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.