| Perhaps they'll start rehearsing procedures for a proper firing squad? |
| Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 13 others will be the highest-profile detainees to undergo the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals, and the first to do so in two years. |
At the hearings, a military panel will evaluate whether the men should be classified as ``enemy combatants,'' a designation which allows them to be held indefinitely and prevents them from challenging their detention in the U.S. court system.
``The biggest thing we're doing is opening up the books, reviewing procedures and conducting rehearsals so that we do it correctly,'' Navy Capt. Philip Waddingham told reporters who recently visited Guantanamo. He is the lead officer at Guantanamo for the Pentagon-based office in charge of determining detainees' status.
It is unclear whether Mohammed and the others - who until recently were being held in secret CIA prisons - will agree to attend the hearings. If they do, the military says they will remain shackled and would be forbidden to talk to reporters. The rehearsals are being conducted inside the same space reserved for the hearings - a small room inside a trailer equipped with a few leather chairs, one plastic seat for the detainee, and little else.
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held for 558 detainees between July 2004 and January 2005. All but 38 were deemed enemy combatants.
Defense attorneys have condemned the hearings as shams because classified evidence is withheld from the detainees and they are not afforded defense lawyers. ``There is no question that these 14 have no chance,'' said Brent Mickum, an attorney who represents two Britons at Guantanamo. ``The decision has (already) been made that they are enemy combatants.''
| It does seem pretty simple, doesn't it? |
| IMNERHO, SCOTUS has completely hosed any possibility of a rational procedure. Prolly exactly what was intended. |