were not. Not counting these 14 "high value" men, the Pentagon says 385 prisoners remain at Guantanamo. However, more than 80 are cleared for release, assuming their home countries let them return.
"All of the detainees remaining at Guantanamo are enemy combatants and represent a threat to the United States and our allies," the Pentagon says. "Although individuals in the U.S. and in the international community have called for closing Guantanamo, no one has suggested a viable option to deal with these dangerous men." Still, the military has freed 390 detainees from Guantanamo -- roughly half since the controversial island prison opened five years ago.