Guantanamo Judge Denies Obama’s Request
The top judge of the Guantanamo military tribunals has denied Barack Obama’s request to freeze the military commissions.
“On its face, the request to delay the arraignment is not reasonable,” the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, wrote in his three-page ruling denying a prosecution request to delay Nashiri’s first court appearance.
Pentagon prosecutors filed identical delay requests soon after Obama took office, arguing that the commander-in-chief needed a 120-day suspension in war court hearings to give the new administration time to study the process.
Other war court judges, including the Army colonel presiding at the trial of the accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, agreed to the delay.
But Pohl said he would not accede to the request. “The public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment,” he wrote.
He also noted that nothing would take place at the arraignment that would prevent Obama from taking other steps to stop the trial and that under the 2006 Military Commissions Act, it was up to a judge to grant any delay. “The commission is bound by the law as it currently exists not as it may change in the future.”
Frank says: