Military Judge Denies Obama Request to Suspend Hearings at Guantanamo

ARTICLE from WASHINGTON POST Writer Peter Finn

GUANTANAMO BAY - A military judge in Guantanamo Bay today denied the Obama administration's request to delay proceedings for 120 days in the case of a detainee accused of planning the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship, an al-Qaeda strike that killed 17 service members and injured 50 others.

The decision throws into some disarray the administration's efforts to buy time to review individual detainee cases as part of its plan to close the U.S. military prison at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba. The Pentagon may now be forced to temporarily withdraw the charges against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent.

Nashiri is facing arraignment on capital charges on Feb. 9, and Judge James Pohl, an Army colonel, said the case would go ahead.

"We just learned of the ruling here . . . and we are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options in that case," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Asked at a news briefing whether the decision would hamper the administration's ability to evaluate the cases of Guantanamo detainees, Gibbs replied: "No. Not at all."

In one of his first actions, President Obama issued an executive order instructing Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to make sure all military commission proceedings "are halted" during a review of the cases of individual detainees at Guantanamo and of the broader system of military commission trials.

The administration chose to achieve that by instructing military prosecutors to seek 120-day suspensions of legal proceedings in the cases of 21 detainees who have been charged. Approximately 245 prisoners are being held at Guantanamo.