First glance at Gitmo detainees
Posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:53 AM
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Havana, Cuba
By Scott Foster, NBC News Pentagon Producer
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, CUBA – Last week, NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and I joined 60 other journalists from around the world on a U.S. military sponsored trip to the isolated Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to report on the much anticipated start of the military war crimes trial of the self-confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man also known as KSM who had boasted to interrogators he planned the attacks of Sept.11 "from A to Z," hadn't been seen by anyone outside the U.S. government in over five years – not since that notorious photo when he appeared disheveled and confused after his capture in Pakistan in 2003.
This would be the public's first glimpse of Mohammed and four other alleged Sept.11 plotters, who were all being tried jointly. It would also mark the first time anyone directly involved in the Sept. 11 hijackings would face charges in an American courtroom.
The high-stakes drama was in place, but the legal backdrop to these proceedings was sure to be equally as significant.
This was an arraignment, so legally their cases wouldn't be advanced much, but it was clear the controversial military commission itself would also be on trial.
Legal experts have decried commission rules that prevent the accused and their attorneys from seeing sensitive evidence, some of which may have been obtained from coercive interrogation techniques, which human rights advocates have called torture.
This was the commission’s first major test, and the world was watching.
Ferry ride to court
After a five hour flight from Washington to Guantanamo Bay onboard a noisy C-130 turbo-prop aircraft, we circumvented Cuban airspace by flying over international waters and roared to a stop at the Guantanamo Bay airstrip at the southeastern tip of Cuba.
As we were ferried across the two-and-a-half-mile wide bay to the windward side of the naval base where we'd do our reporting from, we had the chance to take in the stunning views of rugged Cuban mountain ranges and rocky coastline and for just a moment it was easy to forget this place houses the most important terror detainees in U.S. custody – and has sparked highly charged international criticism and outrage.
The morning of the arraignment, two dozen reporters were allowed into the courtroom in the newly constructed $12 million "expeditionary" legal complex. There journalists could view the proceedings behind a glass partition in the back of the courtroom. The remaining members of the press, including myself, were allowed to view the session via closed circuit TV in our media workspace. The sterile looking white walled courtroom consisted of rows of mahogany colored tables for both the defense and prosecution.
Our first glimpse of any of the accused was a man dressed in a white tunic, black framed glasses, and white head covering. What stuck out most though and caught nearly all of us reporters by surprise was this defendant's long, bushy gray and white beard. Initially, it took a moment to figure out who it was. It wasn't until I saw he was seated next to defense attorney Navy Captain Prescott Prince that I realized this was Mohammed. In addition to his beard, he appeared much thinner than he was in that disheveled looking photo.
While the defense and prosecution got situated, it became evident that Mohammed and the other four defendants – Waleed bin Attash, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Ramzi Binalshibh, and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi – were talking to one another and were catching up. This was the first time they had been together since each was captured. Only Binalshibh was shackled to the floor – it wasn’t not exactly clear why he was the only one restrained.
Defendants chat
After several procedural questions and statements from chief judge Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, the time came for Mohammed to speak. Asked whether he understood English and preferred a translator, Mohammed responded that his English "is not bad," but worried that in some instances when he needed to speak Arabic he could be mistranslated.
When pressed later by the judge whether he would need the assistance of a translator, given his level of fluency, Mohammed responded, "I talk with you 16 minutes already, it's not bad."
Initially, Mohammed appeared to be actively involved in the proceedings, as he looked through various documents and listened intently to his defense counsel.
But, he soon became defiant, rejecting his military attorneys because, he said, they work for the "president who waged a crusader war, killing in Iraq and Afghanistan." He then claimed he'd been tortured for five years, labeled American law "evil," said the commission was an "inquisition," and referred to Guantanamo as "inquisition land."
At one point Mohammed began reciting Koranic verses. When asked whether he realized he could be put to death, he responded coldly, "This is what I wish. I'm looking to be a martyr for a long time."
One after another, each defendant rejected their court-appointed attorneys, despite the repeated warnings from the judge – each seeming to follow Mohammed’s lead.
Attorneys blast military commission
Soon after the eight hour session ended, defense attorneys came to the microphones in an old aircraft hangar to blast the military commission, calling it an unfair process which denied fundamental legal rights to the accused.
Binalshibh’s lawyer, Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, who on several occasions has been involved in testy exchanges with the presiding judge, said the "American constitution was tread on today," adding the military commissions have "sunk to new lows." She even went on to say the proceedings had "tarnished" her uniform.
The defense attorneys complained that the already difficult task of defending some of the most despised men in the world had been made more complicated because of an "undercurrent of intimidation" inside the courtroom. They explained that Mohammed had forced the others to follow him and reject their attorneys. Army Maj. Jon Jackson, lawyer for al-Hawsawi, said that after he and his client spoke, Mohammed mockingly asked his client "What, are you in the American Army now?"
The attorneys expressed frustration that the judge allowed these side conversations to go on uninterrupted, saying their decision to represent themselves gives a significant advantage to the prosecution.
Asked by a reporter whether it really mattered who defended them, given the fact that several confessed to their involvement in planning the attacks and said they wanted to be "martyred," Binalshibh’s defense attorney David Durkin answered "in America, even those who want to be executed should receive an adequate defense."
Then the lead prosecutor Army Col. Larry Morris briefed reporters on his observations of the day's events. The contrast between the defense and prosecution’s view of the day was like night and day.
Morris defended the commission process – saying the lengths to which the United States went to provide due process to the alleged Sept.11 co-conspirators was unprecedented.
Not a fan of the sketch artist
Among all the back and forth over the fairness of the much anticipated court session, one bizarre episode occurred involving something as innocuous as a courtroom sketch.
According to the official courtroom sketch artist and U.S. military officials, Mohammed apparently personally complained over how he appeared in an artist's sketch of him while in court.
A sketch of Mohammed was shown to defense attorneys during a break and apparently he took offense to the size of his nose in the sketch. According to the artist, Mohammed asked his attorneys to have the artist "take a look at the FBI photo." That is the notorious photograph of the alleged terror mastermind after he was captured. U.S. officials gave the sketch artist an opportunity to alter the sketch, which she did – making the nose smaller.
While prosecutors want to start the trial in mid-September, defense attorneys counter that there's no way they can be prepared in that amount of time, suggesting that the Bush administration is trying to ram the cases through before the next president takes office.
Given the challenges this military commission will likely face, many legal observers here said they believed the defendants may never be tried by this court at Guantanamo.
As this trip came to a close, there was a sense of uncertainty over just when and how those accused of carrying out the worst terrorist attack in American history will ultimately face justice.
