Guantanamo 9-11 Tribunal begins tomorrow

The Associated Press reminds us that the military tribunal in the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of his accomplices will begin tomorrow;

Jim Harrington, the civilian lawyer for Binalshibh, said the defendants are expected to fight the charges against them, which include murder and terrorism and carry a potential death penalty.

“He has no intention of pleading guilty,” Harrington said. “I don’t think anyone is going to plead guilty.” Harrington declined to say what would be the basis of his defense and lawyers for Mohammed did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The men never entered formal pleas in previous hearings, but Mohammed told the court that he would confess to planning the attacks and hoped to be a “martyr.” He dismissed the military justice system, saying, “After torturing, they transferred us to inquisition land in Guantanamo.”

As I mentioned the other day, the Pentagon is setting up four venues for closed circuit viewing of the trial, one of them will be at Fort Meade, MD, and thanks to the good folks at the Pentagon Public Affairs Office (and my new Business Insider creds), I have a seat at one of the viewings along with the rest of the media, if I can drag my old ass across the state of Maryland in time to get to the 7:30 AM meet-up inside the Fort Meade front gate. They mentioned bomb-sniffing dogs and pat downs and heavily armed guards which I do like since I can’t carry my own armament in Maryland.

But the tribunal is supposed to kick off at 0900, and since traffic is a little slow on Saturdays, I’ll tell you today that I intend to live blog the whole show, if you’re interested. I’m excited.

Category: Terror War