Military Prosecutors Set to Open Major 9/11 Case

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: New York Times

Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, and drew the United States into war, people who have been briefed on the case said.

The charges, to be filed in the military commission system at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would involve as many as six detainees held at the detention camp, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former senior aide to Osama bin Laden, who has said he was the principal planner of the plot.

The case could begin to fulfill a longtime goal of the Bush administration: establishing culpability for the terrorist attacks of 2001. It could also help the administration make its case that some detainees at Guantánamo, where 275 men remain, would pose a threat if they are not held at Guantánamo or elsewhere. Officials have long said that a half-dozen men held at Guantánamo played essential roles in the plot directed by Mr. Mohammed, from would-be hijackers to financiers.

But the case would also bring new scrutiny to the military commission system, which has a troubled history and has been criticized as a system designed to win convictions but that does not provide the legal protections of American civilian courts.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/us/09gitmo.html?_r=1&ex=1360213200&en=39435c4c1195009a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

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This trial will be what the Republicans will use to validate what they've done, thus taking some heat off them, and misdirect public perception to believe it was for the better good of the country.

The fact that they're doing this now implies to me that they assume they'll succeed. I'm hoping that their arrogance exceeds reality.

[Bozita]

1. Betting trials begin before Repug convention.

Put your fear caps on, folks.

[HuffleClaw]

2. a kangaroo court show trial?

so they can put out 'shocking new revelations' every single time the dem candidates poll numbers go up

[bemildred]

7. Indeed. Who cannot look forward to the "confessions of guilt"? nt

[bean fidhleir]

11. Yep. Soviet-style show trials

PanemCarnem et circenses

[RedSock]

3. cheney?

Source: New York Times

Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, and drew the United States into war, people who have been briefed on the case said.

...

Cheney?

[sce56]

4. My Thoughts Exactley!

Just watch the testimony of Sec of Transportation Minneta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDfdOwt2v3Y
According to some accounts, Vice President Cheney is in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the White House by this time, along with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and National Security Adviser Rice. Mineta says that, while a suspicious plane is heading toward Washington, an unidentified young man comes in and says to Cheney, “The plane is 50 miles out.” Mineta confers with Acting FAA Deputy Administrator Monte Belger, who is at the FAA’s Washington headquarters. Belger says to him, “We’re watching this target on the radar, but the transponder’s been turned off. So we have no identification.” According to Mineta, the young man continues updating the vice president, saying, “The plane is 30 miles out,” and when he gets down to “The plane is 10 miles out,” asks, “Do the orders still stand?” In response, Cheney “whipped his neck around and said, ‘Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?’” Mineta says that “just by the nature of all the events going on,” he infers that the order being referred to is a shoot-down order. Nevertheless, Flight 77 continues on and hits the Pentagon.

Actually I don't think an airman would question shoot down orders rather he would question ignore orders or don't disturb that target orders

[thunder rising]

6. No way ... nobody pulls the trigger without a direct clear order. Nice way to go to jail

[sce56]

12. The idea here is that they were under orders to shoot down the plane

That was what they were trying to get out of Mineta. The orders for shoot down did not come out until almost ten Am Way after the Airman questioned the VP about if the orders still stood I would love to hear the Airman testify as to what the orders were that he questioned.

[ursi]

5. why hasn't this happened sooner? this is like the Bush grand finale ...

how convenient ...

[gratuitous]

8. Why is this being tried in a military court?

Have we decided that all of American society is an arm of the military? I mean, it's been kind of a de facto thing for years, but to see it actually de jure is still a little disconcerting.

[TomClash]

9. How many members of this Administration will be indicted

for criminally negligent homicide, at the very least?

[rustydog]

10. I guess the right to a "speedy Trial" went down the shitter too..

4 years after 911, with secret evidence, no right to see evidence against you, no right to cross examine and america is now prosecuting those responsible for 9-11...No wait, with all the torture,we still can't find bin Laden. PROOF torture does not work.

Want to bet the trial and McCain's support of it starts near November?

[Thor_MN]

13. Lot of loose ends to tie up, before a competant administration gets their hands on the evidence

[Supersedeas]

14. and the timing of this announcement is just coincidence