Gitmo court back in session — at least for now

[David]

AP


GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – An FBI agent defended the questioning of a 15-year-old Canadian detainee Tuesday in what many believe could be the final session of the special Guantanamo war crimes court.

President-elect Barack Obama has said he will close Guantanamo and many expect he will suspend the widely criticized military commissions created by President George W. Bush and Congress to prosecute alleged terrorists held at the offshore prison.

But military judges decided to press on with this week's court session, which brought dozens of lawyers, witnesses and officials to the U.S. base in Cuba for several days of pretrial hearings in the case of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan, and the five men charged with orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks.

The judge in the Khadr case, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, made one concession to the inauguration: He said he would adjourn the hearing before the noon ceremony in Washington and would resume the hearing Wednesday, unless directed otherwise.

Prosecutors called FBI agent Robert Fuller to help counter a defense effort to exclude statements by Khadr, now 22, from his upcoming trial on charges that include supporting terrorism and murder for allegedly killing U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a grenade during a battle in Afghanistan in 2002.

The defense says incriminating statements by Khadr, the son of an al-Qaida operative who was killed by Pakistani forces in 2003, were obtained through coercion and torture, but Fuller and other prosecution witnesses say the defendant willingly spoke to interrogators without pressure.

Fuller testified that he never saw Khadr subjected to sleep deprivation or shackled in "stress positions," and that the defendant never complained to him about being kept in isolation or threatened.

"We treated him no differently than we would anybody back in the states," Fuller said. "We treated him with respect just like we would anyone else."

The Canadian's trial had been scheduled to start Jan. 26, but Parrish said a new date would have to be set because pretrial hearings are taking longer than expected. Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, said he doubts there will be a trial in Guantanamo."

"I'm hopeful that President Obama is going to switch this process off in the next couple of days," said Kuebler, who argues that Khadr did not kill Speer and, in any case, should be given special consideration because he was a juvenile when captured.

Obama's nominee for attorney general, Eric Holder, in his confirmation hearing, said the commissions lack sufficient legal protections for the defendants, and said they could be tried in the United States.

On Monday, several relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks said they oppose any plans to close Guantanamo and halt the war crimes trials. The family members, brought to the base by the U.S. military to observe proceedings, spoke to reporters after two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their roles in the plot.

"Though the wheels are grinding, they are turning here and this place must remain open and justice must be served," Andrew Arias, whose brother, Adam, was killed in the attacks, said.

"If not here, where?" said Arias, of South River, New Jersey. "Keep it open, let's get the job done."