Flurry of Developments at Gitmo and in 9/11 Case

The last half-year or so has been the most intense period of the 9/11 case in my 10 years of covering it. The biggest development was the reaching of plea deals with KSM and two co-defendants – which would have eventually brought some finality to the case – and then the attempt by then-Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin to withdraw from these plea deals. Both the 9/11 trial judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, and the Court of Military Commission Review ruled that the Austin could not lawfully withdraw from the plea deals, but the government has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A ruling could come at any time.

The remaining defendant, Ammar al Baluchi, did not plead guilty, so he continued his effort to have his confessions suppressed based (in large part) on his past abuse and isolation by the CIA. Suppression testimony finally concluded in the epic suppression case, and McCall heard oral arguments on the admissibility of the confessions in January. His ruling could also come at any time.

Then, of course, there was the Trump administration’s transfer of migrant detainees to the base and the resulting legal challenges related to conditions and attorney access.

And yes, this has, not surprisingly, delayed my book as we wait for an ending. America’s Trial is now due for release in June 2025.

Gitmo Book Now Available for Presale

My book that’s about eight years in the making, “America’s Trial: Torture and the 9/11 Case on Guantanamo Bay,” based on my in-person reporting from the U.S. Naval Base, is now available for presale. The book is scheduled for release in March 2024.

As described on the Amazon page: “America’s Trial documents in exceptional detail the forgotten era of Guantanamo Bay—the effort to prosecute the five detainees accused of planning the worst crime in US history, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While ignored by most media outlets, the result has been a riveting courtroom drama to determine if a democracy has the legal and moral authority to prosecute the men it previously tortured.”

Feature Article Explains Continued Delays in 9/11 Hearings

The retirement of one of the lead defense attorneys, the retirement of the judge, the Covid-19 pandemic, the almost-immediate recusal of the replacement judge – all of these developments have continued to delay pretrial proceedings in the military commission against the five men accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks. The case dates to the May 2012 arraignment, and yet it is all but certain that the trial will not start before the 20th anniversary of the attacks next year. Shockingly (to me at least), I have not been on the Guantanamo Naval Base since the end of February.

The next judge, whoever that may be, will wade into the most confusing and complex case in American history – and that is the focus of my latest feature. The case was interrupted right as defense attorneys were calling witnesses in support of motions to suppress evidence based on the past abuse of their clients at CIA black sites. The new judge will have to grapple with this along with disputes over how many witnesses the five defense teams get. 

A New York Press Club Award for my Guantanamo Coverage

It’s a great honor to get a New York Press Club Award for my coverage of the Sept. 11 case at Guantanamo Bay. The New York Press Club announced the full list of winners on May 15, which happens to be my birthday – nice! I won in the category of “Crime Reporting,” which includes hard news coverage of crime, cops and courts. We submitted a half-dozen stories from 2018, much of it focusing on the discovery disputes between the five defense teams and the government over evidence from abusive CIA interrogations.

As for 2019, some interesting developments. In the late March pretrial session, we learned that the government has recordings of the five defendants allegedly discussing the 9/11 plot in the months before the attacks. More recently, the new judge, Marine Col. Keith Parrella, wants defense teams to file suppression motions – even though he is scheduled to leave the case next month.

Finally, we started a new series called “Unsung Heroes of the Military Commissions” in which we have profiled a defense paralegal and a prosecution paralegal.

Short But Interesting January Session in Sept. 11 Case

The new judge in the Sept. 11 military commission, Marine Col. Keith Parrella, cut short the pretrial session in January after learning that he had a detaching retina and had to be flown off the island.

In January, multiple defense teams wanted him to postpone the hearing based on the FBI’s recent interrogation of a former paralegal on the defense team for Walid Bin Attash. Defense lawyers said this was another example of the government investigating and intimidating defense teams in a manner that may create a conflict of interest. Parrella disagreed, and decided to move forward after being convinced that no current member of any of the five teams was under investigation. However, his health issue ended up postponing the proceedings anyway.

The next hearing is scheduled to start on March 25.

December Guantanamo Hearings Cancelled

The pretrial hearings, scheduled for Dec. 3-7, 2018 at Guantanamo Bay, in the Sept. 11 military commission have been cancelled, leaving the next session for late January. That means the busy Nov. 12-16 session was the last to take place in 2018; a trial date still has not been set in the case. The five men accused of planning and financing the 9/11 attacks were arraigned in this commission back in May 2012.

My story on the November hearings focused on disputes over evidence of abuse of the defendants by the CIA, and what level of detail was needed to give the defense teams a fair shot at making their case. Another key round of arguments, covered by Carol Rosenberg, was whether a prior convening authority was improperly fired for entering into plea negotiations with the defendants, all of whom face the death penalty.