Posted on 05/17/2008 7:58:31 AM PDT by kellynla
MIAMI — Military attorneys for confessed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators called Friday for the dismissal of the charges against the men, saying an Air Force general advising the tribunals applied "unlawful influence" to bring them to trial.
The defense motion followed Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred's ruling last week that disqualified Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann from the case against Salid Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver.
Allred ruled that Hartmann had "failed to retain the required independence from the prosecution function to provide fair and objective legal advice to the convening authority."
The convening authority is Susan J. Crawford, the Pentagon lawyer who oversees the Guantanamo Bay war-crimes tribunal, whose proceedings are known as military commissions.
Mohammed and his four co-defendants are scheduled for arraignment at Guantanamo on June 5.
It was unclear whether the defense motion would be taken up before the arraignment, said Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, defense lawyer for Ramzi Binalshibh, who is accused of conspiring with a terrorist cell in Hamburg, Germany.
The five defense lawyers representing the so-called high-value detainees, who face the death penalty if convicted, argued in a 127-page motion that military commission rules require the legal advisor to provide "neutral and objective" advice.
The lawyers cited testimony that last summer Hartmann urged prosecutors to target "sexy" cases and those in which American blood was shed, hoping to boost the tribunal's image as the presidential election approaches.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Harry Reid amongst the sheik’s supporters?
Openly?
Let them move on then. Death!
.
I came across this video in tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11. It made me cry. It is the most moving tribute that I have ever seen, and I think it should be required viewing for every Ameican yearly. How quickly most of us have forgotten, and have become apathetic again.
http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/
Be sure to read the author’s account of his own experiences on that day.
We will die from our own system.
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